Page 276 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 1

STS429 Margarita R.
transition to a sustainable economy leads to changes, some of them quite
serious, in the employment structures and professional profiles of the workers.

3. Measuring progress towards the green economy
To ensure effective policy design supporting green economy and green
growth, rigorous information and data on the environment and economy
nexus are needed. Not only does following and assessing progress in green
economy contribute to a better understanding of the determinants of green
growth but can also point out further synergies between the environmental
protection and economic growth. It is also important to have a solid
information base to better communicate progress on green economy with
citizens.
International organizations have taken numerous initiatives on measuring
progress towards the green economy, including the following:
 The green growth indicators of OECD
 The green economy indicators of UNEP
 The United Nations Statistics Division’s Project for "Strengthening the
capacities of developing countries to measure progress towards a
green economy", 2015-2016
 The International Labour Organization (ILO)
 The green industry initiative of the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO)
 The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
 The Latin American and Caribbean Initiative for Sustainable
Development (ILAC).
The choice of indicators is one of the most important and, at the same
time, the most difficult tasks since their quality has a direct impact on the
reliability of the final classification and the accuracy of assessments based on
the obtained results. The problem of proper selection of indicators is one of
the most important factors deciding on the quality and reliability of
assessments of the green economy.
The choice of indicators for the measuring a green economy is also key to
the evaluation of its practical implementation. Usually, the list of available
indicators is relatively long. The research dilemma lies in the choice of the most
suitable subset, as the set of potential indicators is practically infinite.
Measurement should include both the assessment of the current
environmental situation and the external impact resulting from human
activities and governmental policies designed to promote a green economy.
Each individual objective can be represented by several or, in some cases,
several dozens of indicators.
The green economy indicators are a specific group. Much like the set of
indicators of sustainable development, they should not only provide a good

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