Framework Elements for Assessing Urban Environmental Performance

Image

Publication Date: 2012

This paper examines the opportunities for developing a global consensus on an Urban Environmental Index to assess the environmental performance of cities. it includes an analysis of a variety of conceptual and actual sustainability and environmental reporting systems at the national and community/municipal level and an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses in the face of current challenges.

The study concludes that there is a lack of consensus about the different sectors that need to be monitored. To bridge this gap, the authors propose a seven-sector framework for assessing environmental performance, looking at the carbon cycle, water resources, solid waste, pollutants, biodiversity, nitrogen and phosphorous (N and P) cycles, and land use change.