0SV10

Sustainable Technology in Society: Measuring Sustainbility

Frank Veraart (resp. lect.)

Innovation Sciences
Course Setup Diagnostics
Social
Large Technical Construction of
Systems (LTS) Technology
(SCOT)
Sustainable Moral Values &
Development Scripts

Socio-Technical
System

Monitoring
Sustainbility Mediation of
& Policy Values
Governance of Sustainbility
Innovation Trade-offs
Intervention
2
Today
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Critical Reflection on Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
3
Learning goals
• You learn about Wellbeing and Sustainability Monitoring System and its components
(dashboard & indicators)
• You learn its difference to integrated measuring tools
• The Wellbeing and Sustainability Monitoring System operationalizes sustainable
development in measurable indicators.
• You learn how the Wellbeing and Sustainability Monitoring System is applied in the Dutch
policy context
• You learn about sustainability trade-offs in time and in-between SDGs
• You learn that ´wellbeing and sustainability´ can/will change in time
• You learn about policy tools and conflict between government layers and interests

TU/e - Eindhoven History Lab

Your Questions

• Group C4: How do the results of the monitoring system impact the
development and implementation of technologies? (e.g. For
development, how are the moral values of the technology impacted? For
implementation, how does the scale/location in which the technology is
used change?)

• Group A4: Going into the future, how can material well-being still be
compatible with SDGs when high levels of consumption is among the root
causes of climate change?

5
Your Questions

• Group D5: How can development in some SDGs negatively affect the
well being of certain social groups?

• Group C1: How are the indicators chosen? The CBS stresses multiple
times that they just provide the data and leave the politics to policy
makers, but is the choice of the exact ways to measure the
development not a political choice of itself?

6
Today
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Critical Reflection on Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
7
To sum it up (last week):

We need nuanced
Sustainability has We need cross-
mapping of (inter) We need to
multiple meanings sectoral
national consider context
and scales cooperation
interactions

We need to address We need to turn

We need a spillover We need a systems
transnational the kaleidoscope of
scoring system perspective
equality sustainability

8
Last week: The importance of context

Local context matters

Timescale matters

Spatial scale matters

Last week: The importance of context

Local context matters The Netherlands

Timescale matters 1850 – 1910 – 1970 – Today – (Future)

Spatial scale matters

Week 1: Du Pisani: Sustainable Development
Compromise between:
• Development Conservation & Global Equality
• More anthropocentric than eco-centric
Economic
Environment Sustainable development inherits
Growth
(Planet) Modernization theories
(Profit)
• Improve economic efficiency
• Belief in Science & Technology

Social Dependency theories

Equality • Enhance wellbeing of all
(People)
Resource protection
• Protect & restore ecological systems
11
Week 1: Sustainable Development Criticism
• SD is imposing western ideology
• Sustaining the gap
• SD does not question economic growth
• Does not challenge consumption culture
• Serving neo liberal interest
• SD not good enough to meet demands of growing population
• SD unnecessary from free market perspective
• Human ingenuity will solve growth and development
• Other distribution mechanism needed (capitals)

12
Today
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Critical Reflection on Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
13
Question

How could / should we measure sustainability?

14
Question

What would be (policy) goals for sustainable developments

15
Intergrated Measuring Systems

16
CO2 / Capita or Footprint ?

Footprint of the Netherlands

17
Integrated Measuring systems
Almost all focus on parts of sustainability

• Environment / Climate

18
Integrated Measuring systems
Almost all focus on parts of sustainability

• (Economic) Inequality

19
 Policy implications?

Indexes
• Nice for comparisons
• Hard to act

Needed
• More coherence between elements

Global Footprint Network 2020

20
Question?

Who should steer sustainbility ?

21
Sustainable Development in EU

Sustainable Development Goals

as Policy goals

Issues:
- Priorities ?
- Interrelations ?

22
Monitoring Sustiainability

• Policy tool
• What to aim for ?

• Trade-offs and synergies

23
Netherlands Statistics (CBS)
Policy instrument
• Yardstick for current policies
NL: Accountability day (Verantwoordingsdag)

• 2009 – Sustainbility Monitor

• 2018 – Monitor Wellbeing
• 2020 - Monitor of Well-being & the SDGs

24
Your Questions

• Group C1: How are the indicators chosen? The CBS stresses multiple
times that they just provide the data and leave the politics to policy
makers, but is the choice of the exact ways to measure the
development not a political choice of itself?

25
Today
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Critical Reflection on Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
26
Sustainable development

Brundtland-report Our Common Future (1987):

‘Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations, both here and
in other parts of the world, to meet their own needs’.

Quality of life (or: well-being) monitoring:

Economic / Environmental / Social needs

Present - ‘Here & now’

Future - ‘Later’
For All - relations ‘Elsewhere’

27
Sustainability Monitor – The Netherlands 2018
Here & Now Later Elsewhere

28
Dashboard ‘Here and now’
• Wellbeing
• Quality of Life (subjective wellbeing)
• Material Wellbeing

• Personal Characteristics
• Health
• Labor and free time
• Housing

• Natural Environment
• Biodiversity
• Emissions

• Institutional Environment
• Trust in institutions
• Trust in people
• Safety (crime)
29
 Dashboard ‘Later’ (Savings / stocks i.e. resources for the future)
• Natural Capital (enabler)
• (Natural) resources
• Nature & biodiversity
• Emissions

• Economic Capital
• Physical capitals (Machines / ICT infra)
• Knowledge capitals (R&D investments)

• Human Capital
• Labor hours
• Health
• Education

• Social Capital
• Trust in people (trends)
• Trust in institutions (trends)
30
Your Questions

• Group A4: Going into the future, how can material well-being still be
compatible with SDGs when high levels of consumption is among the
root causes of climate change?

31
Dashboard ‘Elsewhere’
Relations with other parts of world

• Resources & Environment

• Imports of resources
• Carbon Footprint

• Trade & Help

• Import from LDCs Least Developed Countries
• Support LDCs

32
Today
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Critical Reflection on Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
33
Monitoring Sustainability - Trade offs
3 Dashboards
presenting various indicators
‘Here and Now’ ‘Later’

++
+ +
+
-- +
+/-
‘Elsewhere’

34
Sustainability Monitoring

Explaining Sustainable Development

• SD - changes in the long run
• SD is inhertenly transgenerational

Timescale matters 1850 – 1910 – 1970 – Today – (Future)

=> Historical account of Sustainability in the Netherlands 1850-2020

35
Monitoring Sustainability Historically
Ex – post
• Measuring effects of historical development with hindsight
• RQ: What happened - Contemporary values!

Historical Monitoring
• Agenda of contemporaries
• RQ: Can we understand past decisions?

36
Monitoring Sustainability Historically
Ex – post
• Measuring effects of historical development with hindsight
• RQ: What happened - Contemporary values!

Historical Monitoring
• Agenda of contemporaries
• RQ: Can we understand past decisions?

37
The Netherlands 1850
1850, Netherlands: Richest country in the
world (with UK) with poor living conditions:

- Structural hunger and malnutrition,

- Hardly medical care (let alone cure)
- Low life expectancy
- Poor housing 1850 2010s
- Hardly education
Inhabitants (millions) 3.1 17.0
- Poor energy supply (light, heating etc)
Life expectancy (years) 37 81

For most: Poor quality of life Average length (cm) 165 181
Education years (per inh) 3 11
38 Energy use (GJ/inh) 30 170
 Historical Monitoring
Ex post (1850-2010)
‘Here and Now’ ‘Later’
Trends shows historical trade-offs:

Increases
• Material wellbeing
• Personal characteristics
• Economic capital
‘Later’ • Human capital

Decreases / deteriorations
‘Elsewhere’ • Environment (air, water)
• Natural capital
• Natural capital imports

39
Monitoring Sustainability Historically
Ex – post
• Measuring effects of historical development with hindsight
• RQ: What happened - Contemporary values!

Historical Monitoring
• Agenda of contemporaries
• RQ: Can we understand past decisions?

40
Historical Monitoring as
thought experiment:

How would a
contemporary person
review wellbeing in the
future ?

41
 Land reclamation.
Reclaiming
Historical Monitoring ´waste lands´

Historical Perspective

Perspectives in 1910:
• Goals of 1850 in 1910 mainly achieved
• Poverty / Famine

• By using natural resources

• Investments in agriculture
• Natural reources extraction
Land changes between
1900 and 2000

42
State Mines (now DSM)
established in 1902
Historical Monitoring
Historical Perspective

‘Here and Now’ monitor 1910

1910 in perspective 1850, 1910 and 2015

Perspectives in 1910:
• Goals of 1850 mainly achieved
• Poverty / Famine

• In 1910 new problems defined

• Housing / Social support / Education

• From 2015 new values added

• Biodiversity / Environmental needs

Sustainable Development Goals have been (and will be) redefined

43
Today
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Critical Reflection on Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
44
Monitoring Sustainability - Trade offs

++
+ +
+
-- +
+/-
‘Elsewhere’

45
CBS Wellbeing monitor since 2020
• 3 Dashboards
• Here & Now
• Later
• Elsewhere

• 3 Themes in SDGs
• Biosphere
• Society
• Economy

46
 Tévécia Ronzon, Ana I. Sanjuán,
Friends or foes? A compatibility assessment of bioeconomy-
related Sustainable Development Goals for European policy
coherence,
Journal of Cleaner Production,
Volume 254, 2020, 119832,
ISSN 0959-6526,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119832
.

47
 De Jong, W., Galloway, G., Pierce Colfer, C., Katila, P., Winkel, G., & Pacheco,
P. (2019). Synergies, Trade-Offs and Contextual Conditions Shaping Impacts
of the Sustainable Development Goals on Forests and People. In P. Katila et.
al. (Eds.), Sustainable Development Goals: Their Impacts on Forests and
People (pp. 577-600). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

48
• Achieving all goals – difficult
=> choosing the good combination
• Sustainable development (remains) making choices
• System builders / actors / governance
• Arguments / power
49
Your Questions

• Group A4: Going into the future, how can material well-being still be
compatible with SDGs when high levels of consumption is among the
root causes of climate change?

50
Your Questions

• Group D5: How can development in some SDGs negatively affect the
well being of certain social groups?

51
Today
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Critical Reflection on Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor

52
Policy process – between analysis and politics
Policy: Intentions, Choices and Actions aimed at stearing societal processes

Analytical: phased policy processes :

• Agenda, Preparation, Conditions, Execution Evaluation
• Analysis: cause and result

Political: Policy = political power battle about interests

• Creation of compromises (LTS momentum / SCOT Closure)
• Creation of societal support
Policy instruments

Goals Means Examples

Production Collective Goods Public investments Infrastructures / Education / Knowledge

54
Policy instruments

Goals Means Examples

Production Collective Goods Public investments Infrastructures / Education / Knowledge

Regulation External Effects Law (Prohibiting) laws

Regulation Regulation markets
Conditions Setting requirements

55
Policy instruments

Goals Means Examples

Production Collective Goods Public investments Infrastructures / Education / Knowledge

Regulation External Effects Law (Prohibiting) laws

Regulation Regulation markets
Conditions Setting requirements
Merit goods Subsidies Stimulation
Levy / Taxation Restriction

56
Policy instruments

Goals Means Examples

Production Collective Goods Public investments Infrastructures / Education / Knowledge

Regulation External Effects Law (Prohibiting) laws

Regulation Regulation markets
Conditions Setting requirements
Merit goods Subsidies Stimulation
Levy / Taxation Restriction
Market regulation Cartel prevention Prevention monopolisation
Compensation Exemption for vulnerable groups

57
´The Government´ does not exist
National
• Parliament

• Government / Administration

• Ministries (civil servants)

• (Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture…)

• Self-governing bodies
• TNO, Tennet, Pro-Rail, NOS, KNAW, (ca. 600)

58
´The Government´ does not exist
International
• UN
• UN organisations
• International treaties

• European Union
• Parliament
• Commissioners
• Council of Ministers

59
´The Government´ does not exist
Local
• Provinces (12)
• Provincial authorities
• States
• Provincial Services

• Municipalities (344)
• Major & Aldermen
• Municipal council
• Municipal services

• Water boards Heatmap Housing costs 2022

per municipality

60
´The Government´ does not exist
l
Principles of Public Governance

• Democracy
• Politics = people representation
• Lawfulness
• law is instutionalised will of people
• Effectiveness
• Accountablity

Buckwalter, N.D., Balfour, D.L. (2020). Democratic Legitimacy in

Bureaucratic Structures: A Precarious Balance. In: Paanakker, H., Masters,
A., Huberts, L. (eds) Quality of Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21522-4_

61
´The Government´ does not exist
Tensions and conflicts (of importance to sustainability development & innovation)
• Between core principles
• Lawfullness vs. Effectiveness (slow governance)
• Democracy vs. Lawfulleness (public opinion vs law)

62
´The Government´ does not exist
Tensions and conflicts (of importance to sustainability development & innovation)
• Between core principles

• Between govermental layers

• EU vs. National gouvernement
• Water quality
• National government vs. regional
• Regional Energy Transition (RES)
• Housing norms

63
´The Government´ does not exist
Tensions and conflicts (of importance to sustainability development & innovation)
• Between core principles

• Between govermental layers

• Between departments / domains

• Policy Silo´s
• Different SD goals per Department

64
Your Questions

• Group C4: How do the results of the monitoring system impact the
development and implementation of technologies? (e.g. For
development, how are the moral values of the technology impacted?
For implementation, how does the scale/location in which the
technology is used change?)

A: Monitor is tool for governmental policy making. It aims at aligning

different governmental functions (beyond silo’s) and levels by including
long term and international perspectives (i.e. ‘later’ and ‘elsewhere’
dashboards.

65
Today
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Critical Reflection on Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor

66
Monitoring Sustainability - Trade offs

++
+ +
+
-- +
+/-
‘Elsewhere’

67
Sustainability Monitor - ´Later´

Trends

Current policies

International (EU) comparison

68
Roles of Sustainability Monitor

• Integral Overview of Wellbeing & Sustainability issues

• Here and Now & Future
• Current issues : Social and Housing issues
• Future issues : Natural Capitals

• Prioritization of Wellbeing & Sustainability issues

69
Sustainability Monitor
Critical reflections
• Danger of Silo´s
• Priorities on problem areas
• Trade-offs ignored?

• Hard´ and ´Soft´ norms

• CO2 Norms (Paris Agreements)
• Norms for biodiversity ?
• Norms for unemployment / education levels?

• Themes & Indicators

• Theme´s are more important
• Indicators highlight some issues others may be
more problematic ´Elsewhere´
70
• General View & Real Issues
Your Questions

• Group A4: Going into the future, how can material well-being still be
compatible with SDGs when high levels of consumption is among the
root causes of climate change?

71
 All ´green´
vs
All ´Red´

72
Societal relevance
Spill-over: Transboundary impact by
one country affecting other countries to
achieve the SDGs
The Spillover Index measures transboundary impacts generated by one country that affect
the ability of other countries to achieve the SDGs.
The Spillover Index incorporates environmental and social impacts embodied in trade and
consumption (negative spillovers include CO 2 emissions, biodiversity threats, and
accidents at work), financial spillovers (such as financial secrecy and profit shifting), and
security/development cooperation spillovers (ODA and weapons exports).
www.sdgindex.org.
Last week : loopholes in Sustainbility accounting

• Leaving no one behind? Sustainable development at cost of some nations

• Trade as a back door to displace and mask social and environmental
effects of national sustainability initiatives
You might reach the national sustainbility goals without achieving
sustainable development at all
Take home messages:
• Monitoring Framework ambitions
• Showing interconnections between current & future needs & international dependencies
• Overview of multiple policy domains
• Trade-offs are visible in over long periods of time
• ´Sustainbility´ changes in time
• Trade-offs are important
• Between SDGs and domains
• Are hard to capture
• Critical issues
• Policy issues of scale an scope
• Silo´s in policy
• International trade-offs
Learning goals
• You learn about Wellbeing and Sustainability Monitoring System and its components
(dashboard & indicators)
• You learn its difference to integrated measuring tools
• The Wellbeing and Sustainability Monitoring System operationalizes sustainable
development in measurable indicators.
• You learn how the Wellbeing and Sustainability Monitoring System is applied in the Dutch
policy context
• You learn about sustainability trade-offs in time and in-between SDGs
• You learn that ´wellbeing and sustainability´ can/will change in time
• You learn about policy tools and conflict between government layers and interests

TU/e - Eindhoven History Lab

To be continued in 2023 …
Measuring Sustainability
• (Dutch) Policy
Tool
• Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor
• Trade-offs (and SDGs)
Policy
• Policy tools
• ´The´ government does NOT exist (governmental silo´s)
• Role Wellbeing & Sustainability Monitor

77