Brussels, 21/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) environment committee, which is chaired by Jo Leinen (S&D, Germany) is of the view that, to measure the progress of society, using GDP as the sole criterion is not enough and that better account has to be taken of social and environmental factors. With its adoption on 19 April of the report by Ana Rosbach, by the wide majority of 59 votes to one, with one abstention, the committee welcomed the Commission communication of August 2009 GDP and Beyond: Measuring progress in a changing world (see EUROPE 9972 and 9963) and set out its wish list.
The committee wants indicators to measure economic and social progress in the medium and long term, indicators which are clear and measurable to take account of climate change, biodiversity, resource efficiency and social inclusion. It also advocates indicators that are more in tune with the views of households, which reflect income, consumption and well-being, and says that, to measure quality of life, greater importance has to be given to factors such as health, education, culture employment, housing, and environmental conditions.
“While MEPs welcome discussions in and between other international bodies to work on indicators beyond GDP, they warn that a coherent system is needed to make an effective contribution to policy making”, Rosbach says.
This move is part of the international debate which has been going on for some 15 years to try to overcome the failings of GDP which does not measure environmental sustainability or social integration. The environment committee notes that these failings are increasingly being acknowledged within the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank, the OECD and the European Commission.
In its communication, the Commission suggested adding environmental and social indicators to GDP, more frequent updating of the environmental and social data to help politicians reach their decisions, greater exactness in reports on distribution and inequality, construction of a European sustainable development scoreboard and extending national accounting to include environmental and social matters. (A.N./transl.rt)