The monitoring process
Monitoring: The 21 Indicators
A transparent and regular monitoring system and the evaluation of implementation status is a significant part of any national sustainability strategy.
With its 21 key indicators for sustainable development, the German government aims, at two-year intervals, to indicate how far we have come along the path towards sustainable development, what progress has been made, and where further action is needed. The number of key indicators was deliberately kept low. With a few key figures the system is intended to give a rapid overview of major developments. To gain a comprehensive picture it is important to see the indicators not in isolation but as part of an overall system.
The indicators are linked to concrete and, wherever expedient and possible, quantifiable objectives. This ensures that they are relevant for political action and makes it possible to achieve a consensus among actors in government and civil society about the path to be taken and the measures this will entail. The sustainability strategy aims to reconcile conflicting objectives and harmonise these as far as possible. For instance, economic growth is compatible with climate-protection objectives provided it goes hand in hand with efficiency gains or structural changes.
In 2008 too, the German government uses 21 sustainability indicators to provide concrete information as to where we stand today on the road towards sustainable development. Germany can be proud of what it has already achieved, for instance in the field of climate protection and in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. It is already only 0.6 percentage points short of the targets to be achieved by 2012 under the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol.
The percentage of total power generated coming from renewable sources has developed positively, as has the consolidation of the national budget. The same applies to the percentage of the workforce in gainful employment, mortality rates for the under-65-year-olds and the percentage of gross national income provided as official development assistance.
The indicators also, however, show those areas where ground must be made up. This applies, for instance, to the education sector, in which the German government is endeavouring to ensure that more foreign children and young people leave school with qualifications. They would also like to see more young people completing a university degree. The intensity of goods and passenger traffic is posing yet another challenge.
In 2008 the German government adopted new objectives and indicators, which should enable it to define sustainable development still more precisely. These include indicators relating to smoking and obesity.
Sustainable development – an ongoing political task
In the 2008 progress report, the German government focuses on climate and energy, the sustainable management of raw materials, the social opportunities posed by demographic change and food for the world:
| Indicator areas | Indicators | Goals | |
I. Intergeneration equity | |||
| 1a | Resource protection Using resources economically and efficiently | Energy productivity | Doubling between 1990 and 2020 |
| 1b | Raw material productivity | Doubling between 1994 and 2020 | |
| 2 | Climate protection Reducing greenhouse gases | Greenhouse gas emissions | Reduction of 21% compared to 1990 until 2008/2012 |
| 3a | Renewable energies Strengthening a sustainable energy supply | Share of renewable energy sources in total primary energy consumption | Increase to 4.2% by 2010 and to 10% by 2020 |
| 3b | Share of renewable energy sources in electricity consumption | Increase to 12.5% by 2010 and to at least 30% by 2020 | |
| 4 | Land use Sustainable land use | Increase in land use for housing and transport | Reduction in daily increase to 30 hectares by 2020 |
| 5 | Species diversity Conserving species - protecting habitats | Species diversity and landscape quality | Increase to the index value 100 by 2015 |
| 6 | National debt Consolidating the budget—creating intergeneration equity | National deficit | Structurally balanced public spending; federal budget without net borrowing from 2011 at latest |
| 7 | Provision for future economic stability Creating favourable investment conditions—securing long-term prosperity | Gross fi xed capital formation in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) | Increase in the share |
| 8 | Innovation Shaping the future with new solutions | Private and public spending on research and development | Increase to 3% of GDP by 2010 |
| 9a | Education and training Continuously improving education and vocational training | 18- to 24-year-olds without a school leaving certificate | Reduction in proportion to 9% by 2010 and 4.5% by 2020 |
| 9b | 25-year-old university graduates | Increase in proportion to 10% by 2010 and 20% by 2020 | |
| 9c | Share of students starting a degree course | Increase to 40% by 2010, followed by further increase and stabilisation at a high level | |
II. Quality of life | |||
| 10 | Economic prosperity Raising economic output by environmentally and socially compatible means | Gross domestic product per capita | Economic growth |
| 11a | Mobility Guaranteeing mobility—protecting the environment | Intensity of goods transport | Reduction to 98% in comparison to 1999 by 2010 and to 95% by 2020 |
| 11b | Intensity of passenger transport | Reduction to 90% in comparison to 1999 by 2010 and to 80% by 2020 | |
| 11c | Share of rail transport in goods transport performance | Increase to 25% by 2015 | |
| 11d | Share of inland water transport in goods transport performance | Increase to 14% by 2015 | |
| 12a | Farming Environmentally sound production in our cultivated landscape | Nitrogen surplus | Reduction to 80kg/hectare on land used for agriculture by 2010, further reduction by 2020 |
| 12b | Organic farming | Increase of the share of organic farming on land used for agriculture to 20% in coming years | |
| 13 | Air quality Keeping the environment healthy | Air pollution | Reduce to 30% compared to 1990 by 2010 |
| 14a | Health and nutrition Living more healthily for longer | Premature mortality (cases of death per 100,000 residents under 65) men | Reduction to 190 cases per 100,000 by 2015 |
| 14b | Premature mortality (cases of death per 100,000 residents under 65) women | Reduction to 115 cases per 100,000 by 2015 | |
| 14c | Proportion of adolescents who smoke (12- to 17-year-olds) | Decrease to under 12% by 2015 | |
| 14d | Proportion of adults who smoke (15 years and older) | Decrease to under 22% by 2015 | |
| 14e | Proportion of obese people (adults, 18 and older) | Reduction by 2020 | |
| 15 | Crime Further increasing personal security | Burglaries in homes | Reduction in cases to under 100,000/year by 2015 |
III. Social cohesion
| |||
| 16a | Employment Boosting employment levels | Employment rate (total) (15- to 64-year-olds) | Increase to 73% by 2010 and 75% by 2020 |
| 16b | Employment rate (older people) (55- to 64-year-olds) | Increase to 55% by 2010 and 57% by 2020 | |
| 17a | Perspectives for families Improving the compatibility of work and family life | All-day care provision for children (0- to 2-year-olds) | Increase to 30% by 2010 and 35% by 2020 |
| 17b | All-day care provision for children (3- to 5-year-olds) | Increase to 30% by 2010 and 60% by 2020 | |
| 18 | Equal opportunities Promoting equal opportunities in society | Wage difference between women and men | Reduce the difference to 15% by 2010 and to 10% by 2020 |
| 19 | Integration Integration instead of exclusion | Foreign school leavers with a school leaving certificate | Increase in the proportion of foreign school leavers with at least Hauptschule certifi cate and alignment with quota for German school leavers by 2020 |
| IV. International responsibility | |||
| 20 | Development cooperation Supporting sustainable development | Share of expenditures for offi cial development assistance in gross national income | Increase to 0.51% by 2010 and 0.7% by 2015 |
| 21 | Opening markets Improving trade opportunities for developing countries | German imports from developing countries | Further increase |
Stand: August 2009