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The purpose of this paper is to present and analyze a case study on the design of a system of sustainable development indicators for an electric utility.

The case study is based on collaboration with an electric utility and consultation with external experts. A six‐step process was used to create the indicators: conduct a needs assessment; conduct process planning; develop a draft set of indicators; test and adjust the indicators; implement the indicators; and review and improve the indicators.

The case study demonstrates how existing projects impact the process of developing indicators. It highlights that any system of indicators must be linked to the business planning process. It shows how this may be accomplished through a design based on a hierarchical approach that also illustrates linkages between the indicators and incorporates existing measures.

The first three steps of the indicator design process have been completed. Research on the remaining three steps is ongoing.

Applying the principles of sustainable development has become an essential part of doing business. This paper illustrates how sustainable development indicators may be developed and integrated with existing business infrastructure at an electric utility.

Even in companies with strong corporate responsibility programs, a key challenge is to construct meaningful indicators that are integrated with mainstream business systems. Although it is recognized that each situation is unique, this paper provides insight into the development of indicators within existing corporate infrastructures.

This study¹ seeks to identify and propose a model for measuring and assessing the level of sustainability in housing environments based on a range of indicators. With this intention, the article is composed of four main parts. In the first part, the relationship between sustainability and housing is presented based on previous research; in the second part, a theoretical framework is put forward for sustainable housing. Then in the third part, sustainability indicators are discussed thoroughly within the context of indicator frameworks. In this section, the development, selection and measuring processes of indicators are also introduced. Finally in the fourth part, the model for measuring and assessing the level of sustainability in housing environments is presented. It is believed that this model will be used as a tool in the decision-making processes for the future development of existing housing settlements and their environments.

Argues that, notwithstanding the wide acceptance of the multidimensional character of the development process, one has to consider the many theoretical problems that this recognition has generated. Determining criteria and measurements for development are very likely among the more intricate issues to be dealt with. Given the underlying value judgements which influence the choice of criteria, this is particularly true for the social dimension of development, especially when the approach to development is persistently pervaded by economics.

As a consequence of rapid urbanisation and globalisation, cities have become the engines of population and economic growth. Hence, natural resources in and around the cities have been exposed to externalities of urban development processes. This paper introduces a new sustainability assessment approach that is tested in a pilot study. The paper aims to assist policy‐makers and planners investigating the impacts of development on environmental systems, and produce effective policies for sustainable urban development.

The paper introduces an indicator‐based indexing model entitled “Indexing Model for the Assessment of Sustainable Urban Ecosystems” (ASSURE). The ASSURE indexing model produces a set of micro‐level environmental sustainability indices that is aimed to be used in the evaluation and monitoring of the interaction between human activities and urban ecosystems. The model is an innovative approach designed to assess the resilience of ecosystems towards impacts of current development plans and the results serve as a guide for policy‐makers to take actions towards achieving sustainability.

The indexing model has been tested in a pilot case study within the Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia. This paper presents the methodology of the model and outlines the preliminary findings of the pilot study. The paper concludes with a discussion on the findings and recommendations put forward for future development and implementation of the model.

Presently, there is a few sustainability indices developed to measure the sustainability at local, regional, national and international levels. However, due to challenges in data collection difficulties and availability of local data, there is no effective assessment model at the micro‐level that the assessment of urban ecosystem sustainability accurately. The model introduced in this paper fills this gap by focusing on parcel‐scale and benchmarking the environmental performance in micro‐level.

This research aims to develop sustainable development scores at districts level based on weights of thirteen sub-indicators using a spatial information system.

The empirical study was conducted at seven districts in the state of Terengganu Malaysia. The evaluation was implemented using a spatial information system combined with weights of sub-indicators that were computed from the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method.

In this study the sub-indicators layers overlaid into one raster layer to produce a sustainability development score from 1 to 3 for every district. The one raster layer shows that Marang district received the highest sustainable development score of 2.284. On the other hand, Kemaman district received the poorest sustainable development score of 1.686.

In this study the weights that obtained from the AHP method are verified and validated using a sensitivity analysis. The scores at districts level perhaps may not be accurate due to difficulties in differentiating the variability of indicators and sub-indicators. These are among the unsettled issues that could be explored as future research direction.

The results would have greatly benefited the policy makers and stakeholders, particularly in planning for future development without compromising the significance of environment, social and economic indicators.

Sustainable development is one of the key elements that needs to be considered seriously in assessing development of a country. The assessment may include proposing indices for environment, social, economic indicators and related sub-indicators of sustainable development. Instead of considering specific indices for indicators, this approach departs more formally from the concept of unweighted indices at country level.

The paper seeks to offer an evaluation of the energy sector's contribution to sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in the last 30 years.

Sustainable development indicators proposed by Latin American Energy Organization/Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/German Technical Cooperation are used, in conjunction with indicators proposed by IAEA, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, IEA, EUROSTAT and the EEA. They are based on objectives, priorities and available information and their values are analyzed in a period of significant changes in LAC energy policies.

State and evolution of sustainability in LAC are presented at a country and sub‐regional levels. Some important remarks are drawn about energy policies' contribution to sustainable development and some key areas to improve are identified.

This research intends to highlight implicit deficiencies in energy policies that could suggest new priority guidelines for future policy decisions, in order to improve their contribution to sustainable development.

The aim of this paper is to assess how the indicator sets presently used to monitor sustainable development in the European Union (EU) and Latvia reflect resource consumption and the production and use of anthropogenic substances.

The study was conducted by analyzing different sources as well as statistical information on development character in Latvia and human impact at first in respect to use of chemicals.

Many of the analyzed sustainable development indicators related to resource consumption interpret a reduction in consumption as a negative phenomena and thus contradictory to sustainability. The only relevant EU and Latvian indicator related to the use of anthropogenic substances is production of toxic chemicals. The EC Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation is being implemented in the EU in an attempt to ensure the safety of chemicals through the whole chemical supply chain.

A sustainable development indicator should consider the decrease in resource consumption as a positive trend. As an important aspect at the assessment of sustainability is monitoring of use of chemical substances. In Latvia, the information on production, import, distribution and use of chemical substances is dispersed between several institutions and thus an overall picture is lacking. As the REACH regulation requires registration of chemical substances exceeding certain quantities, there is a necessity to elaborate an approach to identify such substances. Enterprises that already provide data on chemicals to responsible authorities are important for a targeted enforcement of REACH requirements in Latvia. The existing approach of chemical substance management represents an attempt to manage point sources of anthropogenic substances with little attention being devoted to the more numerous small diffuse sources, which could be the hidden part of the iceberg. The limited access to compiled data on chemical substances within REACH makes it difficult to use it as a warning sign in political or public discussions regarding one of the central aspects of sustainability.

One of the main risks to global sustainability is the exceedance of the Earth's carrying and assimilative capacity through excessive resource consumption and anthropogenic loading. In the analyzed EU and Latvia, sustainable development indicator sets the reduction in consumption is frequently interpreted as a negative trend thus making the overall assessment regarding resource consumption inconclusive. As long as gross domestic product as a major indicator for macro‐economic activity does not reflect environmental sustainability and well‐being and society does not adequately value natural and human resources and until more comprehensive indicators are developed which better take into account social and environmental aspects, striving for economic growth will be the main cause of resource overconsumption.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model composed of performance indicators divided into stages that represent a chronological order of the market development process.

The theoretical model presented by this paper was developed based on the information collected through three systematic reviews. The first review identified the steps that segment the market development process. The second and third systematic review sought to identify a set of indicators that are most used in companies' market development.

The paper develops a theoretical model that identifies the market development indicators that are most present in the current literature, dividing them into stages that represent the chronological order of the market development process.

A research opportunity was identified based on the investigation of the existing literature. The study collaborates with existing research and provides a model that guides companies in market development decisions and actions.

The chapter examines the relationship between social inclusion patterns and economic development in selected EU countries. This research has two objectives: (i) to reveal whether there are similarities among the EU countries in nation’s social inclusiveness of three demographic groups, namely the entire population, immigrants, and Roma communities; and (ii) to analyze the influence of social inclusion indicators on sustainable economic development and prosperity for the EU countries by accounting for the ethnicity impact. The chapter presents the results of a cluster analysis approach, which indicates best-positioned countries and emphasizes vulnerabilities in terms of social inclusiveness both in a broad demographic sense (the entire population) and a narrow sense (immigrants and respective Roma population). The chapter then employs a panel data regression approach to investigate which social inclusion indicators might have the potentially influencing role on economic development. Seven alternative proxies for sustainable economic development and prosperity measures were used. The social inclusion indicators, as explanatory variables, are represented by the education-related indicators and labor market-related indicators. The robustness and stability of the estimates are validated by including several interaction terms in the baseline regression model to account for the occurrence of the financial crisis. Overall, improving both population as well as immigrants’ inclusion is shown to have an important impact on sustainable economic development in the EU countries.