Indicators of sustainable development for industry: A General Framework

Despite numerous actions worldwide which call for adoption of more sustainable strategies, relatively little has been done on a practical level so far on the pretext that the issue is too complex and not fully understood. This paper follows the argument that it is important that today's decision-makers address the issue of sustainability, however imperfectly, as ignoring it may only exacerbate the problem for future generations. In particular, the paper concentrates on measuring the level of sustainability of industry with the aim of further informing the debate in this area. It proposes a general framework with a relatively simple, yet comprehensive set of indicators for identification of more sustainable practices for industry. The indicators cover the three aspects of sustainability - environmental, economic and social - and among others, include environmental impacts, financial and ethical indicators. The framework is applicable across industry; however, more specific indicators for different sectors have to be defined separately, on a case-by-case basis. It allows a modular approach for gradual incorporation of the framework into the organizational structure. The life cycle approach ensures that the most important stages in the life cycle and their impacts are identified and targeted for improvements. The framework also provides a link between micro- and macro-aspects of sustainable development through appropriate indicators. Thus, it serves as a tool which can assist companies in assessing their performance with regard to goals and objectives embedded in the idea of sustainable development.