New England Sustainability Strategy

SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD
& SPEEDO

February 2011

this project has been assisted by the NSW Government through its

and with support from

SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD & SPEEDO
At the inaugural NESS Sustainability Scorecard Round Table a wide range of
stakeholders measured the sustainability of the New England for the first time ~
the current sustainability, changes since 2008 when work on NESS began and the
key influences on those changes.

Their conclusion was that right now we are some way off being sustainable ~ with
the Sustainability Speedo showing an average negative 48 score reflecting that
our social, environmental and economic capital is being degraded right now.

At the same time however the consensus was that the sustainability of the New
England Region has 'marginally improved' in the last two years ~ a positive
change of 7 points on average. This is a promising conclusion.

The key influences on these changes were built into the foundation Sustainability
Scorecard to measure the New England's sustainability progress and
performance. These indicators are described in the detailed Key Focus Areas
document, with a summary on the following page.

While there are other regional sustainability indicators being developed, notably
in the UK and Canada, these are mostly top down, expert designed and
managed frameworks.

There is as yet no regional sustainability framework or shared site in place to

record or measure our communities, agencies, agencies, landholder and industry
successes and progress towards a sustainable region.

The challenge for NESS was to collaboratively design an accessible sustainability

scorecard that allowed regional stakeholders to input both quantitative and
qualitative indicators of regional sustainability as well as best practice stories of
significant change.

www.ness.wikidot.com NESS is an initiative of

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Illustration 1: New England Sustainability Scorecard (Progress & Performance Measurement Framework)

www.ness.wikidot.com NESS is an initiative of

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www.ness.wikidot.com NESS is an initiative of

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SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD & SPEEDO
As detailed below the average scoring for the sustainability of the New England is
negative ~ that is, we are currently degrading and degenerating our social,
environmental and economic systems and capacity.

Importantly, there has been a marginal improvement, an average of 7 points on

200 point scale, with nearly all participants indicating a positive shift of some
degree.

As at 2010 the score was -40 on this -100 to +100 point scale, up from -47 in 2008.

We clearly have work to do, and a simple glance at the mapped scores below
(2008 in red and 2010 in black), shows the consistent clumping on the negative
'we've got some work to do' side of the ledger.

www.ness.wikidot.com NESS is an initiative of

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www.ness.wikidot.com NESS is an initiative of

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