ABSTRACT

Sustainability assessment and sustainability Indicators(SA/SI) are decision-supporting tools that are key in the realization of decision-making for sustainable development. To move beyond the rhetoric and to implement sustainable development, SA/SI should be integrated into decision-making of all stakeholders and at all levels from the individual to the global political level. SA/SI are powerful tools that foster sustainable decision-making as it addresses the three identified key challenges: interpretation, information structuring and influence/impact. SA as any process that aims to integrate sustainability issues into decision-making by identifying and assessing sustainability impacts, contribute to a better understanding of the meaning of sustainability and its contextual interpretation and foster sustainability objectives. SI are an essential and powerful tool of SA and there is a widely recognized need for SI in support of decision-making for sustainable development. The proposed definitions, guidelines, functions, typologies and interpretation of sustainability assessment and sustainability indicators offer a theoretical framework as guidance for SA/SI initiatives in practice.