National Reviews
Global Footprint Network publishes National Footprint Accounts for 201 nations, and welcomes and encourages those nations to conduct reviews of their accounts. National Reviews are excellent ways to help improve the National Footprint Accounts and create opportunities for Ecological Footprint policy applications at the national level. Below are summaries and links to some of the major national reviews that have been conducted to date. If you are interested in conducting a national review for your country, please contact us.
Switzerland
In December 2006, Switzerland became the first country in the world to complete a review of its National Footprint Accounts. The government published the review as a report entitled Switzerland's Ecological Footprint - A Contribution to the Sustainability Debate. The study was carried out by INFRAS, a leading Swiss policy research institute. INFRAS compared the international data sources used by Global Footprint Network to the statistics used by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, and concluded that the data sets are largely consistent. The researchers also closely examined the Ecological Footprint approach, and calculated Switzerland's Ecological Footprint. The publication contains a multitude of easy to read charts showing how Switzerland's demand on nature compares with that of other countries. The publication also includes background information enabling readers to assess the Ecological Footprint approach. In addition, this collaborative study helped identify possible improvements for the accounts, which will enhance the Footprint calculations for all 152 countries.
Click here to learn more about Switzerland's Ecological Footprint.
European Commission
After a comprehensive, two year study of Ecological Footprint methodology, the European Commission has found the Footprint to be a useful indicator for assessing progress made toward the E.U.’s sustainability goals. The Footprint is unique among the indicators, according to the Commission’s report, in particular for its ability to relate resource use to the concept of carrying capacity. The report also praised the Footprint as an “intuitively appealing indicator”, easy to communicate and understand.
The Commission began its evaluation of the Footprint as part of an effort to measure progress toward long-term sustainability goals. Recognizing that using resources more efficiently is crucial both to the region’s economic development and its positive role in the world, the European Commission set clear policy objectives to limit environmental impacts and enable greater resource efficiency. A key obstacle, however, has been the lack of suitable indicators to establish targets and measure progress.
In 2004, the Commission launched a study to evaluate the Ecological Footprint as an indicator, examining its advantages as well as its shortcomings. The study found the Footprint could be an effective tool for assessing and communicating progress toward objectives, especially when combined with a basket of complementary indicators. The study also noted areas where the indicator could potentially be improved, and identified a short-to-medium research agenda for advancing the National Footprint Accounts methodology.
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Germany
The Ecological Footprint has proven one of the most successful indicators for communicating the concept of environmental sustainability and the physical limits of our planet. In the past decade the Ecological Footprint has developed into one of the most important measures for resource use in production and consumption at the international level. The objective of the project Scientific assessment and evaluation of the indicator "Ecological Footprint", commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in Dessau, Germany, was to assess and evaluate the Footprint for its possible use as a national sustainability indicator for Germany. The project was a corporation between the Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI), Vienna, Austria, Ecologic, Berlin and Best Foot Forward (BFF) in Oxford, UK.
The project had four major objectives:
- Describe the state of the art of the calculation of the Ecological Footprint and provide a review of existing calculation methods.
- Analyze underlying data using the National Footprint Accounts of Germany and present the main problems with regard to data quality. Identify and assess alternative national data sources for Germany.
- Critically analyze existing Ecological Footprint calculations with particular focus on the weak points in the calculation method as well as the meaningfulness and interpretability of the indicator.
- Formulate and present recommendations on how identified weak points could be improved (in particular with regard to data sets and calculation methods), and identify in which fields of application the Ecological Footprint seems appropriate.
To read the full report, click here.
UK/DEFRA
In 2007, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) commissioned a study by independent consultancy Risk & Policy Analysis Ltd. to assess developments since 2004 in Ecological Footprinting methodologies and their practical application. The goal of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of the Ecological Footprint for policymaking in the UK. The final report, A review of recent developments in, and the practical use of, Ecological Footprinting methodologies, was released in late 2007.
Click here to read the Global Footprint Network review of the report.
European Parliament
In 2001, the report Ecological Footprinting was released by the Directorate General for Research, Division Industry, Research, Energy, Environment, and Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA), 2001. The report, commissioned by the European Parliament, presents arguments and evidence reviewing the Ecological Footprinting methodology, comparing it with official and non-official indicators that are currently under development. The report is the result of a study conducted by ECOTEC Research and Consulting, whose aims were to review the Ecological Footprinting methodology; summarize recent studies on Ecological Footprinting undertaken internationally; critically assess whether the methodology addresses the physiological, environmental and ecological concerns of the European Union as expressed in its legislation and other official documents; and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology in comparison to other methodologies of comparable scope.
Click here to read the report.