Explanatory text for the CEROI indicators matrix

To measure the quality and sustainability of an urban environment, a list of parameters or indicators was prepared by UNEP/GRID-Arendal within the context of the Cities Environment Reports on the Internet (CEROI) programme. The indicators help to provide a representative picture of urban environmental conditions and to describe individual urban issues in more detail. The initial set was presented when the programme began in 1998; since then, GRID-Arendal has further developed the list and produced a revised core set of indicators. GRID-Arendal recognised the need for using indicators as tools for quantifying sustainability performances of cities. 'Sustainability' is a term of the 1990s; its exact meaning and definition differs from person to person, from organisation to organisation. However, a common element was found upon analysing several distinct sources and organisations: all definitions combine economical, environmental and societal elements to examine the needs of the present as well as those of the future. The CEROI programme has considered various activities on local, regional and international scales dealing with the urban environment. Important initiatives of organisations such as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS or Habitiat), the European Environmental Agency (EEA), the European Foundation (EF) and European Common Indicators (ECI) were considered. The CEROI matrix provides an overall view of these commonly-used indicators; a check mark () beside an indicator denotes that the same indicator, a similar indicator a part of the indicator is being used by the organisation listed above. This approach was purposefully chosen in order to allow comparisons of international-level efforts and of different measures used by cities within the CEROI network. The selection of indicators aims to achieve a balance between different indicator sets of various organisations. However, not all of the indicators included in the list are internationally-used; some of them were proposed by CEROI, based on the principles outlined above.