Four theoretical issues and a funeral: improving the policy-guiding value of eco-efficiency indicators

摘要

For eco-efficiency indicators to be useful in guiding policy, four issues must be resolved: the meaning of 'eco-efficiency', the meaning of 'eco-efficiency indicator', the criteria for choosing the "most suitable eco-efficiency indicator(s), and the strengths and limitations of eco-efficiency indicators for guiding policy makers' decisions. These issues, if not resolved, may prove to be the death knell of the use of eco-efficiency indicators for policy development. This paper addresses each of these issues in detail. In doing so, we hope to avert the need to make funeral arrangements for a potentially promising policy tool.