SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT: AN INTRODUCTION SOURCE: GUIDANCE ON SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT (OECD 2010) Sustainability impact assessment: an introduction

The document is aimed at helping policy makers to increase their understanding of the basic elements, processes and multi-dimensional nature of SIAs. It intends to increase awareness of the potential of SIA for developing more sustainable policies, strategies and action plans within OECD member countries. It is hoped that it will stimulate policy makers to implement or revisit their SIAs within their own policy and institutional context. The document gives a general outline of what an SIA is, why it is useful, its core principles and methodologies, and its main challenges. It is not exhaustive, and neither is it a technical “how to” guide for practitioners to follow when implementing an SIA. Government authorities at different levels (national, regional, local) can use this document as the basis for developing a more tailored guide for reviewing the sustainability impacts of proposed policies and action plans.