Institutions for sustainable development : indicators for performance assessment

In the course of evaluating the progress in implementing Agenda 21 (United Nations 1992) the “Commission on Sustainable Development” began developing a set of indicators of sustainable development. The first version was finalized in 1996 with the suggestion of 134 indicators (UNDPCSD 1996) and put to a field test, resulting in a final version published in 2001 (UNDESA 2001). In both versions, the indicators are divided up into four thematic areas corresponding to four dimensions of sustainable development: economic, environmental, social, and institutional. The further conceptual separation into driving force, state, and response indicators was not used in the final version. Generally, (inter) governmental organizations are explicitly referred to as institutions, which