Environment and Sustainable Development Indicators for Canada

National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE)

Canada’s decision-makers have no way of measuring whether our country can maintain its current level of economic activity and prosperity into the future. In the 2000 budget, the federal government asked the NRTEE to “…develop a set of indicators to measure environmental performance in conjunction with economic performance.”

Working in close collaboration with Statistics Canada and Environment Canada, the National Round Table has developed six proposed new formal economic measures or indicators. These indicators will augment familiar economic data such as gross domestic product (GDP) and the consumer price index (CPI).

Five of the recommended indicators measure Canada’s natural capital – measuring trends in forest cover, freshwater quality, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and the extent of wetlands. The sixth indicator measures educational attainment.