sustainable penrith indicators

Sustainability Indicators
 

Introduction to the Sustainability Indicators

Council has developed a comprehensive range of Sustainability Indicators for the City and Council. The Indicators provide a transparent approach to reporting and establish a baseline from which we can track our progress towards a more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable City and organisation.

The City Indicators, which were developed by Council for its community, are focussed around the Penrith Sustainability Principles. The Council Indicators are drawn from the internationally recognised standard, the Global Reporting Initiative.

Reporting against these Indicators will provide Council with a clear gauge as to its performance as it moves towards the goal of an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable City.

The development of the 2006-2007 Annual Report was a massive shift from the previous reporting process. To ensure we were heading down the right path, Council actively sought feedback from internal and external stakeholders. The feedback was overwhelmingly supportive but did identify areas where improvements could be made. Consequently Council has modified this year's report to make it a clearer and more user friendly document.

Some of the key changes include improving the wording of the indicators (but not their intent), modifying the way the Indicators are reported, further integrating the State of the Environment Report into the Indicators and providing more summaries and snapshots of information.

The reframing of the Annual Report reflects the overhaul of Council's entire strategic planning process. Council's key planning documents, the Strategic Plan (through the new plan presently under development), Management Plan and Annual Report are now all framed around Penrith's Principles for a Sustainable City, strengthening links between each of these strategic planning tools.

A State, Trend, Response framework has been adopted for each of the Sustainability Indicators we are reporting on, where the State is provided adjacent to the Indicator in the form of a symbol. The Trend is described, and the Response in terms of our progress towards this Indicator is also provided. The symbols are defined as follows:


On Track The elements relating to this indicator are currently meeting or exceeding the desired trend. The targets of this indicator have been met and/or are being maintained. Accordingly there is an increased likelihood of improved and ongoing sustainability.

Challenge Various elements relating to this indicator are not currently meeting the desired trend and the trend appears to be declining. There is scope for significant improvement in this area and Council is investigating various factors to determine how issues may be resolved and the desired trend achieved.

Stable There has been minimal change in the factors relating to this indicator. The desired trend has not been met but there has not been a decline. Council is working to ensure the desired trend is achieved and sustainability in the relevant area is improved in future.

Not yet Reporting Information pertaining to this indicator was not wholly available during this reporting period. Council is working towards collecting all of the information required to comprehensively report on this indicator. This information should be available in future Sustainability Reports.

 

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