Tool use in integrated assessments - Integration and synthesis report for the SustainabilityA-Test project

Scientific underpinning of tool use in integrated assessments

The SustainabilityA-Test project

The way policy assessments are currently carried out leaves some room for improvement. This can be achieved by making efficient use of (combinations of) existing tools. A precondition for making tool combinations is to know what tools there are and what they can deliver. This became the central issue in setting up the SustainabilityA-Test project.

Available tools and their role in integrated assessment 

The SustainabilityA-Test project has led to an inventory of tools that can be used to evaluate the effects of policy on sustainable development. The project comprised a literature study, case study and a series of interviews with those who actually carried out the assessments. This work resulted in an overall framework, documented in the report, which describes the tasks generally taken up in a policy evaluation and the tools that can support these tasks.

Sustainabilitya-test.net

The website, developed in the course of the project, is helpful for two reasons:

• the website supports finding suitable tools for tasks in integrated assessments, and
• the website contains peer-reviewed and easily accessible information on the tools.     

This will help increase tool use and, in doing so, can forge a link between the scientific and policy-making communities.

First step towards better underpinning of tool use 

SustainabilityA-Test covered more than 50 different assessment tools in total, representing a vast, but still limited, selection of all the tools in existence. The result of this project should therefore be considered as a first step towards a better dissemination of knowledge on assessment tools and on the role of tools in policy evaluations.