What are the advantages of the Ecological Footprint over other indicators?
The Footprint is very good at answering a question that other indicators don’t: “Are we living within the biological capacity of the planet?” The Ecological Footprint can provide an initial answer to this question and encourages us to understand that the environment has limits, which makes it quite unique.
The potential for the Ecological Footprint to communicate the idea of global sustainability is also very powerful. The idea of requiring three planets to provide all our resources, if we were to live like the average person in the UK, is a powerful metaphor and can be used for educational purposes and to raise awareness.
Additionally, it can be used to model different scenarios thus informing strategies and planning by examining the possible impact of policies and actions in a number of areas such as waste, economic and transport planning and the environment.
In conjunction with sustainability appraisal the Footprint can help to identify unsustainable trends which can create opportunities for more sustainable management of resources and the challenges we face in the future.
Finally, these local authority area Footprints include a complete assessment of household consumption. Everything is included from transport and energy to goods and services. This complete assessment allows comparisons to be made between different policy areas, something that many indicators cannot do.