Metrology for climate-neutral cities

• We propose in this report decisive and constructive responses to critical appraisals of the Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the EU taxonomy. The lack of transparency and accountability plaguing these vitally important efforts can be rectified by means of systematic implementations of the art and science of measurement modelling informed by metrological principles. The aforementioned documents’ vague and all-inclusive language fails to assign responsibilities or aid in goal achievement, but can be replaced with systems of measurements that are effectively and efficiently, meaningfully and usefully, integrated with management objectives. When measurements are welldesigned, managing goals and objectives becomes seamlessly integrated with measurement. Measuring instruments should map the domain of interest, allowing users to locate where they are relative to where they were, where they want to go, and what to do next. But for this to happen, the intention to measure in this way must be acted on. Then, incomparable ordinal ratings and scores must be replaced with qualityassured quantity values. And disconnected reporting systems must be coordinated and aligned. Most importantly, taking the trouble to create fluidly manageable measures makes it possible to identify and harness human-powered energy sources for driving sustainable change, for ramping up efforts to the global scale that must be achieved if we are to succeed in transforming our systems. Entrepreneurs and innovators need scientifically rigorous, meaningful, useful, and convenient tools if they are to succeed in imagining, designing, and deploying effective responses to the pressing challenges we face. Our recommendations are formulated in direct response to criticisms that have been directed at the Agenda 2030 and the EU Taxonomy concerning the transparency, comparability, and accountability of the proposed goals for sustainable development. Neither the goals themselves nor the urgency of the need to address them are at issue. The concern is rather with the means by which those goals may be achieved, and the effectiveness of those means. The solutions we propose in this document are complex but manageable—just as the problems we face are also complex but manageable. We have no intention of providing a panacea, or a one-size-fits-all solution. There is nothing automatic or easy about what needs to be done. This report is only a first step. We provide it in the hope of provoking more of those concerned to take a fresh look at what might be possible. We tap readily available, longstanding, well-established, proven ideas not previously brought together for close consideration. But far from expecting or even hoping that our recommendations will be taken up and followed to the letter, we instead fervently pray for playful experimentation and constructive debate. Our goal, perhaps more than anything else, is to encourage a broader scope for the imagination of possible solutions. Imaginations today seem overly bound within the constraints of assumptions that actually—and perversely—contribute to perpetuating the problems we face. We will count our efforts successful if we manage to shake some minds free from those constraints. In this spirit, we look forward to engaging soon in productive collaborations with any and all who are interested.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

rap (ämneskategori)