Mainstreaming sustainable development in the OECD through indicators and peer reviews

Abstract The OECD sustainable development indicators are being used in the various OECD peer reviews so as to ‘mainstream’ sustainable development. This article examines the ways in which the sustainable development indicators in the OECD economic surveys and environmental performance reviews (EPRs) have been used, and the types of learning they have engendered in the reviewed countries. Largely because of the deficiencies in the process of designing the indicator framework, the sustainable development sections in the economic surveys in 2001–2004 failed to be sufficiently salient, credible and legitimate to the key stakeholders to have an appreciable impact. The EPRs have ‘empowered’ environmental authorities by legitimizing calls for stronger environmental policies, thereby generating government, social and policy learning. The EPRs will need to appeal to a broader range of stakeholders and thereby generate outside pressure. To do so, the EPRs should develop more standardized ‘process’ and ‘response’ indicators, allowing cross‐country comparisons. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.