Indicators and social equity: properties of sustainability indicators and the absence of the social justice principle in studies on climate change and C02

Abstract

This article’s main objective is to analyze the radical transformation of results in use of sustainability indicators and the consequences when a key principle is no longer considered. In this sense, we analyze some studies about CO2 emission and its relationship with climate change; and we hypothesise that they do not consider the social equity principle. Initially search is made in the literature about the properties of indicators and about the importance of such indicators. We then analyze the studies mentioned in order to test this hypothesis. As a result, we suggest the need of making explicit the target of social equity in the set of properties for those indicators, in order to avoid such biases. The role of these sustainability indices in decision-making processes is enough to justify our concern in the present article.