Evaluation of the City of Geneva’s efforts in terms of sustainable development

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More particularly, the Cercle Indicateurs of sustainable development serves to:

• monitor the progress of sustainable development within the territory thanks to a strengths/weaknesses diagnostic (monitoring);
• compare local efforts in relation to the 27 Swiss towns and cities participating in the initiative (benchmarking);
• monitor the change in sustainable development over time in the City of Geneva during subsequent surveys.

Indicators

This public policy decision-making tool is based on 28 indicators (the City of Geneva records 26), covering the three aspects of sustainable development, i.e.:

• the environment;
• social issues;
• the economy.

Certain priority issues have been defined for each aspect of sustainable development and are illustrated by one or two indicators. Electricity consumption, the area of green spaces, access to the public transport system, rental prices, the unemployment and participation rates are just some examples of the indicators chosen for their relevance by the participating towns and cities in collaboration with the Confederation.

Results for Geneva

The City of Geneva has obtained generally good results and even very good results in certain spheres. The data from the 2017 survey have been published and are available on the website of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

A joint project

The Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE) is tasked with managing the project. Three other federal offices accompany the work:

• the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), a project partner;
• the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN);
• the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).

In addition to the federal offices mentioned, the management body also includes all the cantons and cities participating in the “Cercle Indicateurs”. It is therefore a genuine national forum for discussion for public authorities in terms of sustainable development.

Prospects

The “Cercle Indicateurs” is part of a continuous improvement process. Certain indicators will thus be reviewed by the federal offices and the participants in the project before the next survey.

The surveys are conducted every 4 years (the current survey dates back to 2017).