The purpose of this methodology is to help users assess the sustainable development impacts of policies and actions. Sustainable development impacts include a wide variety of impacts across three dimensions: environmental impacts, social impacts and economic impacts. Examples of impacts include improved health from reduced air pollution, job creation, poverty reduction, increased energy access, gender equality, and many others.
This methodology helps users answer the following questions:
• What sustainable development impacts is a given policy or action likely to have in the future?
• Is a given policy or action on track and delivering expected results?
• What impacts has a given policy or action had to date?
The methodology was developed with the following objectives in mind:
• to help users assess all relevant sustainable development impacts of policies and actions in an integrated way
• to help policymakers and other decision makers develop effective strategies for achieving sustainable development objectives through a better understanding of the various impacts of policies and actions
• to support consistent and transparent reporting of sustainable development impacts and policy effectiveness.