Environment Agency

Composing a new environmental measure

Together with strategic consultancy Brook Lyndhurst, Geofutures was asked to research and write a think-piece for the Environment Agency, examining the feasibility of creating a composite measure of environmental inequity.

While the subject matter is dissimilar, the process of designing a composite measure for the Town Centres statistical series informed the proposed methodology.

The study also built on the work undertaken by Brook Lyndhurst and Geofutures in 2006, identifying the most environmentally compromised areas of the UK. The earlier project took a pragmatic approach to meeting that objective, but helped to point the way towards significant improvements – which are incorporated into this study.

Tried and tested steps towards a robust composite indicator include the best means of selecting and evaluating the indicators, representing the indicators in a mapping environment, standardising data, integrating indicators by location and identifying, classifying and ranking resulting locations.

The think-piece also explores issues of defining inequity and the advantages and drawbacks of composite indicators. Methodological questions are also explored: challenges of scale, error and uncertainty, and the best means of incorporating ‘soft knowledge’.

These subjective perceptions of environmental impacts are highly relevant to those involved but notoriously difficult to quantify.