A Holistic View of Sustainability

Biodiversity and environmental health only tell a part of the sustainability story. We are using the Social Progress Index to understand the social and economic situation of households and landscapes. This index defines social progress “as the capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential”. Sustainability is about achieving the balance between human needs and environmental integrity, and we are quantifying Nespresso’s efforts over the years to provide the next steps for even more impact.

We propose to use the Social Progress Index to understand the social and economic situation of the farms and the clusters/landscapes in general. This index defines social progress “as the capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential” (see https://www.socialprogress.org/index). It uses 51 indicators that creates a picture of what everyday life looks like focusing on Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity.

The combination of the Social Progress Index and the Biodiversity Progress Index (using birds as indicators) provide a most holistic picture of sustainability. They are complementary and both allow for simple visualization for multi-stakeholder discussions and quick decision-making for sustainability planning.