The EU Commission published its assessment of urban indicators for sustainable cities in November 2015. This publication adds to a large and rich body of work on indicator tools and assessment methods for sustainability and decarbonisation in urban centers. The main objective of the report is to provide guidance  to urban actors and stakeholders both in the public and private spheres when choosing an indicator toolkit for measuring progress towards sustainability and climate goals.

In many cases, urban planners and administrators struggle to find a tool that adequately accounts for the specific features and requirements of their respective cities. This tool must not only be cost-effective in terms of administrative effort but must also be nuanced enough to capture each city as a unique urban environment. As a one-size-fits-all solution does not exist, commonly multiple indicator tools are used to provide a comprehensive assessment. While this is especially the case for smaller populations, larger urban hubs, however, are more likely to utilize a more standard and global set of indicators.

The report advises policy-makers and stakeholders on how best to choose appropriate sustainability indicators, concentrating on a list of already established indicator frameworks, which are deemed "scalable, easy-to-use." Using a myriad of case study examples, the report describes the pros and cons of each tool and instructs on how they can be best implemented.

Download and view the report here.