<<  <  >  >>

 

A  DJU STED NE T SAVING S INDE X

SW6

What

What Is It?

BENCHMARK

The World Bank's Adjusted Net Savings Index (ANS),

Develop national targets for adjusted

Develop

formerly called "genuine savings," measures the

net savings that improve environmental

"true rate of savings" in a country's economy after

sustainability.

sustainability.

considering investments in human capital, depletion

of natural resources and damage caused by pollution.

TA R G E T

For this indicator, we report on the ANS values already

calculated and readily available from the World

Achieve national targets for adjusted

Achieve

Bank15.

net savings levels that improve

environmental

environmental sustainability.

Why Do We Measure It?

Why

Economic growth often occurs at the expense of natural

RED FL AG

resources, either through resource depletion or excess

pollution loads. The ANS considers the importance of

No improvement (or any decrease) in

No

managing natural resources and reducing pollution

adjusted net savings in any of the MAR

through regulations and incentives. The ANS is based

countries.

on the concept of "green" accounting, where the

goal is to shift economies away from their present

emphasis on infinite economic growth and toward a

growth. The World Bank's ANS has several advantages

greater focus on sustainable human well-being and

including:

reduction of environmental degradation.

· Serves as an indicator of sustainability

The ANS indicator provides a useful way to incorporate

· Presents resource and environmental issues within

environmental and natural resources issues into

a framework familiar to finance and development

financial and economic planning. It provides decision-

planning ministries

makers with a clear, relatively simple indicator of how

sustainable a country's investment policies are, and it

· Reinforces the need to boost domestic savings

helps guide sustainable development. ANS also helps

(and sound macroeconomic policies)

to raise awareness of these issues. In some cases,

the adjusted net savings can be reflective of the loss

· Highlights fiscal aspects of environmental and

of an important economic natural resource.

resource management (since resource royalties and

pollution taxes are basic ways to raise development

How Do We Measure It?

finance and ensure efficient use of the natural

resources)

Net savings or assets accounts in monetary units

provide a yardstick for measuring development

· Makes the growth­environment trade-off quite

prospects. The ANS is based on an integrated

explicit, since countries planning to grow today and

framework that allows the weighting and aggregation

protect the environment tomorrow can be identified

of various elements of the economy and environment.

by their depressed rates of adjusted net savings

As an aggregate indicator, it allows for comparisons

across groups of countries either by region or by

Decreasing ANS values imply that total national wealth

income. Additional information on how the World Bank

is in decline. Policies leading to persistently negative

calculates the ANS is available on their website15,16.

adjusted net savings are policies that can not be

sustained for the long-term.

Usefulness

To be more indicative of marine environmental

The World Bank's ANS is a well-respected, standardized

sustainability, the ANS should be considered in

global index that the World Bank calculates regularly.

conjunction with biophysical indicators (e.g., mangrove

This indicator, which takes into consideration the

areal extent, fish biomass).

condition of natural marine resources, can provide an

impetus for promoting sustainable or green economic

136