Submission on the Living Standards Framework Dashboard

^{The Treasury, 2021}

In this submission, the Commissioner suggests that the Treasury amend the Living Standards Framework and associated Dashboard to better account for the environment.

As a measurement framework, the Dashboard represents an important tool to guide the communication and implementation of the Living Standards Framework and wellbeing approach to fiscal policy. Its continued development is critical to ensuring that the most relevant and appropriate measures of natural capital inform the fiscal decision-making process.

Accordingly, a range of amendments have been suggested that focus on how the environment should be incorporated in the Living Standards Framework from both a conceptual and measurement perspective.

The definition and treatment of the environment in the Living Standards Framework should be improved to provide a coherent conceptual basis to guide the selection of environment-related indicators for the Dashboard. This includes a description of the different components of natural capital (e.g. air, water, soil, biodiversity) and associated biophysical processes.

The natural and built environment should not be treated as part of the same domain but should instead be considered as two separate domains.

The international System of Environment-Economic Accounting should be drawn upon to provide indicators that account for natural capital stocks and associated ecosystem services.

Further work could also involve defining and incorporating environmental benchmarks in the Dashboard to identify priority areas for consideration in the budget process.

The Treasury website – Feedback sought on Living Standards Framework Dashboard indicators​