Abstract:

To monitor and thereby support a transformation towards sustainability, society needs appropriate information systems. However, there is no consensus on what and how should be measured, as controversies about reason, magnitude and instruments of change translate into diverging conceptual frameworks for the choice of indicators. In this article, two paradigmatic transformation discourses are identified. A short introduction to different functions of indicators is given. Using the example of the OECD Green Growth indicators, I finally discuss the problems and opportunities arising from indicator development shaped by an economic-ecological transformation discourse from the perspective of a socio-ecological discourse.