This document represents a blueprint for measuring and managing for the sustainable well-being of nations. It is the architectural companion or "methodology primer" to the report Alberta Sustainability Trends 2000: The Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI) Report 1961 to 1999 released April 23, 2001 which was the first application of the GPI sustainable well-being accounting methodology. This "blueprint" describes the rationale, structure and methods used in constructing a GPI System of Sustainable Well-being Accounts. By measuring the total and real wealth of nations, we are better equipped to ensure a sustainable future for future generations as well as our own.
The GPI accounting framework is an alternative to the current international System of National Accounts. Building on the traditional accounting language of "capital" and on accounting tools such as balance sheets, income statements and ledgers, the GPI accounting system offers a new tool for nations to measure, in an integrated manner, the condition, sustainability and monetary costs and benefits of human, social, natural and produced capital. The GPI accounting system was developed by considering some of the leading work for measuring economic, social and environmental progress in a holistic manner. Our hope is that researchers and policy analysts around the world will consider the merits of this new open architecture for measuring genuine well-being and the progress of nations, provinces, states and communities according to those parameters that make life worthwhile.
