A system used to assess the long-term social, economic and environmental impacts of government proposals under the broad term sustainable development is deeply flawed, green activists and experts say.
The Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) considers the implementation of mandatory 'sustainability impact assessments' among its key achievements since its inception in April last year.
'It is the first time sustainability assessment has been incorporated in government decision-making and policy formulation at such a core level,' SDU assistant director of administration Jonathan McKinley said.
All government bureaus and departments are now required to assess the positive and negative implications of their proposals against a set of eight guiding principles and 39 indicators. The assessment process is monitored by the SDU and the outcomes are presented to the Executive Council or the chief secretary's policy committee.
But green groups and experts claim the model, a computer-aided assessment system called CASET, is flawed. 'The assessment model is too simplified and the indicators are controversial,' a member of the Advisory Council on the Environment, Kin-chung Ho, said.
Gordon Ng Ting-leung, chief executive of the Conservancy Association, said he was disappointed at the lack of transparency in the assessment process.