Canadian Sustainability Indicators Network (CSIN)

CSIN aims to accelerate progress toward sustainable development by furthering sustainability indicator best practices in Canada.

Sustainability indicators are signals that tell us if our society is moving toward or away from more sustainable ways of living and doing business.

Sustainability indicators also inform course corrections that are necessary to keep communities, corporations, governments, and organizations of all descriptions moving in the right direction.

In recent decades, federal, provincial and municipal jurisdictions, businesses and NGOs the world over have been developing measurement systems. All use indicators to mark and inform the progress each makes towards environmental stewardship and sustainable development.

The Canadian Sustainability Indicators Network (CSIN) seeks to advance best practices in measurement and sustainability indicator systems in Canada and beyond and to play a key role in the progress toward global sustainable development. The goals of CSIN are:

• To create a space for learning about sustainability indicators and reporting
• To support the sharing of ideas and approaches for indicators and reporting
• To strengthen sustainability indicator work in Canada and North America
• To provide a gateway to international work on indicators and reporting

What we do
Sustainability reporting is practiced and indicators have been developed in Canada by a number of governments, corporations and non-government organizations, working from local to the international in scope. Despite some shining examples, sustainability reporting in Canada is still sporadic, and reporting approaches are not always consistent. This makes it difficult for people to get a clear picture of how we are doing in meeting sustainability needs and goals. To get more good indicators and reports, we need more people with the skills and knowledge in these fields.

CSIN offers indicator and reporting practitioners an organization focused on helping them to meet and share information and ideas. It is linking the growing number of sustainability reporters across Canada with each other and with colleagues and centers of expertise around the world. CSIN operates as a Community of Practice, an approach that emphasizes self-governance, self-selection, and participation based on interest, capturing knowledge, and encouraging learning and innovation.

CSIN uses a combination of face-to-face meetings and online presentations and discussions to help people meet each other and share expertise.