A series of economic, biophysical and indicator-based tools have been developed and applied to valuate a large array of sustainability issues and impacts. However, these tools adopt radically different valuation perspectives that affect directly the outcomes of assessment and valuation exercises. More importantly these perspectives are not always reconcilable. By adopting the concept of value-articulating institutions, this lecture will outline the different embedded assumptions integrated in these tools and how they might affect the perspective of sustainability assessments. The implications of valuation tool selection will be outlined, and some possible selection criteria will be discussed.

Slides available HERE.