A Proposed SDI is a Candidate SDI that most directly measures at least one aspect of sustainable development in the United States. Selection criteria ensure that Proposed SDI represent those multi-generation, large-scale, high-cost (or high gain) phenomena most related to sustainable development. The Proposed SDI List should contain only 10-20 indicators. The primary products of Step 4 are a Proposed SDI List and a supporting document explaining why these indicators, as opposed to all others, most represent sustainable development in the United States.
The teams for steps 2 and 3 will first review the Candidate SDI List for completeness and accuracy. Normally, the review participants would include organizations both within and outside the SDI Group. However, for schedule and budgetary reasons, the SDI Group had to limit the review to the existing teams for the 1996 selection cycle. The 1997 selection cycle will include a much broader, internal and external review of the Candidate SDI List.
To select the Proposed SDI, The SDI Group will use a simple two pronged approach. First, select those endowments from the SDI Framework most critical to sustainable development. Then select those issues (and associated characteristics) most crucial to sustainable development. Selection criteria assure that the SDI Group chooses the most important issues and critical endowments. The overlap between the key issues and the key endowments represent the Proposed SDI.