The structure, indicators, and metrics of STAR will be established by the Steering Committee and Technical Advisory Committees. Credits will cover a broad diversity of issues that jurisdictions are directly responsible for such as municipal operations and services to issues that jurisdictions have influence over such as environmental protection and quality of life. STAR indicators and metrics may include the following categories.

Environment

• Natural Systems (ecosystems and habitat, water and stormwater, air quality, waste, and resource conservation)
• Planning & Design (land use, transportation and mobility, and parks, open space and recreation)
  
• Energy & Climate (energy, emissions, renewable energy, and green building)
  
  

Economy

• Economic Development (clean technologies and green jobs, local commerce, tourism, and local food system)
  
• Employment & Workforce Training (green job training, employment and workforce wages, and youth skills)
  

Society

• Education, Arts & Community (education excellence, arts and culture, and civic engagement and vitality)
  
• Children, Health & Safety (community health and wellness, access to health care, and public safety)
  
• Affordability & Social Equity (affordable and workforce housing, poverty, human services and race and social equity)
  

Why a National, Standardized Framework Is Essential

The development and administration of sustainability frameworks requires investment by jurisdictions and partnering organization in both staffing and financial resources. STAR will help local governments by reducing their overall investment in program development and administration and allow jurisdictions to maximize investments to more effectively advance strategic actions that result in improved performance.

In addition, established frameworks offer a vast diversity in the structure and focus making it very difficult to compare the progress of one locality to another and reducing the opportunity to leverage change and share lessons learned. While frameworks may contain commonalities in use of terms and themes addressed, these terms and themes do not share common definitions, leading to additional potential confusion and lost opportunities for collaboration. STAR will allow local governments to affect change through a common agenda and broad-based consensus process. It will accelerate adoption of a model policies and innovation in best practices and facilitate information sharing between jurisdictions.