1. To enlarge the awareness of people about the extent of (un)sustainability of their own country. This requires a wide coverage in the media.
2. As a monitoring and policy instrument for national and regional governments.

This, simplified scheme shows the way the SSI will be used in Romania. More countries have already shown their interest.

At national level, each indicator will be assigned to a specific ministry. This ministry will be responsible for the development towards sustainability with respect to this indicator. The SSI can monitor the results of projects and programmes with respect to the contribution to sustainability. For example, what is the actual progress towards sustainability? Will the targets set by the government be met in time? This will be an input for the revision of projects and for the revision of strategies.

3. As a benchmark instrument for comparing countries and regions, and thus stimulating each other to make progress on the way towards sustainability. Recently a comparison of the SSI-scores (overall score, per category and per indicator) for Eastern European and CIS countries has been made for the OECD-conference in Moscow in September 2008.
4. For educational purposes at all levels. The SSI has already been integrated in several curricula of universities in The Netherlands and in Romania.
5. For NGOs to set and monitor their sustainability strategy and to communicate this to the public. Romanian authorities have decided to involve civil society organisations in the process of monitoring the implementation process of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development. The SSI will be the tool which will be used by these organisations in the coming years. Furthermore, NGOs are using SSI as a communication tool for sustainability issues.
6. As a starting point for further innovations. An example is the development of a tailor-made sustainability index for greenhouse cultures in the Netherlands, based on the concept of the SSI. This new index is already operational.