The Oakland-based Global Footprint Network promotes programs to influence decisionmakers at all levels of society (government, cities and corporations). Key to this approach has been the development of the ‘Ecological Footprint’ – an analytic tool that functions as a sophisticated indicator bolstering sustainable development policies by quantifying human ecological impact. In order to create a critical mass of institutions using the Ecological Footprint as an accepted resource accounting tool, the Global Footprint Network has developed a network of more than 90 partners across six continents that play a local advocacy role and contribute to the ongoing refinement of the tool’s methodology and application.