Eco-Efficiency of the English and Welsh Water Companies: A Cross Performance Assessment

Ramon Sala-Garrido, Manuel Mocholi-Arce, Maria Molinos-Senante, Michail Smyrnakis and Alexandros Maziotis
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Ramon Sala-Garrido: Department of Mathematics for Economics, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Manuel Mocholi-Arce: Department of Mathematics for Economics, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Maria Molinos-Senante: Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 4860 Santiago, Chile
Michail Smyrnakis: Hartree Centre, Science and Technology Facility Council (STFC), Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD, UK
Alexandros Maziotis: Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 4860 Santiago, Chile

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: Analyzing costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could be of great importance for the water utilities to supply water services in a healthy and sustainable manner. In this study, we measured the eco-efficiency of several water utilities in England and Wales by incorporating GHG as an undesirable output. For the first time, we evaluated the eco-efficiency of the water production process using robust cross-efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques. The further use of clustering and regression techniques allowed us to better understand the drivers of eco-efficiency. The results showed that the mean eco-efficiency of the water sector was 0.748, which indicates that costs and GHG emissions could be reduced by 25.2% to generate the same level of output. Large water companies with high energy costs and levels of GHG emissions belonged to the less eco-efficient group. Environmental factors related to density, topography, and treatment complexity further impacted eco-efficiency. Finally, we linked our results to the regulatory cycle and discuss some policy implications.

Keywords: cross eco-efficiency; greenhouse gas emissions; environmental variables; water utilities; England and Wales (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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