Criteria-Based Approach to Select Relevant Environmental SDG Indicators for the Automobile Industry

Sergej Lisowski, Markus Berger, Justus Caspers, Klaus Mayr-Rauch, Georg Bäuml and Matthias Finkbeiner
Additional contact information
Sergej Lisowski: Department of Environmental Management Product, Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, Brieffach 011/1774, 38436 Wolfsburg, Germany
Markus Berger: Institute of Environmental Technology, Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Office Z1, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Justus Caspers: Institute of Environmental Technology, Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Office Z1, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Klaus Mayr-Rauch: Department of Environmental Management Product, Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, Brieffach 011/1774, 38436 Wolfsburg, Germany
Georg Bäuml: Department of Environmental Management Product, Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, Brieffach 011/1774, 38436 Wolfsburg, Germany
Matthias Finkbeiner: Institute of Environmental Technology, Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Office Z1, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-22

Abstract: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be met without the private sector. In order to contribute to the fulfillment of the SDGs, companies have to identify their influence and select relevant SDGs. However, so far no research has been conducted on the influence of companies or industries at the most concrete level in the SDG framework—the 247 SDG indicators. In this paper, a criteria-based approach to select relevant environmental SDG indicators for the automobile industry is developed. The three criteria—environmental impact, direct impact, and automobile impact—are defined. By means of a qualitative analysis, 31 influenceable indicators are selected and substantiated by an empirical analysis of the automobile industry’s impact. These indicators belong to 12 SDGs and demonstrate the broad influence of the automobile industry. The outcome of this study is a structured procedure for selecting relevant environmental SDG indicators. This procedure can be applied by companies and can also be adapted to other economic sectors. Finally, it is possible to quantify the level of influence of the selected indicators and thus measure the contributions of companies or economic sectors to the fulfillment of the SDGs.

Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); 2030 agenda; relevant SDG indicators; environment; automobile industry; automotive industry; impact; influence; contribution; criteria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/8811/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/8811/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:21:p:8811-:d:433733

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().