Assessment of Sustainable Economic Development in the EU Countries with Reference to the SDGs and Environmental Footprint Indices

Kęstutis Biekša (), Violeta Valiulė, Ligita Šimanskienė and Raffaele Silvestri ()
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Kęstutis Biekša: Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Klaipeda University, S. Neries Str. 5, LT-92227 Klaipeda, Lithuania
Violeta Valiulė: Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Klaipeda University, S. Neries Str. 5, LT-92227 Klaipeda, Lithuania
Ligita Šimanskienė: Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Klaipeda University, S. Neries Str. 5, LT-92227 Klaipeda, Lithuania
Raffaele Silvestri: Department of Economics, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-18

Abstract: The article analyses sustainable economic development of EU countries according to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), by using indices of integrated sustainable development and environmental footprint. Sustainable economic initiatives can be driven by economic, environmental and social aspects, applying principles of innovation and knowledge. However, development requires skills, human and financial resources; in turn, it increases productivity, efficiency, competitiveness, profit, and promotes a better working environment. In general, sustainable business initiatives contribute to SDGs and reduce the environmental footprint. The scientific problem is how to develop a sustainable economy while ensuring the achievement of SDGs and at the same time reducing the environmental footprint. The object of the scientific research is the evaluation of sustainable economic development through the analysis of integrated sustainable development indicators. The aim of the research is, upon the evaluation of SDGs and environmental footprint indices as well as the analysis of the integrated sustainable development indicator, to identify the opportunities for sustainable economic development in the EU countries. The research has been carried out by analysing the scientific literature, and applying SDGs and environmental footprint methodology to calculate individual and integrated sustainable development indices. The results have shown that despite the disparity of SDG indices, the overall value of the integrated sustainable development indicator is distributed quite evenly among the EU countries. The impacts from each of the SDG indices range from 11% to 31% but the environmental footprint index has the greatest impact on the sustainable development of a country—up to 31%.

Keywords: sustainable development; SDG; environmental footprint; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:18:p:11265-:d:910005

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