Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries

Current environmental and sustainable development metrics fail to capture environmental sustainability from a strong sustainability perspective, which can lead to misleading messages around the urgency to reduce environmental degradation. The Environmental Sustainability Gap (ESGAP) framework addres...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Usubiaga-Liaño, A., Ekins, P.
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Recursos:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/59887
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/59887
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palavra-chave:Environmental indicators
Environmental sustainability
ESGAP
Strong Environmental Sustainability Progress Index
Sustainability gap
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spelling Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countriesUsubiaga-Liaño, A.Ekins, P.Environmental indicatorsEnvironmental sustainabilityESGAPStrong Environmental Sustainability Progress IndexSustainability gapCurrent environmental and sustainable development metrics fail to capture environmental sustainability from a strong sustainability perspective, which can lead to misleading messages around the urgency to reduce environmental degradation. The Environmental Sustainability Gap (ESGAP) framework addresses this measurement gap with metrics that reflect whether the functions of natural capital can be sustained in the long term. To date, the framework has been implemented through the Strong Environmental Sustainability Index (SESI), which provides a ‘snapshot’ perspective on whether countries meet science-based environmental standards for a wide range of environmental and resource topics at a given point in time. However, SESI does not show whether countries are moving towards or away from environmental sustainability. This is a perspective often overlooked in many environmental and sustainable development metrics. To address this research gap, this paper presents the Strong Environmental Sustainability Progress Index (SESPI). SESPI comprises 19 indicators. For each of these indicators, it measures whether under current trends, standards of environmental sustainability would be reached in 2030. The resulting information is normalised, weighted and aggregated into a single index that has been computed for 28 European countries. The results show mixed progress for Europe with notable differences between countries and indicators, but generally speaking, it can be concluded that Europe is not on a sustainable path. All in all, SESPI can answer the question of whether we are making progress towards environmental sustainability and make the main messages more digestible to decision-makers and the general public. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature.AU-L was supported by María de Maeztu excellence accreditation 2018–2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/; and by the Basque Government through the BERC 2022–2025 program.AU-L was supported by María de Maeztu excellence accreditation 2018–2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/; and by the Basque Government through the BERC 2022–2025 program.Sustainability Science202320232022info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10810/59887reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigacióninstname:Universidad del País VascoIngléshttps://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01167-2info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/es/© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature.Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 Españaoai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/598872026-06-18T09:23:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries
title Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries
spellingShingle Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries
Usubiaga-Liaño, A.
Environmental indicators
Environmental sustainability
ESGAP
Strong Environmental Sustainability Progress Index
Sustainability gap
title_short Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries
title_full Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries
title_fullStr Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries
title_full_unstemmed Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries
title_sort Are we on the right path? Measuring progress towards environmental sustainability in European countries
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Usubiaga-Liaño, A.
Ekins, P.
author Usubiaga-Liaño, A.
author_facet Usubiaga-Liaño, A.
Ekins, P.
author_role author
author2 Ekins, P.
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Environmental indicators
Environmental sustainability
ESGAP
Strong Environmental Sustainability Progress Index
Sustainability gap
topic Environmental indicators
Environmental sustainability
ESGAP
Strong Environmental Sustainability Progress Index
Sustainability gap
description Current environmental and sustainable development metrics fail to capture environmental sustainability from a strong sustainability perspective, which can lead to misleading messages around the urgency to reduce environmental degradation. The Environmental Sustainability Gap (ESGAP) framework addresses this measurement gap with metrics that reflect whether the functions of natural capital can be sustained in the long term. To date, the framework has been implemented through the Strong Environmental Sustainability Index (SESI), which provides a ‘snapshot’ perspective on whether countries meet science-based environmental standards for a wide range of environmental and resource topics at a given point in time. However, SESI does not show whether countries are moving towards or away from environmental sustainability. This is a perspective often overlooked in many environmental and sustainable development metrics. To address this research gap, this paper presents the Strong Environmental Sustainability Progress Index (SESPI). SESPI comprises 19 indicators. For each of these indicators, it measures whether under current trends, standards of environmental sustainability would be reached in 2030. The resulting information is normalised, weighted and aggregated into a single index that has been computed for 28 European countries. The results show mixed progress for Europe with notable differences between countries and indicators, but generally speaking, it can be concluded that Europe is not on a sustainable path. All in all, SESPI can answer the question of whether we are making progress towards environmental sustainability and make the main messages more digestible to decision-makers and the general public. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2023
2023
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10810/59887
url http://hdl.handle.net/10810/59887
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01167-2
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/es/
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature.
Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 España
eu_rights_str_mv embargoedAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/es/
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature.
Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 España
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Sustainability Science
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Sustainability Science
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
instname:Universidad del País Vasco
instname_str Universidad del País Vasco
reponame_str Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
collection Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
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