Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective

Eco-efficiency indicators represent a valuable instrument supporting policy decisions geared at sustainability. However, in order to provide effective guidance, eco-efficiency should be assessed considering the heterogeneous territorial settings, and thus the underlying economic structures that regi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bianchi, Marco, Del Valle Erquiaga, Miren Ikerne, Tapia García, Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/76500
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/76500
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:eco-efficiency
data envelopment analysis
metafrontier
technology gap
european regions
territorial heterogeneity
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spelling Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspectiveBianchi, MarcoDel Valle Erquiaga, Miren IkerneTapia García, Carloseco-efficiencydata envelopment analysismetafrontiertechnology gapeuropean regionsterritorial heterogeneityEco-efficiency indicators represent a valuable instrument supporting policy decisions geared at sustainability. However, in order to provide effective guidance, eco-efficiency should be assessed considering the heterogeneous territorial settings, and thus the underlying economic structures that regions exhibit. Starting from the most common definition of eco-efficiency as the ratio of economic output to environmental input, this paper aims to investigate regional eco-efficiency patterns in Europe, paying particular attention to territorial heterogeneity. The study relies on the DEA metafrontier approach to (1) assess the comparative evolution of eco-efficiency in 282 European regions between 2006 and 2014, and (2) estimate the technology and conditional efficiency gaps that regions display considering their dominant territorial features (i.e. urban, intermediate and rural). The results show an overall upward trend in eco-efficiency across European regions recorded between 2006 and 2014. However, there is no evidence that regions are converging equally to similar levels of eco-efficiency. On the contrary, a rather complex EU core-periphery pattern seems to be emerging. In most Eastern regions changes in eco-efficiency ratios are mainly driven by a narrowing technology gap. Differently, the majority of intermediate and rural Southern regions display eco-efficiency improvements mostly explained by the attenuation of conditional efficiency gap. These results suggest that future efforts to improve eco-efficiency should be aimed at encouraging an efficient use of productive factors within each region, going beyond generic urban/rural approaches and therefore focusing on the complex linkages between the physical, social and economic environments within individual regions. To the best of our knowledge, the analysis of regional eco-efficiency performance based on territorial structures represents a major contribution to previous literature in this field.Elsevier202520252020info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10810/76500reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigacióninstname:Universidad del País VascoIngléshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123246info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/© 2020 Elsevier under CC BY-NC-ND licenseoai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/765002026-06-18T09:23:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective
title Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective
spellingShingle Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective
Bianchi, Marco
eco-efficiency
data envelopment analysis
metafrontier
technology gap
european regions
territorial heterogeneity
title_short Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective
title_full Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective
title_fullStr Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective
title_full_unstemmed Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective
title_sort Measuring Eco-efficiency in European regions: evidence from a territorial perspective
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bianchi, Marco
Del Valle Erquiaga, Miren Ikerne
Tapia García, Carlos
author Bianchi, Marco
author_facet Bianchi, Marco
Del Valle Erquiaga, Miren Ikerne
Tapia García, Carlos
author_role author
author2 Del Valle Erquiaga, Miren Ikerne
Tapia García, Carlos
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv eco-efficiency
data envelopment analysis
metafrontier
technology gap
european regions
territorial heterogeneity
topic eco-efficiency
data envelopment analysis
metafrontier
technology gap
european regions
territorial heterogeneity
description Eco-efficiency indicators represent a valuable instrument supporting policy decisions geared at sustainability. However, in order to provide effective guidance, eco-efficiency should be assessed considering the heterogeneous territorial settings, and thus the underlying economic structures that regions exhibit. Starting from the most common definition of eco-efficiency as the ratio of economic output to environmental input, this paper aims to investigate regional eco-efficiency patterns in Europe, paying particular attention to territorial heterogeneity. The study relies on the DEA metafrontier approach to (1) assess the comparative evolution of eco-efficiency in 282 European regions between 2006 and 2014, and (2) estimate the technology and conditional efficiency gaps that regions display considering their dominant territorial features (i.e. urban, intermediate and rural). The results show an overall upward trend in eco-efficiency across European regions recorded between 2006 and 2014. However, there is no evidence that regions are converging equally to similar levels of eco-efficiency. On the contrary, a rather complex EU core-periphery pattern seems to be emerging. In most Eastern regions changes in eco-efficiency ratios are mainly driven by a narrowing technology gap. Differently, the majority of intermediate and rural Southern regions display eco-efficiency improvements mostly explained by the attenuation of conditional efficiency gap. These results suggest that future efforts to improve eco-efficiency should be aimed at encouraging an efficient use of productive factors within each region, going beyond generic urban/rural approaches and therefore focusing on the complex linkages between the physical, social and economic environments within individual regions. To the best of our knowledge, the analysis of regional eco-efficiency performance based on territorial structures represents a major contribution to previous literature in this field.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10810/76500
url http://hdl.handle.net/10810/76500
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123246
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
© 2020 Elsevier under CC BY-NC-ND license
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
© 2020 Elsevier under CC BY-NC-ND license
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
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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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