Dynamics of Implementation of SDG 7 Targets in EU Member States 5 Years after the Adoption of the Paris Agreement

Abstract

The European Union, by adopting the European Green Deal, aims at an extremely ambitious goal to become climate neutral by 2050. This objective implies a massive investment plan to reduce disparities between EU Member States and to support their transformation efforts in order to reshape the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. The objective of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of implementation of SDG 7 targets in EU Member States 5 years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. Using hierarchical clustering analysis to reveal hidden associative structures, EU countries were grouped in 2015 and 2019 based on Eurostat data in order to identify and analyze key characteristics, but also to evaluate their evolution over time. The results of this research revealed clusters of high-performing countries, as well as countries that require increased attention and support to ease the transition to a greener economy. If in 2015 the cluster of the best performing countries consisted of four EU countries, in 2019, their number increased to eight EU countries, simultaneously with an improvement of the indicators, proving a real concern and involvement regarding the achievement of SDG 7 targets.

Progress of EU Member States Regarding the Bioeconomy and Biomass Producing and Converting Sectors

“…In this way, strong initiatives build bridges between biotechnology and the economy, as well as between science, industry and society. While the challenges and prospects of bioeconomies are immense, from large-scale manufacturing of products such as chemicals, materials, food, pharmaceuticals, biomaterials and bioenergy etc., in a sustainable and cost-effective way for a growing world population, success for different countries varies greatly from high-tech bioeconomies, diversified emerging bioeconomies to advanced bioeconomies [14][15][16].…”

“…A sustainable and circular bioeconomy is thus essential for achieving a climate-neutral future. The transition to the bioeconomy will be based on technological progress in a range of processes, but also on progress in technical performance that will depend on the availability of sustainable biomass [16,[54][55][56].…”

Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (Sdg) in Portugal and Forecast of Key Indicators Until 2030

“…With this in mind, we point out that the case of Portugal is different, because even though the climate is mild, in terms of SDG 7, this is one of the most vulnerable countries in the European Union. This is because, the extent, variability, societal vulnerability to fuel poverty is a characteristic of all regions in Portugal (Dobbins et al, 2019;Firoiu et al, 2021). Horta et al (2019) highlight that households consider normal and acceptable the situation in which they feel both cold and heat in their homes.…”

The Development of Sustainable Agriculture in EU Countries and the Potential Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals Specific Targets (SDG 2)

“…Reducing hunger, food insecurity and adequate nutrition has only one solution today, and that is to encourage sustainable agriculture by 2030. This is also the reason why the 2030 Agenda, specifically SDG 2, aims at a set of headline targets focusing on eradicating hunger and increasing access to sufficient nutritious food; eradicating all forms of malnutrition; increasing the productivity and incomes of food producers, especially smallholder farmers; ensuring the sustainability of the food production system and implementing sustainable agricultural practices; increasing inter-regional and international investment; preventing trade restrictions; ensuring well-functioning food markets; and facilitating timely access to market information [15][16][17].…”