Sustainable development according to 2030 agenda in European Union countries: Evidence of the enlargement policy

Abstract

This paper assesses the performance of European Union countries in achieving sustainable development using an assessment framework based on the 2030 Agenda. Through the application of the Spatial Sustainability Assessment Model, which integrates multi‐criteria analysis with the geographical tool QuantumGIS, European countries are classified according to the four basic dimensions of sustainability (social, economic, environmental, and institutional) organized into various sub‐dimensions, with reference to the year 2020. The results show that Northern countries have better overall sustainability performance in all dimensions except the environment. In contrast, Eastern European and Mediterranean countries perform worse, showing major weaknesses, especially in the economic and institutional dimensions, with a gap between the countries that joined the Union after 2004 and the other states. An in‐depth analysis was conducted to highlight the reasons behind these difficulties in order to give useful indications to public decision‐makers, as a tool for planning, on future choices.

Sustainable Energy Development and Sustainable Economic Development in EU Countries

“…The deliberations contained in the article are only a fragment of a broad spectrum of issues forming the collective sustainable development of the EU [98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109]. However, the conclusions drawn from the paper may help to improve policy-making in the EU and increase the territorial cohesion of the EU in the area of both sustainable energy development and sustainable economic development.…”

Economic Performance, Environmental Protection and Social Progress: A Cluster Analysis Comparison towards Sustainable Development

“…The pursuit of equitable, sustainable development and a high standard of living requires the identification of SDG and BES overlap [31]. However, the aggregation of information (which may or may not be related) is a complex challenge [32], and composite indicators may be needed for this purpose [33]. The effectiveness of composite indicators relies on the weighting system used, which can be implicit (i.e., equally weighted) or explicit (i.e., based on expert judgment) [34].…”

A comparative view of the level of agricultural sustainability – The case of European Union member states

“…Another manifestation of the high significance of sustainable agriculture in the development of the European Union was its important position in the EU's scientific research funding programme Horizon 2020, in particular in terms of the bioeconomy concept (European Commission, 2011). Furthermore, sustainable development of agriculture also has a significant position in the 2030 Agenda for the SDGs of the United Nations (Ricciolini et al, 2024;UN General Assembly, 2015). The European Union has undertaken to use the Agenda as a framework of its long-term strategy, which is manifested, among other instruments, in the New Green Deal (Hereu-Morales et al, 2024;Matthews, 2020).…”