Measuring Sustainability Performance with Multi Criteria Model: A Case Study

A Critical Review of EU Key Indicators for the Transition to the Circular Economy

The objective of this paper is to analyze the extent to which the system of indicators that is used in the Monitoring Framework for the transition to the circular economy (CE) is efficient and relevant in their contribution to the sustainable development of European communities. The fundaments of the transition framework and the main characteristics of the circularity indicators are presented. A critical review was performed in order to fulfill the objective of analyzing the current indicators. It is concluded that the indicators in the current framework are (as a selection from a very broad range of indicators theoretically proposed and with estimated practical applicability) limited from the perspective of circularity only to waste generation and recycling processes containing recyclable materials, without including important circularity indicators related to the prolonging and extending the life cycle of products and materials. This paper proposes and defines such an indicator, based on the consideration of the fundamental scalars describing economy, mass, energy, time, and value, respectively. The indicator is described and its applicability in all the phases of the economy is estimated.

A Synthetic Indicator for Sustainability Standards of Water Resources in Agriculture

The aim of this work is to evaluate the sustainability of water management for agriculture in a specific territory through the creation of a synthetic index resulting from the aggregation of multiple indices (environmental, economic, and social). The resulting synthetic index can be used to set sustainability standards and to guide the choices mandated by the Common Agricultural Policy 2023–2027. In this work we intend to show how the Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method facilitates a complex process such as establishing a degree of sustainability in a certain area and, therefore, provides support to national or regional policies and communities. The integration of MCDA and GIS increases the efficiency of the support activity. A case study is presented evaluating the level of sustainability in the Irrigation and Reclamation Consortium of Piacenza and Emilia Centrale, in the Emilia Romagna region.

Evaluation of Sustainable Energy Development Progress in EU Member States in the Context of Building Renovation

The main goal of setting energy efficiency priorities is to find ways to reduce energy consumption without harming consumers and the environment. The renovation of buildings can be considered one of the main aspects of energy efficiency in the European Union (EU). In the EU, only 5% of the renovation projects have been able to yield energy-saving at the deep renovation level. No other study has thus far ranked the EU member states according to achieved results in terms of increased usage in renewable sources, a decrease in energy usage and import, and reduction in harmful gas emissions due to energy usage. The main purpose of this article is to perform a comparative analysis of EU economies according to selected indicators related to the usage of renewable resources, energy efficiency, and emissions of harmful gasses as a result of energy usage. The methodological contribution of our study is related to developing a complex and robust research method for investment efficiency assessment allowing the study of three groups of indicators related to the usage of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, and ecological aspects of energy. It was based on the PROMETHEE II method and allows testing it in other time periods, as well as modifying it for research purposes. The EU member states were categorized by such criteria as energy from renewables and biofuels, final energy consumption from renewables and biofuels, gross electricity generation from renewables and biofuels and import dependency, and usage of renewables and biofuels for heating and cooling. The results of energy per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions per million inhabitants (ECO2), energy per capita, the share of CO2 emissions from public electricity, and heat production from total CO2 emissions revealed that Latvia, Sweden, Portugal, Croatia, Austria, Lithuania, Romania, Denmark, and Finland are the nine most advanced countries in the area under consideration. In the group of the most advanced countries, energy consumption from renewables and biofuels is higher than the EU average.

An integrated approach of PCA and PROMETHEE in spatial assessment of circular economy indicators

In order to ensure environmental sustainability, reducing the consumption of renewable resources, finding adequate substitutes for non-renewable resources, and reducing the generation of waste and pollution are necessities. The concept of circular economy one of the possible and good responses to improve the sustainability of the system, as it places particular emphasis on the reduction, reutilization and recycling of its elements. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the circular economy development in European Union countries based on the dataset encompasses 11 indicators, covering the seven-year period with biennial data. The analysis was performed using the integrated approach of the Principal Component Analysis and PROMETHEE with the aim of creating a composite index as a measure of the development of the circular economy at the national level. The ranking outcomes indicate that during the observed period Germany has the most developed circular economy, followed by the Netherlands, France and Austria. Additionally, the results of the research clearly indicate the positive correlation between the development of circular economies at the national level and the socio-economic development of the country, while progress in the circular economy has no immediate impact on environmental sustainability, but the effects are realized subsequently, with the intensity of the relationship increasing in two-year lag periods.

Towards Sustainability in E-Banking Website Assessment Methods

Nowadays, banking services have evolved from offline financial services to online platforms available in the form of websites and mobile applications. While multiple methods exist for evaluation of generic-purpose websites, the appraisal of banking services requires a more sophisticated approach. Multiple factors need to be taken into consideration, revolving not only around technical and usability aspects of the sites, but also considering the economic and anti-crisis factors. Moreover, due to the fact that one of the groups of people interested in banking services assessment are potential clients, which might or might not be technically and theoretically literate, a sustainable approach to banking services evaluation is needed. The main contribution of this paper is a sustainable approach balancing the evaluation accuracy with usage simplicity and computational complexity of evaluation methods. Also, a reference model for banking services evaluation is provided. In practical terms, a set of all significant commercial banking services in Poland is assessed. Last, but not least, a preliminary study of practical applicability of various evaluation methods amongst computer-literate banking clients is performed.

Selection of the Best Method for Underpinning Foundations Using the PROMETHEE II Method

This article proposes applying the preference-ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations (PROMETHEE) II in the selection of the optimal solution and ranking of selected methods for underpinning foundations. Analysis of the selected foundation-underpinning methods was based on a complex decision-making problem that included aspects of the three pillars of sustainable development, and it was extended to include technological and constructional criteria. The study used the following criteria for assessing proposed variants: price, bearing capacity, noise and vibrations, necessary equipment, necessary excavations under final structure, failure rates, and necessary foundation shoring. Analysis using the PROMETHEE II method allowed for identifying strengths and weaknesses of selected methods for underpinning foundations. The PROMETHEE II method enabled to create a ranking of foundation-underpinning methods. Jet-grouting and root-pile methods were the highest scorers in this ranking and those that fulfilled the identified criteria to the greatest extent. Moreover, analysis showed that the PROMETHEE II method was useful in solving problems of choice in the construction industry.

Multivariable Supplier Segmentation in Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Pressure from stakeholders for sustainable development is forcing top management to reconsider its supply chain management. This form of sustainability must consider the risks, insecurities, and lack of proximity caused by any event on the global economy. Organizations must identify and manage the risks of every link in the chain, while pursuing sustainable development. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development must be the result of a deliberate and coordinated response by the entire organization. A suitable segmentation of suppliers allows development strategies to be prioritized. This article presents the steps that should be followed in supply chain management, the identification of risks, and the new leadership of purchasing management to develop a sustainable supply chain. To this end, some of the key industrial actions reported in the literature are outlined, and two case studies are presented to identify the steps for the segmentation and dynamic development of suppliers. This article provides reflections on the responsibilities of senior management in the new era of sustainable development and presents guidance on how to coordinate sustainable development in the supply chain.

Establishing a Sustainable Sports Tourism Evaluation Framework with a Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model to Explore Potential Sports Tourism Attractions in Taiwan

In recent years, the awareness of sustainable tourism has risen around the world. Many tourism industries combine sports to attract more customers to facilitate the development of the economy and the promotion of local culture. However, it is an important task to establish a comprehensive tourism evaluation framework for sustainable sports tourism. This study proposes a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) model to discuss the above issues, using the Bayesian Best Worst Method (Bayesian BWM) to integrate multiple experts’ judgments to generate the group optimal criteria weights. Next, the modified Visekriterijumska Optimizacija i Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) technique is combined with the concept of aspiration level to determine the performance of sports attractions and their priority ranks. In addition, this study adds a perspective of institutional sustainability to emphasize the importance of government support and local marketing. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed model is demonstrated through potential sports tourism attractions in Taiwan. A sensitivity analysis and models comparison were also performed in this study. The results show that the proposed model is feasible for practical applications and that it effectively provides some management implications to support decision-makers in formulating improvement strategies.

Assessing Impacts of CAP Subsidies on Financial Performance of Enterprises in Slovak Republic

Sustainability is a particularly crucial factor in policy formulation and analysis, including in the EU’s common agricultural policy. The common agricultural policy, through a subsidy policy, has caused a significant proportion of public funding to flow to agricultural subsidies, so it is appropriate to focus on the effect of these subsidies in the context of the sustainable development of EU agriculture. The impact of agricultural subsidies on business performance is of interest to policy makers. In agrarian practice, insufficient attention is paid to the legal form of agricultural performance, so our economic analysis focused on this area of research. The aim of the paper was to evaluate the effect of financial support in the form of subsidies resulting from the EU’s common agricultural policy and to verify its connection with the performance of agricultural enterprises in terms of the legal form in the context of sustainable development of the agricultural sector in Slovakia. No statistically significant linear correlation was found between farms’ performance results and the volume of subsidies per hectare of agricultural land for each legal form throughout the reporting period. In each analyzed year, business companies achieved a better overall assessment than agricultural cooperatives based on monitored parameters.

CODAS HFLTS Method to Appraise Organizational Culture of Innovation and Complex Technological Changes Environments

Sustainable development implies establishing principles, objectives and strategies within organizations that impact the organizational culture in innovation. However, a method needs to be defined in order to know the critical factors that allow the strengthening of the organizational culture in innovation with emphasis on Industry 4.0 and sustainable development in a highly changing environment for a specific organization. In this sense, the paper identifies the set of factors that are documented through reviews and analysis of the literature, subsequently proposes a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methodology using hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (HFLTS) and combinative distance-based assessment (CODAS), where factors are evaluated to obtain a score and hierarchy value. Weight values were calculated using the ambiguity reduction method, which incorporates the knowledge acquired by researchers in organizational culture of innovation and expert judgment under the Saaty scale used in analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Finally, a model of organizational culture in innovation is proposed that can be used by organizations to focus strategies on the factors of greater hierarchy and thereby optimize their resources considering the sustainable development and the Industry 4.0 approach.