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Sustainability Assessment of Investments Based on a Multiple Criteria Methodological Framework

Author

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  • Paraskevi Ovezikoglou

    (Department of Quality Management and Technology, School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, GR 26335 Patra, Greece)

  • Dimitrios Aidonis

    (Department of Quality Management and Technology, School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, GR 26335 Patra, Greece
    Department of Supply Chain Management, School of Economics and Business Administration, International Hellenic University, GR 60100 Katerini, Greece)

  • Charisios Achillas

    (Department of Supply Chain Management, School of Economics and Business Administration, International Hellenic University, GR 60100 Katerini, Greece)

  • Christos Vlachokostas

    (Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University Thessaloniki, GR 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Dionysis Bochtis

    (Institute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO), Center for Research and Technology–Hellas (CERTH), 6th km Charilaou-Thermi Rd, Thermi, GR 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece)

Abstract

The assessment of an investment is currently carried out by using mainly financial tools. This work presents a new model for the assessment of the sustainability of an industrial investment and focuses on the development of a holistic framework with the use of indicators. With the use of multi-criteria decision analysis, the framework evaluates a total of eighteen (18) alternative indicators in order to select the optimal bundle to be used for the assessment of future industrial investments. The proposed indicators are selected based on relevant data from the literature, taking into account the principles of prevention, planning and designing. The alternatives are assessed over four (4) criteria, namely environment, society, economy and technology, which are grounded on the principles of sustainable development. Depending on the special characteristics of the programme that is foreseen to fund the potential investments, the decision-maker is provided with a hierarchized set of indicators over which the alternative investments could be optimally assessed in parallel with widely used indicators that strictly assess economic performance. In the present work, twelve (12) different scenarios are examined, incorporating different values in the coefficients of the criteria. For the majority of the scenarios examined (a sensitivity analysis is also provided), the alternative indicator that is assessed with the highest score is “Resource Savings”, followed by “Recycling” and “Research, Innovation, Development”.

Suggested Citation

  • Paraskevi Ovezikoglou & Dimitrios Aidonis & Charisios Achillas & Christos Vlachokostas & Dionysis Bochtis, 2020. "Sustainability Assessment of Investments Based on a Multiple Criteria Methodological Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-13, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:6805-:d:402341
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Charisios Achillas & Dionysis Bochtis, 2020. "Toward a Green, Closed-Loop, Circular Bioeconomy: Boosting the Performance Efficiency of Circular Business Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-6, December.
    2. Vangelis Marinakis & Alexandros Flamos & Giorgos Stamtsis & Ioannis Georgizas & Yannis Maniatis & Haris Doukas, 2020. "The Efforts towards and Challenges of Greece’s Post-Lignite Era: The Case of Megalopolis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Charisios Achillas & Dionysis Bochtis, 2021. "Supply Chain Management for Bioenergy and Bioresources: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-4, September.
    4. Manuel Sousa & Maria Fatima Almeida & Rodrigo Calili, 2021. "Multiple Criteria Decision Making for the Achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: A Systematic Literature Review and a Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-37, April.

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