Integrating economics, environment, social, and governance (EESG): A more comprehensive sustainable framework

To establish a comprehensive sustainable development framework that balances economic development and ESG levels, this paper proposes an EESG (Economics, Environment, Social, and Governance) evaluation system. This paper uses the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method to calculate and compare the EESG scores of 121 countries from 2000 to 2022. We find that the development of EESG levels among countries shows significant imbalances, with European countries in a leading position, while African countries have long lagged behind other continents. Moreover, the EESG levels of OECD countries show a robust and significant upward trend, while some non-OECD countries have even stagnated or regressed. Further analysis indicates that North America, Europe, Oceania, and some developed countries in Asia exhibit high levels of both economic development and ESG performance, with a relatively balanced relationship between the two. In contrast, countries in South America, Africa, and most developing countries in Asia lack this balance in their economic and ESG development. This study provides quantitative evidence and theoretical support for achieving the coordination between economic development and sustainable development goals.