IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i20p11196-d653485.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Eco-Efficiency for the G18: Trends and Future Outlook

Author

Listed:
  • Perry Sadorsky

    (Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada)

Abstract

Eco-efficiency is an important ecological indicator for tracking the progress of how countries’ environmental-adjusted economic activity changes over time. The objective of this research is to calculate country-level eco-efficiency for a group of 18 major countries (G18) that are part of the G20. First, the data envelope analysis (DEA) method is used to calculate eco-efficiency scores. Second, the Malmquist productivity index (MPI) is used to examine how eco-efficiency changes over time. Eco-efficiency is forecast to the year 2040 using automated forecasting methods under a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. Over the period 1997 to 2040, eco-efficiency varies widely between these countries with some countries reporting positive growth in eco-efficiency and other countries reporting negative growth. Eco-efficiency leaders over the period 1997 to 2019 and 2019 to 2040 include Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States. Laggards include Canada, China, India, and Indonesia. These laggard countries recorded negative growth rates in eco-efficiency over the period 1997 to 2019 and 2019 to 2040. Negative eco-efficiency growth points to a worsening of environmental sustainability. Large variations in eco-efficiency between countries make it more difficult to negotiate international agreements on energy efficiency and climate change. For the G18 countries, the average annual change in MPI over the period 1997 to 2019 was 0.5%, while the forecasted average annual change over the period 2019 to 2040 was a 0.1% decrease. For the G18 countries, there has been little change in eco-efficiency. The G18 are an important group of developed and developing countries that need to show leadership when it comes to increasing eco-efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Perry Sadorsky, 2021. "Eco-Efficiency for the G18: Trends and Future Outlook," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11196-:d:653485
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11196/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11196/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    2. Halkos, George Emm. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2009. "Exploring the existence of Kuznets curve in countries' environmental efficiency using DEA window analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 2168-2176, May.
    3. Millot, Ariane & Krook-Riekkola, Anna & Maïzi, Nadia, 2020. "Guiding the future energy transition to net-zero emissions: Lessons from exploring the differences between France and Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J. & Beltrán-Esteve, Mercedes & Gómez-Limón, José A., 2012. "Assessing eco-efficiency with directional distance functions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 220(3), pages 798-809.
    5. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W., 2008. "Linear programming models for measuring economy-wide energy efficiency performance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 2901-2906, August.
    6. den Elzen, Michel & Kuramochi, Takeshi & Höhne, Niklas & Cantzler, Jasmin & Esmeijer, Kendall & Fekete, Hanna & Fransen, Taryn & Keramidas, Kimon & Roelfsema, Mark & Sha, Fu & van Soest, Heleen & Vand, 2019. "Are the G20 economies making enough progress to meet their NDC targets?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 238-250.
    7. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Yuan, Yan & Goto, Mika, 2017. "A literature study for DEA applied to energy and environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-124.
    8. Roman Lacko & Zuzana Hajduová, 2018. "Determinants of Environmental Efficiency of the EU Countries Using Two-Step DEA Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-13, September.
    9. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Diewert, W Erwin, 1982. "The Economic Theory of Index Numbers and the Measurement of Input, Output, and Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1393-1414, November.
    10. Lei Wang & Ruyin Long & Hong Chen, 2017. "Study of Urban Energy Performance Assessment and Its Influencing Factors Based on Improved Stochastic Frontier Analysis: A Case Study of Provincial Capitals in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-18, June.
    11. Cheung, Grace & Davies, Peter J. & Bassen, Alexander, 2019. "In the transition of energy systems: What lessons can be learnt from the German achievement?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 633-646.
    12. Bingyao Chen, 2021. "Public–Private Partnership Infrastructure Investment and Sustainable Economic Development: An Empirical Study Based on Efficiency Evaluation and Spatial Spillover in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-20, July.
    13. Wen-Hsien Tsai & Hsiu-Li Lee & Chih-Hao Yang & Chung-Chen Huang, 2016. "Input-Output Analysis for Sustainability by Using DEA Method: A Comparison Study between European and Asian Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-17, November.
    14. Mikova, Nadezhda & Eichhammer, Wolfgang & Pfluger, Benjamin, 2019. "Low-carbon energy scenarios 2050 in north-west European countries: Towards a more harmonised approach to achieve the EU targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 448-460.
    15. Anna Łozowicka, 2020. "Evaluation of the Efficiency of Sustainable Development Policy Implementation in Selected EU Member States Using DEA. The Ecological Dimension," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, January.
    16. Alexandre Repkine & Dongki Min, 2020. "Foreign-Funded Enterprises and Pollution Halo Hypothesis: A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Thirty Chinese Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-24, June.
    17. Kyla Tienhaara, 2016. "Governing the Global Green Economy," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 7(4), pages 481-490, November.
    18. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Poh, K.L., 2008. "A survey of data envelopment analysis in energy and environmental studies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 1-18, August.
    19. Jin-chi Hsieh & Ching-cheng Lu & Ying Li & Yung-ho Chiu & Ya-sue Xu, 2019. "Environmental Assessment of European Union Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    20. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wanxin He & Jianhua Fu & Youxi Luo, 2023. "A Study of Well-Being-Based Eco-efficiency Based on Super-SBM and Tobit Regression Model: The Case of China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 289-317, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Perry Sadorsky, 2020. "Energy Related CO 2 Emissions before and after the Financial Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-22, May.
    2. Jindal, Abhinav & Nilakantan, Rahul, 2021. "Falling efficiency levels of Indian coal-fired power plants: A slacks-based analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Zhou, Haibo & Yang, Yi & Chen, Yao & Zhu, Joe, 2018. "Data envelopment analysis application in sustainability: The origins, development and future directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(1), pages 1-16.
    4. George Vlontzos & Spyros Niavis & Panos Pardalos, 2017. "Testing for Environmental Kuznets Curve in the EU Agricultural Sector through an Eco-(in)Efficiency Index," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Bampatsou, Christina & Halkos, George & Beneki, Christina, 2021. "Energy and material flow management to improve EU productivity," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 83-93.
    6. Mardani, Abbas & Zavadskas, Edmundas Kazimieras & Streimikiene, Dalia & Jusoh, Ahmad & Khoshnoudi, Masoumeh, 2017. "A comprehensive review of data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in energy efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1298-1322.
    7. Kangjuan Lv & Anyu Yu & Yiwen Bian, 2017. "Regional energy efficiency and its determinants in China during 2001–2010: a slacks-based measure and spatial econometric analysis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 65-81, February.
    8. Wen-Chi Yang & Wen-Min Lu, 2023. "Achieving Net Zero—An Illustration of Carbon Emissions Reduction with A New Meta-Inverse DEA Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-20, February.
    9. Reema Gh. Alajmi, 2024. "Total-Factor Energy Efficiency (TFEE) and CO 2 Emissions for GCC Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-14, January.
    10. Chang-Tai Lee & Jin-Li Hu & Ming-Hsin Kung, 2022. "Economic Resilience in the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Across-Economy Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-25, April.
    11. Monastyrenko, Evgenii, 2017. "Eco-efficiency outcomes of mergers and acquisitions in the European electricity industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 258-277.
    12. Halkos, George E. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2014. "Public sector transparency and countries’ environmental performance: A nonparametric analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 19-37.
    13. Haider, Salman & Danish, Mohd Shadab & Sharma, Ruchi, 2019. "Assessing energy efficiency of Indian paper industry and influencing factors: A slack-based firm-level analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 454-464.
    14. Dakpo, Hervé K & Jeanneaux, Philippe & Latruffe, Laure, 2014. "Inclusion of undesirable outputs in production technology modeling: The case of greenhouse gas emissions in French meat sheep farming," Working Papers 207806, Institut National de la recherche Agronomique (INRA), Departement Sciences Sociales, Agriculture et Alimentation, Espace et Environnement (SAE2).
    15. Bian, Yiwen & Hu, Miao & Wang, Yousen & Xu, Hao, 2016. "Energy efficiency analysis of the economic system in China during 1986–2012: A parallel slacks-based measure approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 990-998.
    16. Halkos, George & Tzeremes, Nickolaos, 2013. "An additive two-stage DEA approach creating sustainability efficiency indexes," MPRA Paper 44231, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Du, Huibin & Matisoff, Daniel C. & Wang, Yangyang & Liu, Xi, 2016. "Understanding drivers of energy efficiency changes in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1196-1206.
    18. Chia-Nan Wang & Hoang-Phu Nguyen & Cheng-Wen Chang, 2021. "Environmental Efficiency Evaluation in the Top Asian Economies: An Application of DEA," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, April.
    19. Meng, Fanyi & Su, Bin & Thomson, Elspeth & Zhou, Dequn & Zhou, P., 2016. "Measuring China’s regional energy and carbon emission efficiency with DEA models: A survey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1-21.
    20. Xie, Bai-Chen & Gao, Jie & Zhang, Shuang & Zhang, ZhongXiang, "undated". "What Factors Affect the Competiveness of Power Generation Sector in China? An Analysis Based on Game Cross-efficiency," MITP: Mitigation, Innovation and Transformation Pathways 254042, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11196-:d:653485. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.