Abstract
The FEEM Sustainability Index (FEEM SI) proposes an integrated methodological approach to quantitatively assess sustainability performance across countries and over time. Three are the main features of this approach: (1) the index considers sustainability based on economic, environmental and social indicators simultaneously; (2) the framework used to compute the indicators, i.e. a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, allows to generate projections on the future evolution of sustainability; and (3) the methodology used for the normalisation and aggregation of the indicators delivers a unique and comprehensive measure of sustainability. These features along with the multi-regional nature of the CGE model consent to perform policy evaluations and sustainability assessments for different countries or regions in the world. This chapter offers a methodological overview of the FEEM SI approach. To illustrate the potential of the methodology for the measurement of sustainability, the chapter also illustrates results from a climate policy scenario. In the mitigation scenario considered Annex I and Non-Annex I countries taking action towards climate change achieve the lower end of the pledges proposed at the 15th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen. For countries putting into practice the policy, the environmental sphere more than offsets the related costs (economic pillar), leading to an overall improvement in sustainability. At world level, the outcome is positive even though carbon leakage in countries that are not acting reduces the effectiveness of the policy and the sustainability performance.
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Notes
- 1.
The complete overview on methodology and results is available at: www.feemsi.org. See also Carraro et al. (2012).
- 2.
- 3.
These sectors were extracted from more aggregate sectors by using the SplitCom facility (Horridge 2008) and constructed using data from relevant sources.
- 4.
The complete description of the normalization and benchmarking procedure as well as the benchmark selection is in Chap. 3 of the FEEM SI Methodological report (FEEM 2011).
- 5.
See Meyer and Ponthière (2011) for a recent application of the Choquet integral to construct a ranking of multiattribute hypothetical societies by eliciting individual preferences on different dimensions of living conditions.
- 6.
For a detailed description of the aggregation procedure see Cruciani et al. (2012).
- 7.
The baseline calibration and validation is detailed in Chap. 5 of the FEEM SI Methodological report (FEEM 2011).
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Acknowledgments
This chapter is part of the research of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Research Programme of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. The FEEM Sustainability Index has benefited from support from researchers outside the FEEM SI team as well as the contribution of a set of experts who responded a questionnaire. We would like to thank them for their patience and help. The authors would also like to acknowledge the anonymous referee for the useful comments provided.
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Carraro, C. et al. (2013). The FEEM Sustainability Index: An Integrated Tool for Sustainability Assessment. In: Erechtchoukova, M., Khaiter, P., Golinska, P. (eds) Sustainability Appraisal: Quantitative Methods and Mathematical Techniques for Environmental Performance Evaluation. EcoProduction. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32081-1_2
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