Evaluation of the effectiveness of Ukraine’s policy on the way to sustainable development according to international ratings

Abstract

The geopolitical, economic, environmental and social instability that has increased in recent years in the world requires the development and implementation of an effective sustainable development policy that provides for the adoption of balanced decisions from the standpoint of a fair assessment of the contribution of all three of its components (economic, social and environmental) to the overall result of economic activity and social progress. To assess the policy effectiveness on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation, its achievements and gaps, the positions of Ukraine in international indexes of sustainable / green development were used: New Transitions Performance Index, Green Future Index, Index SDG, Green Growth Index, Global Sustainability Competitiveness Index. The use of several indexes contributes to a more comprehensive and objective analysis. Such an assessment will help to make informed management decisions, taking into account the impact of possible crisis situations. Based on the results of Ukraine’s positions analysis in international indexes, it was determined that, despite a significant number of state strategic documents and a large volume of tasks, not all of the 17 SDGs tasks have clear quantitative performance indicators, and the responsibility for their implementation is blurred. This analysis made it possible to identify factors of slow movement towards sustainable development, indicators of such stagnation. Such indicators cover almost all points of resource efficiency: a low share of renewable energy sources and a high share of extractive sources, high water, waste and resource intensity of GDP; the green economic incentives: lack of incentives and finances for the expansion of trade in ecological goods and services, for eco-innovations, extremely low volumes for R&D funding – the source of innovations and technologies; indices of effective management: perception of corruption index, volume of investments in % of GDP, quality of public services; intellectual capital index: quantity of received intellectual property rights per capita, etc. It is proposed to determine the movement activators towards sustainable development during the formation of the science, technology and innovation (STI) road map to achieve the SDGs, which is being developed at Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information within the framework of the relevant UN Global pilot program.