Towards Green Growth: A Taxonomic Analysis Based on the Headline Indicators

Abstract

Purpose: Based on headline indicators, green growth's aggregate indexes have been constructed for 28 EU countries (including the United Kingdom). This allowed creating a ranking of the countries and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of green growth both at the European and national levels. Design/Methodology/Approach: Research was carried out based on the taxonomic linear ordering method. The reference years 2013-2018 were chosen due to data availability for individual indicators on the OECD database. Findings: The analysis showed that Sweden features the highest level of green growth, while Estonia received the lowest rating. Generalizing the study results, it can be stated that the level of 'greening' growth in European Union countries is still low. Practical Implications: The research results fill in the existing information gap by providing an answer to the fundamental question: How can green growth be evaluated synthetically based on headline indicators? This also allows countries to identify areas where their performance is weak and prioritize their mitigation measures accordingly. Originality/Value: The proposed method advances the OECD approach by adding evaluation metrics to assess each country's performance relative to other jurisdictions by indicator and by a synthetic measure.