Abstract
Effective performance evaluation for sustainable development is significantly important for determining the dynamic harmony and balance of environment, economy and society. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been widely applied in the field of sustainability evaluation modeling in recent years. In this study, the application of DEA in sustainable development field research is systematically reviewed. The entire framework of DEA in sustainable development research is constructed, and the characteristics of the research works are summarized. The principal characters used in previous studies are identified and compared, and then the methodological framework for deriving sustainable development indicators is introduced. Finally, from the two aspects of method and experience, this study summarizes some beneficial points of model selection. Based on this, the expectation of DEA method in the process of sustainable development is further discussed.
Highlights
Since the World War II, emissions generated by human activities have already altered climate change
We find that Data envelopment analysis (DEA) model applied in sustainable development (SD) usually combines with other methods such as life cycle analysis (LCA), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM)
In terms of mathematical methods, we concluded that DEA models with the reference technology of constant return to scale and the radial efficiency measurements are the most widely applied in SD field
Summary
Since the World War II, emissions generated by human activities have already altered climate change. SD is a widely used concept and it has become increasingly popular since the famous Brundtland Report, in which SD was defined as “development that meets current needs without prejudicing the ability of progeniture succeeding era to meet their own needs” (Becker & Mlligan, 1997). This definition took a comprehensive consideration from three aspects simultaneously: natural resources are recognized as the limited availability; intergenerational equity need is accepted; several social and spatial issues are summarized as intergenerational equity (Dong et al, 2016). The main objective of this study is to fill this gap
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