Evaluation Indicators of Green Economic Development: The Case of the Baltic Countries

Abstract

Research purpose. The green economy may become a solution to the existing problems. The European Union must implement solutions related to the green economy in order to solve the existing ecological, economic and social problems in the region, such as pollution in the Baltic Sea region, inequality, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and so on. It can be assumed that green economy evaluation research conducted in the scientific community does not always reflect the real situation, due to the lack of indicators or limited evaluation methodology. The aim of this article is characterized by academic literature to identify green economic development indicators and evaluate green economic development indices in three Baltic countries: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Design/Methodology/Approach. The article uses analysis of scientific literature, systematization, comparative analysis, generalization and data normalization methods. Findings. The analysed scientific literature and reports of international organizations, resolutions and conference agreements allow to compile a list of indicators for the evaluation of green economy development. The results showed that in all the analysed countries, a strong growth of green economy development indices can be seen; in Estonia, they remained the best among the three Baltic countries during the analysed period. An analysis of which individual indicators are most important in the development of the green economy and have the greatest significance for the index has shown that their estimates and position have changed significantly in less than two decades. Originality/Value/Practical implications. The identification of green economy indicators provides a new approach to the structure of green economy components. Indicators measured over time describe the structural characteristics and quantitative changes of the green economy, and provides a new understanding of the opportunities and directions of green economy development. In the framework of this study, fifteen indicators were selected for the analysis of green economy in the Baltic States. The normalization and further evaluation of these indicators from the point of view of the green economy allowed to determine the significance of individual social, economic and environmental dimensions for the overall green economy index and to show the changes over a period. The collected data also form the basis for further in-depth prognostic studies.