Responsible consumption and production in the European Union. A partial order analysis of Eurostat SDG 12 data

Abstract

The UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, responsible consumption and production, is a key element in a sustainable development of our planet as it is closely linked to the exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources. The present study focuses on five main indicators selected by Eurostat as key factors for the development of the SDG 12, i.e., 1: resource productivity, 2: average CO2 emissions from new passenger cars, 3: circular material use rate, 4: generation of waste excluding major mineral wastes and 5: consumption of toxic chemicals for the 27 member states of the European Union, the data being analyzed applying partial ordering methodology that constitutes an advantageous decision support tool. Based on the first 4 indicators the 27 EU member states have been mutually ranked finding France, Italy, and Malta as the best and Bulgaria and Estonia as the worst among the 27 countries in complying with the SDG 12 targets. Studying the temporal development, a slightly positive tendency was observed. The most important indicator, looking at the whole EU appears to be the generation of waste, whereas, e.g., the CO2 emission apparently is the key issue for France and Bulgaria, whereas the circular material use rate is the most important in the case of Greece. The temporal development of the consumption of toxic chemicals was separately analyzed disclosing that the amount of non-toxic waste has increased whereas a decrease in chemicals hazardous to human health and to the environment was noted. The results constitute important for authorities and regulator in their effort to select actions in order better to comply with the SDG 12 targets.