Abstract
Sustainability is a multidimensional concept that is not directly measurable, so it requires a set of indicators in order to be assessed. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) program offers a detailed dashboard of sustainability indicators. However, the path from the value assumptions and policy (that underpin this program) to its statistical operationalization is not clear. In order to produce usable knowledge for policy, sustainability assessment needs to be redefined from a technical to a moral process that requires prior responses to normative questions. This chapter suggests a model for sustainable development based on a set of moral imperatives which further specify the popular three-pillar model of sustainability based on social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The aim of this study is thus threefold. Firstly, it aims to clarify the conceptual framework that is the foundation of country-level sustainability. Secondly, it proposes a methodology for assessing the different moral dimensions of sustainability. Finally, it aims to validate this framework and also to assess the state of art of each of the European Union (EU) Member States with regard to the SDGs. Operationally, using the latest available national cross-country data with multivariate statistical analysis, the study builds several composite indexes to assess the performance of European Member States on single imperatives, in order to identify priorities and gaps that must be addressed to achieve sustainability.
This chapter is the result of active collaboration among the authors. In the final draft, Angela Delli Paoli wrote Sects. 5.2, 5.4, and 5.7; Felice Addeo wrote Sects. 5.3, 5.5, and 5.6, and Emiliana Mangone wrote Sect. 5.1.
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Delli Paoli, A., Addeo, F., Mangone, E. (2020). Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): From Moral Imperatives to Indicators and Indexes. A Methodology for Validating and Assessing SDGs. In: Nocenzi, M., Sannella, A. (eds) Perspectives for a New Social Theory of Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33173-3_5
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