Development of Green Economy and competitiveness of EU countries: Macro-level empirical analysis

Abstract

In the past two decades, continuous changes caused by environmental degradation and global warming have contributed to the emergence and actualization of the green economy concept. Applying green principles enables economic growth and development while respecting all aspects of the environment. Green economy is a function of sustainable development as a dominant trend in the global framework, but it is also a sort of a challenge and opportunity for improving national economic competitiveness as the main indicator of success in the world market. The focus of the paper's analysis are four indicators that are relevant to different segments of applying the green economy concept, which are grouped by the DEA method into the composite index GEDI (Green Economy Development Index). Bearing in mind that innovations are very important for the adoption and implementation of the green economy, the emphasis of the research was on examining the relationship between GEDI and the third subindex of the Global Competitiveness Index, which focuses on innovations in the European Union countries. The aim of this comparative analysis is to define future guidelines and recommendations for more efficient implementation of environmental standards and to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in the long run.

Kontinuirane promene uslovljene degradacijom životne sredine i globalnim zagrevanjem u poslednje dve decenije su doprinele nastanku i aktuelizaciji koncepta zelene ekonomije. Primena zelenih principa omogućava rast i razvoj privrede uz istovremeno uvažavanje svih aspekata životne sredine. Zelena ekonomija kao takva je u funkciji održivog razvoja kao dominantnog trenda u globalnim okvirima, ali i svojevrstan izazov i mogućnost za unapređenje konkurentnosti privrede kao pokazatelja uspešnosti na svetskom tržištu. U fokusu analize rada bila su četiri indikatora koji su relevantni za različite segmente primene zelene ekonomije, a koji su korišćenjem DEA metoda grupisani u kompozitni indeks GEDI (Green Economy Development Index). Imajući u vidu da su inovacije veoma značajne za usvajanje i primenu zelene ekonomije, akcenat istraživanja bio je na ispitivanju relacije između GEDI indeksa i trećeg podindeksa globalnog indeksa konkurentnosti čiji su fokus inovacije u zemljama Evropske Unije. Cilj komparativne analize je i definisanje budućih putokaza i preporuka za efikasniju primenu ekoloških standarda i sticanje održive konkurentske prednosti u dugom roku.