The contribution of published sustainability indexes to the construction of practical useful metrics for comparing strengths and weaknesses for achieving sustainability among countries

Abstract

The thesis focuses on the evaluation of available national sustainability indexes, which measure and compare the performance of countries on various elements of sustainability. The first part presents an overview of the methodology used in existing published sustainability indexes. In addition, the elements that comprise an "ideal" multi-faceted index of sustainability are identified and comparisons with the existing indexes are made. In addition, the importance of two enablers is highlighted: The Potential for Innovation, and Ethical Concerns and Governance, which affect the long-term performance of all elements of sustainable development. In addition, results from a review of components of the main categories of the index and scores for illustrative countries are presented. Finally a series of potential improvements to the existing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are presented in addition to proposals for future research in order to further improve the proposed sustainability index.