KEEPING TRACK OF SUSTAINABILITY PROGRESS - BENCHMARKING INSIGHTS FROM INTERNATIONAL INDEXES

Accompanied by a plethora of controversies, sustainability – assumed and proclaimed by the Agenda 2030 (UN, 2016) as global concern and desideratum – has become a ubiquitous hot topic nowadays: both positive and negative references to it are made each day, emphasizing on the complexity and dynamism of this ever emerging and never ending process. However, sustainability’s multiple facets and kinds of expression seem to be more visible at the lower levels of the global system, where the search for sustainability phenomenon – fuelled by the (media intermediated) positive interplays between the increased accountability of firms and the proliferation of highly informed customers – has led to the disruption of industries and ways of life. Thus, concepts and practices such as: sustainable travel, fashion, fisheries or consumption; green products, processes, buildings, or jobs; eco-friendly energy,materials, cars, or cities – have redefined industries and/or created new ones, while changing peoples’ lives. But: what is the aggregate effect of all these transformation, their cumulative impact?; what positive and/or negative spillovers have they generated and to whom? – these are the questions this paper ultimately aims to answer to. The main objective of the paper is to find out how are countries positioning themselves against the requirements of global sustainability, and what is the measure of their real progress towards them. Based on the analysis of a series of internationally renowned reports and indexes – such as: The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index (SolAbility, 2017), The Sustainable Development Goals Index (Sustainable Development Solutions Network & the Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2018), and the Sustainable Society Index (Sustainable Society Foundation, 2016) – the paper will compare and contrast data and indicators across countries, in order to identify and benchmark the progress different groups of countries have made towards sustainability, as well as the main challenges ahead of them. Keywords: Agenda 2030, Sustainability, Sustainability Indexes