Vol. 86 (2025)
Original Articles - Urban, Land, Environmental Appraisal and Economics

Evaluating progress in achieving the SDGs at sub-national level in Spain: a multicriteria analysis

PDF
  • Luisa Paolotti,
  • Ignacio Melendez Pastor,
  • Elena Ricciolini,
  • Lucia Rocchi,
  • Asunción Maria Agulló Torres,
  • Antonio Boggia
Luisa Paolotti
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Italy
Ignacio Melendez Pastor
Department of Agrochemistry and Environment, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Spain
Elena Ricciolini
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Italy
Lucia Rocchi
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Italy
Asunción Maria Agulló Torres
Department of Agri-environmental Economics, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Spain
Antonio Boggia
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Italy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/aestim-17200

Published 2025-08-07

Keywords

  • Sustainable Development Goals,
  • Sustainability Assessment,
  • Multicriteria analysis,
  • MCDA-GIS integration,
  • COVID Pandemic,
  • 2030 Agenda
    • ...More
    Less

Copyright (c) 2025 Luisa Paolotti, Ignacio Melendez Pastor, Elena Ricciolini, Lucia Rocchi, Asunción Maria Agulló Torres, Antonio Boggia

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Abstract

The UN 2030 Agenda is the current reference point for achieving sustainable development at the international level. Focusing on the implementation effort and monitoring the progress of SDGs are crucial aspects for achieving the Goals by 2030. The evaluation and achievement of sustainability at the sub-national level is fundamental, as sustainable development is considered achievable if it originates on the local level. Given that, the objective of this research was to assess sustainable development related to the 2030 Agenda considering the 17 regions (autonomous communities) of Spain. The analysis was carried out through the Spatial Sustainability Assessment Model (SSAM), set up as a plug-in of QGIS, which integrates multi-criteria analysis with the geographical tool. The region datasets referred to years 2019 and 2020 to observe a comparison of pre and post-COVID framework and to assess possible changes due to pandemic impacts. Results showed that, both in 2019 and 2020, for the environmental dimension the majority of the regions obtained very low or low results, showing a generally scarce environmental situation. A general decline for the majority of the indices was observed and a decrease in sustainability from north to south was detected, both for the social and the global sustainability dimensions. The social dimension in most cases was the one marking the global ordination of the communities.

PDF

References

  1. Allen, C., Reid, M., Thwaites, J., Glover, R., & Kestin, T. (2020). Assessing national progress and priorities for the sustainable development goals (SDGs): experience from Australia. Sustainability Science, 15(2), 521–538.
  2. Benedek, D., Gemayel E. R., Senhadji, A. S., & Tieman, F. (2021). A Post-pandemic assessment of the sustainable development Goals. Staff. Discuss. Notes, 3.
  3. Boggia, A., Massei, G., Pace, E., Rocchi, L., Paolotti, L., & Attard, M. (2018). Spatial multicriteria analysis for sustainability assessment: a new model for decision making. Land Use Policy, 71, 281–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.11.036
  4. Boto-Álvarez, A., & García-Fernández, R. (2020). Implementation of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals in Spain. Sustainability, 12(6), 2546. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU12062546
  5. Canavese, D., Diquera Ortega, N. R., & Queiros, M. (2014). The assessment of local sustainability using the fuzzy logic: an expert opinion system to evaluate environmental sanitation in the Algarve Region Portugal. Ecological Indicators, 36, 711–718.
  6. Carrillo, M. (2022). Measuring progress towards sustainability in the European Union within the 2030 Agenda framework. Mathematics, 10, 2095. https://doi.org/10.3390/math10122095
  7. D’Adamo, I., Gastaldi, M., & Morone, P. (2022). Economic sustainable development goals: assessments and perspectives in Europe. Journal of Cleaner Production, 354, 131730. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131730
  8. Dahl, A. L. (2012). Achievements and gaps in indicators for sustainability. Ecological Indicators, 17, 14–19.
  9. De Toro, P., Formato, E., & Fierro, N. (2023) Sustainability assessments of peri-urban areas: an evaluation model for the territorialization of the Sustainable Development Goals. Land, 12(7), 1415.
  10. Diaz-Sarachaga, J. M. (2020). Combining participatory processes and Sustainable Development Goals to revitalize a rural area in Cantabria (Spain). Land, 9, 412. https://doi.org/10.3390/land9110412
  11. Diaz-Sarachaga, J. M., Jato Espino, D., & Castro Fresno, D. (2018). Is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index an adequate framework to measure the progress of the 2030 Agenda?. Sustainable Development, 26, 663–671.
  12. Duarte, R., García-Riazuelo, Á., Sáez, L. A., & Sarasa, C. (2022). Analysing citizens’ perceptions of renewable energies in rural areas: a case study on wind farms in Spain. Energy Reports, 8, 12822–12831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.09.173
  13. Dunn, O. J. (1964). Multiple comparisons using rank sums. Technometrics, 6, 241–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/00401706.1964.10490181
  14. El-Santawy, M., & Ahmed, A. (2012). CV-VIKOR: a new approach for allocating weights in Multi Criteria decision making problems. Life Science Journal, 9(4), 5875–5877.
  15. Farnia, L., Cavalli, L., Lizzi, G., & Vergalli, S. (2019). Methodological insights to measure the Agenda 2030 at urban level in Italy. Sustainability, 11(17), 4598. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU11174598.
  16. FEMP (2017). Población y despoblación en España. Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias (FEMP). Available at: http://femp.femp.es/files/566-2117-archivo/20170125%20informe_despoblacion.pdf (accessed 22 November 2024).
  17. Firoiu D., Ionescu G. H., Băndoi A., Florea N. M., & Jianu E. (2019). Achieving sustainable development goals (SDG): implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Romania. Sustainability, 11(7), 2156. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11072156
  18. García-Cascales, M. S., & Lamata, M. T. (2012). On rank reversal and TOPSIS method. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 56(5-6), 123–132.
  19. GIS Development Team (2017). QGIS Geographic Information System Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project. https://www.qgis.org/
  20. Hametner, M., & Kostetckaia, M. (2020). Frontrunners and laggards: how fast are the EU member states progressing towards the sustainable development goals? Ecological Economics, 177, 106775.
  21. Huan, Y., Liang, T., Li, H., & Zhang, C. (2021). A systematic method for assessing progress of achieving sustainable development goals: a case study of 15 countries. Science of the Total Environment, 752, 141875.
  22. Hwang, C. L., & Yoon, K. (1981). Multiple attribute decision making: methods and applications. New York, Springer-Verlag.
  23. ICS & SDSN (2021). O Índice de Desenvolvimento Sustentável das Cidades – Brasil (IDSC-BR). Instituto Cidades Sustentáveis & Sustainable Development Solutions Network, São Paulo & Paris.
  24. INE (2023). INEbase. Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) online database. Available at: www.ine.es (accessed 1 January 2023).
  25. Kalbar, P .P., Karmakar, S., & Asolekar, S. R. (2012). Technology assessment for wastewater treatment using multiple-attribute decision making. Technology in Society, 34(4), 295–302
  26. Kiselakova, D., Stec, M., Grzebyk, M., & Sofrankova, B. (2020). A multidimensional evaluation of the sustainable development of European Union countries—an empirical study. Journal of Competitiveness, 12(4), 56–73. https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2020.04.04
  27. Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., Kloke-Lesch, A., Koundouri, P., & Riccaboni, A. (2024). European elections, Europe’s future and the SDGs: Europe Sustainable Development Report 2023/24. Paris, SDSN and SDSN Europe and Dublin, Dublin University Press. https://doi.org/10.25546/104407
  28. López Rodríguez, M. D., Jiménez-Aceituno, A., Quintas-Soriano, C., Requena-Mullor, J. M., Garau, E., Alba-Patiño, A., Otamendi-Urroz, I., Aguiar, A. P. D., Cortés-Calderón, S., & Castro, A. J. (2024). Applying the Three Horizons approach in local and regional scenarios to support policy coherence in SDG implementation: insights from arid Spain. Global Environmental Change, 89, 102922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102922
  29. Lyytimäki, J., Salo, H., Lepenies, R., Büttner, L., & Mustajoki, J. (2020). Risks of producing and using indicators of sustainable development goals. Sustainable Development, 28(6), 1528–1538. https://doi.org/10.1002/SD.2102
  30. Malczewski, J. (2010). Multiple criteria decision analysis and geographic information systems. In Ehrgott, M., Figueira, J., & Greco, S. (Eds.). International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol. 142, 369–395. New York, Springer.
  31. Mascarenhas, A., Coelho, P., Subtil, E., & Ramos, T. B. (2010). The role of common local indicators in regional sustainability assessment. Ecological Indicators, 10(3), 646–656. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECOLIND.2009.11.003
  32. McArthur J. W., & Rasmussen K. (2019). Classifying sustainable development goal trajectories: a country-level methodology for identifying which issues and people are getting left behind. World Development, 123, 104608.
  33. McGill, R., Tukey, J. W., & Larsen, W. A. (1978). Variations of box plots. The America Statistician, 32, 12–16.
  34. Miola, A., & Schiltz, F. (2019). Measuring sustainable development goals performance: how to monitor policy action in the 2030 Agenda implementation?. Ecological Economics, 164, 106373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106373
  35. Nagy, J. A., Benedek, J., & Ivan, K. (2018). Measuring Sustainable Development Goals at a local level: a case of a metropolitan area in Romania. Sustainability, 10(11), 3962. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU10113962
  36. Ottomano Palmisano, G., Govindan, K., Boggia, A., Loisi, R. V., De Boni, A., & Roma, R. (2016). Local action groups and rural sustainable development. A spatial multiple criteria approach for efficient territorial planning. Land Use Policy, 59, 12–26.
  37. Paolotti, L., Del Campo Gomis, F. J, Agullo Torres, A. M, Massei, G., Boggia, A. (2019). Territorial sustainability evaluation for policy management: the case study of Italy and Spain. Environmental Science and Policy, 92, 207–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.11.022
  38. Perez-Sindin, X. S., Lee, J., & Nielsen, T. (2022). Exploring the spatial characteristics of energy injustice: a comparison of the power generation landscapes in Spain, Denmark, and South Korea. Energy Research and Social Sciences, 91, 102682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102682
  39. Pinilla, J., Barber, P., Vallejo-Torres, L., Rodríguez-Mireles, S., López-Valcárcel, B. G., & Serra-Majem, L. (2021). The economic impact of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in Spain. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 4708. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094708
  40. Prados, M. J., Pallarès-Blanch, M., García-Marín, R., & del Valle, C. (2021). Renewable energy plants and business models: a new rural development perspective. Energies, 14, 5438. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14175438
  41. R Core Team (2023). R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Available at: https://www.r-project.org (accessed 15 January 2023).
  42. Ravetz, J. (2000). Integrated assessment for sustainability appraisal in cities and regions. Environ. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 20(1), 31–64.
  43. REE (2021). Renewable generation increases by 49% in Aragon and accounts for 68% of its total annual production. Red Eléctrica de España (REE) Press release. Available at: www.ree.es (Accessed 15 January 2023).
  44. Ricciolini, E., Rocchi, L., Cardinali, M., Paolotti, L., Ruiz, F., Cabello, J. M., & Boggia, A. (2022). Assessing progress towards SDGs implementation using multiple reference point based multicriteria methods: the case study of the European Countries. Social Indicators Research, 162(3), 1233–1260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-022-02886-w
  45. Rocchi, L., Ricciolini, E., Massei, G., Paolotti, L., & Boggia, A. (2022). Towards the 2030 Agenda: measuring the progress of the European Union countries through the SDGs Achievement Index. Sustainability, 14(6), 3563. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063563
  46. Rocchi, L., Paolotti, L., Tiralti, A., Stranieri, P., & Boggia, A. (2023). The Italian National Strategy for Sustainable Development and the Covid-19 impact: a regional analysis. Aestimum, 82, 19–38. https://doi.org/10.36253/aestim-14374
  47. Sachs, J. D., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., & Drumm, E. (2023). Implementing the SDG Stimulus. Sustainable Development Report 2023. Dublin, Dublin University Press. https://doi.org/10.25546/102924
  48. Saiu, V., Blečić, I., & Meloni, I. (2022). Making sustainability development goals (SDGs) operational at suburban level: potentials and limitations of neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 96, 106845.
  49. Sánchez de Madariaga, I., García López, J., & Sisto, R. (2018). Mirando hacia el futuro: Ciudades sostenibles. Los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible en 100 ciudades españolas. REDS, Red Española para el Desarrollo Sostenible, 2018. Available at: https://reds-sdsn.es/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Informe-urbano-REDS-ODS-2018-parte-I.pdf (Accessed 15 January 2023).
  50. Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Teksoz, K., Durand-Delacre, D., & Sachs, J. D. (2017). National baselines for the sustainable development goals assessed in the SDG index and dashboards. Nature Geoscience, 10(8), 547–555.
  51. Spearman, C. (1904). The proof and measurement of association between two things. American Journal of Psychology, 15, 72–101.
  52. Stevens, C., & Kanie, N. (2016). The transformative potential of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). International Environmental Agreements, 16, 393–396.
  53. UN General Assembly (2015). Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/70/1. 2015. Available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b6e3e44.html (Accessed 7 December 2022).
  54. United Nations Conference on Trade And Development, 2015. Investment Policy Framework For Sustainable Development. United Nations UNCTAD/WEB/DIAE/PCB/ 2015/3.
  55. Xu, Z., Chau, S. N., Chen, X., Zhang, J., Li, Y., Dietz, T., Wang, J., Winkler, J. A., Fan, F., Huang, B., Li, S., Wu, S., Herzberger, A., Tang, Y., Hong, D., Li, Y., & Liu, J. (2020). Assessing progress towards sustainable development over space and time. Nature, 577(7788), 74–78. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1846-3