ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY

Abstract

One of the key issues of environmental geography and a cornerstone in the implementation of any country’s sustainable development strategy is to ensure proper environmental protection. The purpose of the study is to determine the environmental determinants of sustainable development of countries with taking into account the need to harmonize the economy, ecosystem and human well-being. The novelty of the study is the further development of scientific approaches to assessing the interrelation between EPI and the structural elements of the “green” economy. The results of EPI statistical analysis showed that less than 1/3 of 34 European countries improved the effectiveness of their environmental policy in 2020 compared to 2018. Strategic positioning on the matrix models allowed to identify unequal numbers of strategic groups of countries with differences in the values of environmental determinants of sustainable development. It is substantiated that environment affect people’s life expectancy. Currently, the lowest value of healthy life expectancy is in Ukraine compared to other European countries. It is established that the unevenness in the dynamism of business in Europe is insignificant. However, the efficiency of the use of natural resources in the process of production and consumption, unfortunately, is not the same. The average share of renewable energy consumption in the sample of European countries is 23.5%. It is shown that a high share of renewable energy consumption does not guarantee a high level of environmental efficiency. However, this can be seen as an option to address the country’s energy security. It is proposed to combine the ecological determinants of sustainable development of the country into 4 groups: environmental protection; structural restructuring of the economy; resource efficiency and biodiversity; well-being and health of the population. It is concluded that positive changes in only one environmental determinant does not guarantee an increase in the level of environmental efficiency of the country (especially in the short term).