Multi-criteria-based approach in Environmental Performance Index evaluation

Abstract

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is one of the primary indices illustrating the activities of individual countries in striving to increase environmental efficiency. Its value for each country is calculated based on many partial factors, covering three levels of this indicator. It shows the country's ability to increase environmental performance and identifies areas requiring further improvement. The weights of individual EPI partial factors are calculated using a simple additive method. However, the use of ICT in this area still needs to be improved - the lack of DSS is evident. Thus, we propose a Decision Support System framework using TOPSIS and sensitivity analysis, one of the most popular MCDM methods, and standard deviation to determine objective weights, thus taking into account the multi-factor nature of the EPI index. Then, based on the analyses, we create a ranking of countries regarding their environmental efficiency. As a result, it is visible that the leaders of countries achieving high environmental efficiency are Finland, France, and Germany. In last place are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.