A decision support approach for sustainability management using multiple criteria decision making and statistical techniques

In this paper, we derive a decision support tool to establish the policies a country may carry out to direct its performance toward the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. A panel data structure for a set of indicators belonging to the three sustainability dimensions (economic, social, and environmental) is used for the countries considered to calculate composite indicators for the three dimensions, and then formulate a multiobjective optimization model to research how to improve each country’s sustainability situation. The case of Spain is used as a proof of concept. • A decision support approach for the sustainability assessment of territories. • Panel data set of individual indicators related to the sustainability dimensions. • Step 1: composite indicators to see the sustainability evolution in a time series. • Step 2: multicriteria optimization analysis to improve the situation of each country. • Proof of concept: analysis of EU countries,2010-2019, focusing on Spain in Step 2.