Evaluation of the agricultural green competitiveness in the European Union

In the twenty-first century, there is a growing awareness of the role of sustainable agriculture in responding to environmental and socio-economic challenges, as well as the need to provide food for an increasing population. Conventional intensive farming techniques often threaten the environment, biodiversity, and public health. Therefore, a possibility is sought to transform agriculture and ensure its green competitiveness, based on the current environmental potential and the capability to manage it sustainably. The European Green Deal and the subordinate strategies set the targets to be achieved by the Member States of the European Union (EU). Therefore, the present research aims to assess the green competitiveness of agriculture in EU Member States in relation to the European Green Deal's goals based on environmental indicators. The methodology applied in this study was based on the standardization of indicators using the zero unitarization method, in which indicators were classified as stimulants or destimulants to ensure comparability and a uniform scale. The standardized indicators were then used to calculate a synthetic index - the Green Competitiveness Index of Agriculture –, which combines fifteen environmental indicators in line with the targets set for the implementation of the European Green Deal to quantify the overall green competitiveness of the agricultural sector in the EU Member States. After calculating the index for 2018 and 2022, the research created a linear hierarchy and classification of Member States, ranking them accordingly. The overall level of green competitiveness of agriculture in the EU was found to be moderate. Of the twenty-seven Member States, only nine improved their position in the ranking, fourteen experienced a decline, and four maintained their previous position in 2022. Most of the EU Member States face similar challenges in the area of green competitiveness of agriculture, both at the national level and at the EU level, to achieve the goals of the European Green Deal. Achieving the following targets of the European Green Deal might be problematic: area under organic farming, high diversity landscape features, air quality, sustainable energy, and energy efficiency. The study identifies moderate and scattered green competitiveness of agriculture among EU Member States with significant environmental performance heterogeneity in terms of energy consumption and emissions. The findings emphasise the need for multi-dimensionality of sustainability evaluation and nationally specific policies to deal with fundamental weaknesses, as well as support the realisation of European Green Deal targets.