We're No. 30!
Presented by JBS USA
SURVEY SAYS — Scandinavian countries are the closest to achieving sustainable economies, according to a new survey of performance on a wide range of sustainability metrics.
The U.S. is a distant 30th place — right above China — in the rankings by SolAbility, a Seoul- and Zurich-based consulting firm. The company's Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index weighs physical resources, efficient use of resources, intellectual capital, social cohesion and governance.
SolAbility defines sustainable competitiveness as "the ability to generate and sustain inclusive wealth without diminishing the future capability of sustaining or increasing current wealth levels."
We're not doing great, overall. The worldwide average score is 43.1 out of 100, down from 45 last year. "[W]e are far away from an inclusive and circular society that lives in equilibrium with the natural environment," the report says.
Sweden tops the list — along with Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland — due to its high level of women's workforce participation, public spending on education and relative income equality.
The index dings the U.S. for resource use, particularly water consumption. The U.S. also ranks poorly on social capital — just below Nicaragua and above Ghana — due to its "high crime rates, low availability of health services and rising inequality."
China also does badly on natural resources and using them efficiently — poorly enough to rank just behind the U.S. despite its superior scores on every other metric, particularly intellectual and social capital.
"China is on a path to improve its sustainable competitiveness," the report says, noting that country's upward trajectory from past reports. The U.S. is more of a "mixed picture," it says, thanks to declining performance on governance, social capital and natural resources.
SolAbility makes the case that its index is a better measure than GDP for comparing countries' economic competitiveness. The firm points out that several low-GDP countries (Nepal, Bhutan, Bolivia, Belize) ranked higher than wealthy, resource-dependent countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and argues that credit ratings should include sustainability risks alongside other factors.
"Under a sustainability-adjusted credit rating, countries with high reliance on exploitation of natural resources would be rated lower, while [a] poor country with a healthy fundament (biodiversity, education, governance) would receive higher ratings," it says.
GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we tell you about the latest on efforts to shape our future. We deliver data-driven storytelling, compelling interviews with industry and political leaders, and news Tuesday through Friday to keep you in the loop on sustainability.
Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn and reporters Jordan Wolman and Allison Prang. Reach us all at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].
Want more? Don’t we all. Sign up for the Long Game. Four days a week and still free!
— Wall Street is still bullish on ESG, according to Bloomberg, despite continuing pushback including from GOP state officials who are divesting in protest of what they see as a "woke agenda." Florida is the latest to make a big move, Reuters reports.
— The European Union has a plan for cutting packaging waste by nearly 20 percent by the end of the decade. Reuters has the story.
— Tesla is set to unveil its long-delayed 18-wheeler amid trucking industry skepticism over whether electric vehicles can handle heavy-duty, long-haul work.
Source: https://www.politico.com/