Relationship between the DESI and the SDG index in the European Union with a special focus on the Visegrad Group countries

Abstract

Promoting digitalisation and sustainability has been identified to be a key challenge and priority among countries worldwide. Recent phenomena such as Covid-19, extreme weather events and energy and economic crises have received increased interest from academics and practitioners of these two fields. This study contributes to the better understanding of the links between digitalisation and sustainability. As many indicators exist for measuring both fields, it provides a literature review on the critical assessment of these metrics. Accordingly, two composite indices, namely, the European Union (EU)’s digital economy and society index (DESI) and the sustainable development goals index (SDG index), have been selected for examining the links between digitalisation and sustainability at the level of the EU member states, focusing on the Visegrad Group (V4) countries. The statistical methods used are correlation analysis and hierarchical clustering. The novelty value of this study is that the analysis focuses on the composite indices and – considering their complexity – on their sub-indices (4 of the DESI and 17 of the SDG index). The results determine that the V4 countries are rather behind the average in terms of digitalisation and around the average in terms of sustainability based on the indices analysed. Numerous relationships were noted between different dimensions of digitalisation and sustainability. Correlation analysis has shown that these relationships are mostly positive, but there are also negative ones (between different dimensions of digitalisation and responsible consumption and production as well as climate action in the field of sustainability). This finding indicates that digitalisation itself cannot be a guarantee to address all sustainability-related issues, thus requiring a more complex approach. The cluster analysis has shown that V4 countries share several similarities related to their performance in digitalisation and sustainability. Regarding the complex relationship between the dimensions of digitalisation and sustainability, a wide range of pathways can be suggested for its development, including policymaking, company initiatives and individual actions. This diversity and the formerly mentioned controversial links between the two indices urge for complex approaches to achieve development in both fields.