Work

Agricultural sustainability across the EU-27: trade-offs and sustainability profiles in the low-carbon transition

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Agricultural sustainability in the European Union requires balancing economic performance, environmental pressures and social conditions while responding to the low-carbon transition. This study develops an integrated multi-criteria framework to assess agricultural sustainability across the EU-27 and identify trade-offs and sustainability profiles underlying cross-country differences. An initial set of 25 indicators was evaluated through a Content Validity Index (CVI) assessment involving 49 experts from 15 countries, resulting in 11 economic, environmental and social indicators. Their relative importance was determined using hierarchical Fuzzy Best-Worst Method (Fuzzy-BWM) assessments from 22 academic experts across eight countries. Country performance was evaluated using weighted MULTIMOORA and Borda aggregation, complemented by robustness and exploratory cluster analyses. Environmental sustainability received the highest dimension weight, with renewable-energy use, agricultural greenhouse-gas emissions and energy intensity emerging as the most influential indicators. The results reveal substantial heterogeneity across EU agricultural systems: high productivity does not necessarily coincide with favourable environmental performance, while similar overall positions can reflect different sustainability configurations. Rankings were highly stable under moderate changes in weights, expert composition and methodological specifications, but more sensitive to substantive changes in the sustainability architecture, particularly equal dimension weighting and exclusion of renewable-energy use. Exploratory clustering identified distinct sustainability profiles, although modest separation warrants cautious interpretation. Overall, the findings demonstrate the importance of multidimensional, context-sensitive agricultural sustainability assessment and provide a transparent framework for comparative assessment and differentiated policy analysis in the EU low-carbon transition.

Source: Sustainable Futures

DOI: 10.1016/j.sftr.2026.102240

Authors: Justas Streimikis, Astrida Miceikienė

Institution: Vytautas Magnus University

Language: English

Topic: Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis

Subfield: Environmental Chemistry

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Zero hunger, Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,340