Assessing the EU’s Transition Towards Sustainability: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Environmental Policy and Performance

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Useful for understanding the EU's policy paradigm shift and the empirical evidence on sustainability performance, especially the mixed-methods framework.

🏢実務担当者:Corporate sustainability teams can benchmark against EU's integrated approach and anticipate regulatory trends.

🏛政策担当者:Policymakers can learn from EU's experience in building a cohesive sustainability policy framework and addressing member state disparities.

Concepts such as transition, resilience, and sustainability have become emblematic both for the programmes of international, regional, or national institutions and for the academic and scientific environment. It has become vital for the European Union (EU) to base all its reform and development efforts on sustainability. In this paper, the author analyses the most important paradigm shifts in the EU approach to ecological progress, focusing on changes in policy orientation and sustainability outcomes from 2000 to 2024. From a methodological point of view, the study is based on a qualitative analysis of the main pillars of EU environmental policy completed by a quantitative assessment of Eurostat indicators, including greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy adoption, and resource productivity. Findings indicate a significant transition from a growth-centric environmental model toward a more integrated sustainability paradigm. The European Green Deal (2019) marks a key inflexion point, introducing systemic concepts such as climate neutrality, circular economy, and ecological resilience. Discourse analysis of major policy texts reveals a notable shift in institutional language, reflecting deeper commitments to long-term transformation rather than incremental regulation. Quantitative data supports these shifts, showing steady improvements in emissions reduction and renewable energy use across the EU. However, disparities remain among member states, influenced by differing capacities and political priorities. These inconsistencies present challenges to the fully harmonised ecological progress at the Union level. The study concludes that while the EU has made measurable advances in redefining ecological governance, achieving cohesive implementation across all member states remains a central obstacle. Nevertheless, the evolving policy paradigm positions the EU as a frontrunner in global sustainability efforts, offering a model for balancing ecological integrity with economic and social goals.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.24818/icess/2025/024first seen 2026-06-11 05:01:02