SolAbility launches second competitiveness index

Going up against the World Economic Forum’s competitive index, Swiss-Korean sustainability consultancy SolAbility has issued its second Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index ranking 176 countries according to their capability to sustain or increase wealth in a “resource-constraint, globalised world”. 

 

The Index was first published last year, based on a competitiveness model built on four main pillars: Natural Capital (the availability of natural resources); Resource Efficiency (to assess the industrial competitiveness); Sustainable Innovation (as a measurement of the capability to sustain economic activities in a competitive global market) and Social Cohesion.

 

These four pillars, says SolAbility, consist of a total of 72 performance data indicators collected by the World Bank and various UN agencies. Data from the past five years have been factored in. 

 

According to SolAbility, the Scandinavian nations have tightened their grip on the top four positions, followed by Central and Northern European Nations. Canada, ranked 7th, is the only non-European country in the top 10. The large economies keep their position from last year within the rankings: Japan (12), UK (25), US (27) and Brazil (28) is highest ranked amongst the BRIC countries. Asian nations (Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China) remain leading in terms of sustaining innovation capabilities while Natural Capital and Resource Efficiency rankings are topped by countries with high availability of water resources, favourable climate conditions, and rich biodiversity. Large parts of the human population are living in countries with high natural capital depletion combined with low resource efficiency (China, India), raising concerns regarding the capabilities to achieve sustainable wealth. The Social Cohesion ranking is headed by Scandinavia and Northern Europe, indicating that a strong social fabric is a result of the combination of economic development and equality initiatives.