{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,3]],"date-time":"2026-03-03T00:27:35Z","timestamp":1772497655916,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,15]],"date-time":"2022-09-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1663200000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"European Regional Development Fund in the framework of Portugal 2020\u2014Programa Operacional Assist\u00eancia T\u00e9cnica (POAT 2020)","award":["POAT-01-6177-FEDER-000044"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["POAT-01-6177-FEDER-000044"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sustainability"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We evaluated the implementation of European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) devoted to Thematic Objective (TO) 4 in 23 beneficiary European Union (EU) Member States (MS). The assessment of each country was made through the value-based data envelopment analysis (VBDEA) approach in three phases. In the first phase, it was possible to conclude that 43% of the MS were efficient in the implementation of the ERDF devoted to a low-carbon economy (LCE), and the reasons for their efficiency were mainly explained by their execution rate. After running the second phase for the inefficient countries, it was possible to obtain the improvements that must be made for these countries to \u201cemulate\u201d their peers at the efficient frontier. Finally, in the third stage, we incorporated political concerns in the evaluation of the implementation of the ERDF by including constraints on the ranking order of the weights. A robustness analysis was also carried out, according to which it was found that only 22% of the MS under evaluation remained surely efficient for tolerances of \u03b4 = 5% and \u03b4 = 10%, with Spain being the most robust country. Other countries such as Romania (surely inefficient for \u03b4 = 5%), Hungary, and the Czech Republic (the most inefficient) did not manage to implement these funds efficiently. Considering these findings, the EU needs to further promote policies that ensure economic benefits from investing in an LCE, specifically for countries with fewer resources, while also providing them with better financial conditions and know-how.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/su141811587","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,16]],"date-time":"2022-09-16T03:48:04Z","timestamp":1663300084000},"page":"11587","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Is the Cohesion Policy Efficient in Supporting the Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy? Some Insights with Value-Based Data Envelopment Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3548-4212","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria","family":"Gouveia","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnic of Coimbra, Coimbra Business School|ISCAC, 3045-601 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"INESC Coimbra, DEEC, Rua S\u00edlvio Lima, Polo II, 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"CeBER, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Av Dias da Silva 165, 3004-512 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4045-6101","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carla","family":"Henriques","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnic of Coimbra, Coimbra Business School|ISCAC, 3045-601 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"INESC Coimbra, DEEC, Rua S\u00edlvio Lima, Polo II, 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"CeBER, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Av Dias da Silva 165, 3004-512 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0464-9336","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Amaro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnic of Coimbra, Coimbra Business School|ISCAC, 3045-601 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"CEGIST-IST-UL, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"178","DOI":"10.1038\/d41586-020-01682-1","article-title":"After COVID-19, green investment must deliver jobs to get political traction","volume":"582","author":"Hanna","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Henriques, C., Viseu, C., Trigo, A., Gouveia, M., and Amaro, A. (2022). How Efficient Is the Cohesion Policy in Supporting Small and Mid-Sized Enterprises in the Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy?. Sustainability, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/su14095317"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102265","DOI":"10.1016\/j.omega.2020.102265","article-title":"Evaluating the efficiency of structural funds: An application in the competitiveness of SMEs across different EU beneficiary regions","volume":"101","author":"Gouveia","year":"2021","journal-title":"Omega"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Henriques, C., Viseu, C., Neves, M., Amaro, A., Gouveia, M., and Trigo, A. (2022). How Efficiently Does the EU Support Research and Innovation in SMEs?. J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex., 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/joitmc8020092"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"202","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2015.06.111","article-title":"Regional low-carbon economy efficiency in China: Analysis based on the Super-SBM model with CO2 emissions","volume":"163","author":"Zhang","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"397","DOI":"10.1016\/j.egyr.2021.10.020","article-title":"Energy efficiency evaluation model based on DEA-SBM-Malmquist index","volume":"7","author":"Zheng","year":"2021","journal-title":"Energy Rep."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"21","article-title":"The Role of Industrial Structure Adjustment in China\u2019s Low-Carbon Eco-Efficiency: A Super-Slack-Based Measure (Super-SBM) Approach","volume":"16","author":"Miaomiao","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int. J. Econ. Manag."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121912","DOI":"10.1016\/j.energy.2021.121912","article-title":"Understanding the green energy efficiencies of provinces in China: A Super-SBM and GML analysis","volume":"239","author":"Meng","year":"2022","journal-title":"Energy"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4690140","DOI":"10.1155\/2022\/4690140","article-title":"Low Carbon Economy Assessment in China Using the Super-SBM Model","volume":"2022","author":"Ding","year":"2022","journal-title":"Discret. Dyn. Nat. Soc."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106957","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolecon.2021.106957","article-title":"Finance, climate-change and radical uncertainty: Towards a precautionary approach to financial policy","volume":"183","author":"Chenet","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ecol. Econ."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liu, X., and Liu, J. (2016). Measurement of low carbon economy efficiency with a three-stage data envelopment analysis: A comparison of the largest twenty CO2 emitting countries. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph13111116"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"He, X., and Zhang, J. (2018). Supplier selection study under the respective of low-carbon supply chain: A hybrid evaluation model based on FA-DEA-AHP. Sustainability, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/su10020564"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"643","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2018.07.219","article-title":"Low-carbon economy efficiency analysis of China\u2019s provinces based on a range-adjusted measure and data envelopment analysis model","volume":"199","author":"Meng","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1016\/j.seps.2018.07.003","article-title":"Evaluation on development efficiency of low-carbon tourism economy: A case study of Hubei Province, China","volume":"66","author":"Zha","year":"2019","journal-title":"Socio-Econ. Plan. Sci."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"130","DOI":"10.1002\/sd.1884","article-title":"Is the low-carbon economy efficient in terms of sustainable development? A global perspective","volume":"27","author":"Zhang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sustain. Dev."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"138947","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2020.138947","article-title":"Economy and carbon dioxide emissions effects of energy structures in the world: Evidence based on SBM-DEA model","volume":"729","author":"Lin","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100762","DOI":"10.1016\/j.esr.2021.100762","article-title":"China\u2019s CO2 emissions reduction potential: A novel inverse DEA model with frontier changes and comparable value","volume":"38","author":"Chen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Energy Strategy Rev."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107615","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolind.2021.107615","article-title":"Guiding the nations through fair low-carbon economy cycles: A climate justice index proposal","volume":"125","author":"Furlan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ecol. Indic."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"126132","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2021.126132","article-title":"Combined application of the EM-DEA and EX-ACT approaches for integrated assessment of resource use efficiency, sustainability and carbon footprint of smallholder maize production practices in sub-Saharan Africa","volume":"302","author":"Mwambo","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"305","DOI":"10.1093\/ijlct\/ctaa066","article-title":"Developing the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities to boost the development of low-carbon economy","volume":"16","author":"Li","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Low-Carbon Technol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"120094","DOI":"10.1016\/j.techfore.2020.120094","article-title":"Can industry-university-research collaborative innovation efficiency reduce carbon emissions?","volume":"157","author":"Song","year":"2020","journal-title":"Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121630","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2020.121630","article-title":"Efficiency evaluation and dynamic evolution of China\u2019s regional green economy: A method based on the Super-PEBM model and DEA window analysis","volume":"264","author":"Wu","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107238","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolind.2020.107238","article-title":"Does the low-carbon city policy make a difference? Empirical evidence of the pilot scheme in China with DEA and PSM-DID","volume":"122","author":"Fu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ecol. Indic."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liang, G., Yu, D., and Ke, L. (2021). An empirical study on dynamic evolution of industrial structure and green economic growth\u2014Based on data from china\u2019s underdeveloped areas. Sustainability, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/su13158154"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110227","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jenvman.2020.110227","article-title":"Modeling the role of environmental regulations in regional green economy efficiency of China: Empirical evidence from super efficiency DEA-Tobit model","volume":"261","author":"Shuai","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Environ. Manag."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103777","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scs.2022.103777","article-title":"Sustainability Performance of European Smart Cities: A Novel DEA Approach with Double Frontiers","volume":"81","author":"Kutty","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sustain. Cities Soc."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108248","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cie.2022.108248","article-title":"Performance evaluation of AI driven low carbon manufacturing industry in China: An interactive network DEA approach","volume":"170","author":"Liang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Comput. Ind. Eng."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"945922","DOI":"10.3389\/fenvs.2022.945922","article-title":"The Relationship Between Fiscal Decentralization and China\u2019s Low Carbon Environmental Governance Performance: The Malmquist Index, an SBM-DEA and Systematic GMM Approaches","volume":"10","author":"Xia","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Environ. Sci."},{"key":"ref_29","first-page":"5891909","article-title":"Coordinated Development of Logistics Development and Low-Carbon Environmental Economy Base on AHP-DEA Model","volume":"2022","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sci. Program."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"429","DOI":"10.1016\/0377-2217(78)90138-8","article-title":"Measuring the efficiency of decision making units","volume":"2","author":"Charnes","year":"1978","journal-title":"Eur. J. Oper. Res."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"237","DOI":"10.1016\/0305-0483(89)90029-7","article-title":"An application procedure for DEA","volume":"17","author":"Golany","year":"1989","journal-title":"Omega"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1057\/palgrave.jors.2602317","article-title":"Additive DEA based on MCDA with imprecise information","volume":"59","author":"Gouveia","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Oper. Res. Soc."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Keeney, R.L., and Raiffa, H. (1993). Decisions with Multiple Objectives: Preferences and Value Trade-Offs, Cambridge University Press.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781139174084"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"462","DOI":"10.1016\/0377-2217(94)00131-U","article-title":"Components of efficiency evaluation in data envelopment analysis","volume":"80","author":"Ali","year":"1995","journal-title":"Eur. J. Oper. Res."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"961","DOI":"10.1287\/opre.30.5.961","article-title":"Regret in decision making under uncertainty","volume":"30","author":"Bell","year":"1982","journal-title":"Oper. Res."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"86","DOI":"10.1057\/jors.2012.19","article-title":"Super-efficiency and stability intervals in additive DEA","volume":"64","author":"Gouveia","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Oper. Res. Soc."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1261","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.39.10.1261","article-title":"A procedure for ranking efficient units in data envelopment analysis","volume":"39","author":"Andersen","year":"1993","journal-title":"Manag. Sci."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"European Commission (2021, December 19). Guidance Document on Monitoring and Evaluation. European Cohesion Fund, European Regional Development Fund. Concepts and Recommendations, Available online: https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/regional_policy\/sources\/docoffic\/2014\/working\/wd_2014_en.pdf."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"B\u0105k, I., Barwi\u0144ska-Ma\u0142ajowicz, A., Wolska, G., Walawender, P., and Hydzik, P. (2021). Is the European Union Making Progress on Energy Decarbonisation While Moving towards Sustainable Development?. Energies, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/en14133792"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100415","DOI":"10.1016\/j.esr.2019.100415","article-title":"The multi-speed energy transition in Europe: Opportunities and challenges for EU energy security","volume":"26","author":"Scholten","year":"2019","journal-title":"Energy Strategy Rev."}],"container-title":["Sustainability"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2071-1050\/14\/18\/11587\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:32:16Z","timestamp":1760142736000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2071-1050\/14\/18\/11587"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,15]]},"references-count":40,"journal-issue":{"issue":"18","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9]]}},"alternative-id":["su141811587"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/su141811587","relation":{},"ISSN":["2071-1050"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2071-1050","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,15]]}}}