An Improved Eco-Efficiency Analysis Framework Based on Slacks-Based Measure Method

The level of sustainable development can be measured by eco-efficiency, which is a combination of economic and ecological performance. Utilizing the weighted sum of the improved proportions of the indicators as the objective function, this paper develops a proportional slacks-based measure model to assess eco-efficiency, in which the conventional inputs, and desirable and undesirable outputs are improved to different proportions along the elements of a given directional vector. Moreover, this paper presents a weighted proportional slacks-based measure model using the ranges as the divisors instead of the input and output values in the objective function. Finally, this paper presents an empirical analysis by applying proposed measure models with the data of 30 provinces in China in 2015. The empirical study results indicate the developed slacks-based measure models can be used in the assessment of eco-efficiency effectively and reasonably.