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Benchmarking the performance of cities across aspects that relate to the sustainable development of energy, water and environment systems requires an integrated approach. This paper benchmarks a sample of 12 Southeast European cities based on a composite indicator that consists of 7 dimensions and 35 main indicators. The composite indicator is namely the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) City Sustainability Index. The first three dimensions are energy consumption and climate, penetration of energy and carbon dioxide saving measures, and renewable energy potential and utilization. The last four dimensions are water and environmental quality, carbon dioxide emissions and industrial profile, city planning and social welfare, and research, development, innovation, and sustainability policy. The data collection process for the 12 cities integrates data from Sustainable Energy Action Plans and other sources. Data entries are normalized based on the Min–Max method and aggregated for a final ranking. Zagreb, Bucharest (District 1), and Ohrid are the top three cities. An average city receives a composite score of 2.69. Best practices are identified to allow cities to adopt well-rounded efforts to improve future performance. The SDEWES Index is useful to trigger learning, action, and collaboration among cities to transition to a more sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops and applies a Sustainability Ranking of Airports Index to benchmark the performance of airports across multiple factors. The index is a composite indicator with 5 dimensions and 25 indicators. The dimensions are airport services and quality, energy consumption and generation, carbon dioxide emissions and mitigation planning, environmental management and biodiversity, and atmosphere and low emission transport. The index is applied to a sample of 9 airports that take place among the busiest and best airports in the world based on passenger traffic and passenger satisfaction. Data is mined from Corporate Sustainability Reports and related sources. Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt, Munich, Istanbul Atatürk, and London Heathrow airports are the top 5 airports in the sample. The linear regression between the results of the index and annual passenger traffic is found to be 0.1942. The results can be used to benchmark progress in decoupling airport operations from greater environmental impact. The paper provides recommendations for the 5 dimensions of the index based on best practices from the airports in the sample. The index is useful to allow airport managers to coordinate strategies for the sustainable development of energy, water, and environment systems in airports and lift-off towards more sustainable airport practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]