Realizable and adaptive maximization of environmental sustainability at the country level using evolutionary strategies

Abstract An assortment of evolutionary strategies (EvSs) is put forward for guiding interested countries toward the maximization of their environmental sustainability (ES), as demonstrated on the “landmark” Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) 2005. The EvSs employ: (a) as inputs/chromosomes, the sets of ESI constructs which have been established as significant as well as sufficient in determining country ES; (b) as output, the singleton ESI 2005 scores which express the levels of ES attained by the participating countries; (c) as fitness function, the most accurate first degree (according to the primary literature) polynomials linking (a) and (b); and (d) realistic quasi-monotonic ES improvements, implemented via the application of exclusively positive mutations to the selected genes of each next-generation chromosome and the subsequent changes made to the remaining genes, with the sign and magnitude of each change being determined by the cross-correlation (CC) coefficients between the set of mutated genes and each remaining gene of the new chromosome. The created EvSs cover all the direct and stepwise approximations linking constructs and scores, thus offering alternative paths toward attaining maximal ES. Future research shall focus upon the selection of the EvS which affords maximal ES improvement at each generation.