Ecological Footprint Impact Factors Forecasts using VAR Model: Decision Making Case Study from Ukraine

Abstract

In this article we investigated main factors affecting ecological footprint in Ukraine. Ecological footprint helps to improve sustainability and well-being, to optimize public project investments and to understand their impact in the planet. Deep analysis of researches for other countries has been adopted. We concluded that such factors as GDP per capita, exports of goods and services and population have an impact at ecological footprint. Further, we simulated data by Vector Autoregression model and used it as a forecasting algorithm. We chose this model because there are various time series influencing each other and EF. We’ve got statistically significant forecast values that can be used by policy and decision makers at the country level.