| Abstract [eng] |
The main purpose of this master thesis is to evaluate the current situation of green economy development in Lithuania and further directions for improvement. The following research methods were used in the work: analysis and synthesis of scientific literature, in-depth interview, a statistical method of quantitative data processing - to perform regression. The SPSS statistical data analysis package and statistical tools were used to process the data obtained during the questionnaire survey. During data analysis, the following statistical tools were used: univariate techniques - ANOVA, Independent samples t-test – for validation or rejection of hypotheses about the influence of demographic factors on the pro-environmental behavior; Pearson R correlation coefficient - for verification that data doesn’t correlate; Cronbach's alpha - to assess the reliability of the questionnaire constructs; to test whether there is a statistically significant difference between the analyzed samples, significance criterion (p) was used, if p <0.05, then the difference between the compared samples is significant. All graphs presented in the master thesis are made by using Microsoft Office programs: Excel, Visio Pro. Literature analysis has revealed that the green economy is made up of three concepts: ecology, economics, social equality/justice. The concept of a green economy is best reflected by the definition of the United Nations Environment Program. The government can stimulate the development of a green economy in the country by contributing to environmental protection by controlling laws, fiscal policies, thereby creating favorable market conditions, establishing incentives, and encouraging the population with programs created by ministries. Based on the literature analysis, a theoretical model for the implementation of the green economy was developed. To refine the developed theoretical model of green economy and apply it to the Lithuanian case, the mixed model study was developed consisting of two parts: quantitative and qualitative. The overall aim of the study was to find out what measures the government should take for further green economy development in Lithuania. The qualitative part of the research included in-depth interviews, with five experts, related to the green economy. In the quantitative part of the research, a questionnaire survey was conducted to find out what factors encouraged respondents to adopt environmentally friendly behavior. Based on the results obtained after the empirical research, the following conclusions were reached: there are gaps in the application of the systemic approach in the Lithuanian political system i.e. separate ministerial action is being taken to develop the green economy. The development of fiscal policy instruments (subsidies, pollution taxes and financial support for green companies) must be encouraged. There is a need to promote education and research on environmental issues and pro-environmental behavior among the population. There is a need to develop monitoring of the current ecological situation and to inform the population. The regression analysis has shown that factors such as habits, attitude, knowledge, social influence are conducive to joining environmentally friendly behavior. Therefore, to encourage people to act pro-environmental, the state has to develop population education on environmental issues and thus influence the formation of people's attitudes, knowledge, and new habits. Finally, based on the findings of the empirical study, a final theoretical model of green economy development was drawn. |
