Abstract:Research on sustainable tourism involves developing an appropriate framework to highlight the interdependences of economic, social and environmental systems. The interdependence is based on the entropy of the system while respecting the principle of holism and diversity of rural tourism sustainability. In this context, sustainability in general and rural tourism in particular can be considered a complex system of development, which in some ways can be studied by statistical and econometric methods that allow the analysis of the interdependences between the variables of rural tourism at county level and at the level of rural communities. Conducting such studies involves identifying the rural communities where rural tourism has reached significant levels. Based on this consideration, this paper aims to identify the development regions and counties of Romania where the trends of development of rural tourism are significantly above the average recorded at country level, as a first step towards particular studies of sustainability in rural communities.

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Abstract:The field of eco-innovation is included in the area of sustainable development being closely related with ecological planning. In this context, this paper aims to evaluate Romanian eco-innovation performance during the period 2003-2013 by constructing a composite index and to also identify the main eco-innovation poles at the European level using multidimensional analysis techniques based on the eco-innovation specific indicators for the year 2013. This approach used the methodology of constructing composite indices proposed by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2008. The index measured the eco-innovation dimensions in 27 countries over the period [2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009][2010][2011][2012][2013]. The empirical analysis revealed the conclusion that in Romania, the eco-innovation level is low compared with other countries, thus Romania cannot emphasize its eco-innovation performance. The empirical results of the study highlighted that eco-innovation represents a phenomenon leading to significant progress in achieving the objective of sustainable development in Romania, and also at the European level, only if the importance of this area is awarded and eco-innovation measures are enforced through adequate policies, leading to economic growth. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 12724

Environmental and energy taxation are essential components for designing global economic policies and they often contribute to achieving the sustainable economic development goals in contemporary economies. Starting from the analysis of certain elements such as the share of environmental, energy, transport and pollution taxation in GDP and using the Hierarchical Clustering methodology, the paper aims to identify economic models of behaviour and to understand the influence of energy taxation in designing an economic paradigm. In addition, another objective of the paper is to deepen the relationships that energy taxation has in designing certain economic models of behaviour and to group the EU-28 Member States based on the specified criteria. The research results confirm that at the EU-28 level could exist elements for achieving energy taxation convergence and that the states should promote a more accurate fiscal policy in order to improve the loss of competitivity caused by an inaccurate energy taxation.

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