The current system of own resources to finance the EU budget does not contribute to the overarching goal of sustainable growth and development in the EU. Therefore, the current own resources, which primarily consist of contributions by Member States, should be partially replaced by sustainability-oriented own resources. Such a reform would create space for Member States to reduce their tax burdens (particularly high taxes on labour) in a supranational sustainability-enhancing tax shift. Candidate resources are taxes or levies that cannot be effectively enforced at the Member State level due to tax competition and avoidance and/or cross-border externalities, and that contribute to central European strategies and policies. A basket solution would be preferable, consisting of "green" and other innovative own resources, so that potential negative effects on individual countries could be cancelled out to some degree. We analyse several options for sustainability-oriented own resources and provide estimates of their potential revenues. These options include various green own resources (a carbon-based flight ticket tax, a border carbon adjustment for the EU emission trading system and a surcharge on national fuel taxes) particularly addressing environmental problems, and other candidates which could contribute to further dimensions of sustainability (a financial transactions tax, a net wealth tax and a CCCTB-based own resource). We also discuss the candidates for innovative own resources suggested by the European Commission in its proposals for the next 2021-2027 MFF, namely a plastic-based contribution, a share in revenue from auctioning emission trading certificates and a CCCTB-based own resource. Based on a summary evaluation considering a number of sustainability criteria relevant to the assessment of own resources, we find that all the options considered are in principle well-suited candidates, while none can be identified as the "perfect" candidate. We also analyse the legal basis of the various candidates for sustainability-oriented own resources and find that almost all the candidates could be introduced within the existing legal framework so that no Treaty changes would be required.