Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development: Guidelines and Methodologies International Atomic Energy Agency United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs International Energy Agency Eurostat European Environment Agency

2.3
Energy Indicator Efforts in Participating Agencies 
This report is the result of an interagency effort led by the IAEA in cooperation with 
UNDESA, the IEA, the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and 
the European Environment Agency (EEA). It is a joint endeavour intended to 
eliminate duplication and provide users with a single set of energy indicators 
applicable in every country. In addition to the interagency cooperative work on EISD, 
each of these agencies has ongoing programmes on energy or energy/environmental 
indicators, which are to some extent interlinked. These programmes are designed to 
monitor and assess sustainable development trends in their corresponding Member 
States and regions. These activities complement the joint effort on harmonization 

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presented in this report. A short description of these various agency programmes is 
presented below. 
2.3.1 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the ISED/EISD Effort 
The IAEA initiated this indicator project in 1999 in cooperation with various 
international organizations, including the IEA and UNDESA, and some Member 
States of the IAEA. As previously mentioned, the original name was Indicators for 
Sustainable Energy Development (ISED). This name was later modified to Energy 
Indicators for Sustainable Development (EISD) to reflect the view held by some users 
that ‘sustainable energy development’ refers only to renewable energy and not to the 
broader spectrum of energy choices. The project was conceived (i) to fill the need for 
a consistent set of energy indicators applicable worldwide, (ii) to assist countries in 
the energy and statistical capacity building necessary to promote energy sustainability 
and (iii) to supplement the work on general indicators being undertaken by the CSD. 
The project has two phases. In the first phase (2000–2001), a potential set of energy 
indicators for sustainable development was identified and the conceptual framework 
to define and classify these indicators was developed. During the second phase, which 
began in 2002, the original set of indicators and framework were refined, and the 
practical utility of the indicator set in a variety of applications is being demonstrated 
by incorporating the indicators into relevant databases and analytical tools, using them 
in ongoing statistical analyses (capacity building) and helping countries to use the 
system to track their energy strategies in conformity with their national objectives of 
sustainable development. 
In the first phase, the original set of 41 indicators was developed and defined in terms 
of their assigned DSR characters, with desirable responses identified for improving 
the sustainability of energy systems. A conceptual framework was developed that 
defined major themes and sub-themes, and systematic cross-linkages among 
indicators. The results of the first phase were presented at CSD-9 in April 2001.
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The second phase started with a coordinated effort led by the IAEA to implement the 
set of EISD in the following countries: Brazil, Cuba, Lithuania, Mexico, Russian 
Federation, Slovak Republic and Thailand. These countries have selected particular 
subsets of the EISD most relevant to their energy priorities and have applied these 
indicators in analyses of their current and potential future energy systems and policies. 
This implementation programme concludes in 2005 with reports summarizing the 
findings. Also during the second phase, the EISD project was classified as a WSSD