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

Contents of the Report 
This report includes five chapters, four annexes, a bibliography and a list of related 
Internet sites. Chapter 2 presents a background summary and short descriptions of 
work on energy indicators undertaken in participating agencies. Chapter 3 includes 
the list of indicators classified according to dimensions, themes and sub-themes. The 
chapter also discusses the dimensions, themes and frameworks used to define the 
indicators. Chapter 4 provides guidelines on how to select and use the indicators and 
discusses their limitations, pitfalls and constraints to ensure meaningful analysis and 
to avoid basic statistical misinterpretations. Chapter 5 contains methodology sheets 
for each of the 30 EISD. Annex 1 is a glossary of selected terms used in the report. 
Annex 2 is a list of acronyms. Annex 3 includes a summary of a decomposition 
method to analyse energy intensities. Annex 4 provides units and conversion factors.
The methodology sheets make up the bulk of the report. They give basic descriptions, 
methods, data availability, units, alternative definitions and relevance to sustainable 
development. These sheets are complete descriptions of the indicators, prepared to 
assist users in the elaboration, construction and implementation of the EISD. They 
include the main and alternative definitions, the components of each indicator, the 
units in which they are measured, instructions on how to construct them, data issues 
and sources. A country implementing the EISD may choose to use an alternative 
definition for a particular indicator that better fits that country’s specific 
circumstances. 

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5 
2. BACKGROUND 
Since the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987, various international and 
national organizations have been developing sets of indicators to measure and assess 
one or more aspects of sustainable development. These efforts received a major boost 
following the adoption of Agenda 21 at the Earth Summit in 1992, which (in Chapter 
40) specifically asks countries and international governmental and nongovernmental 
organizations to develop the concept of indicators of sustainable development and to 
harmonize them at the national, regional and global levels.