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progress towards sustainability. First, policymakers need to know their country’s
current status concerning energy and economic sustainability, what needs to be
improved and how these improvements can be achieved. Second, it is important for
policymakers to understand the implications of selected energy, environmental and
economic
programmes, policies and plans, and their impacts on the shaping of
development and on the feasibility of making this development sustainable. Third,
inevitably there will be trade-offs. In short, there is an imminent need for informed
and balanced choices to be made on policy, investment and corrective action.
When choosing energy fuels and associated technologies for the production, delivery
and use of energy services, it is essential to take into account economic, social and
environmental consequences. Policymakers need methods for measuring and
assessing the current and future effects of energy use on human health,
human society,
air, soil and water. They need to determine whether current energy use is sustainable
and, if not, how to change it so that it is. This is the purpose of the energy indicators
presented in this report, which address important issues within three of the major
dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental.
The indicators are not merely data; rather, they extend beyond basic statistics to
provide a deeper understanding of the main issues and to highlight important relations
that are not evident using basic statistics. They are essential tools for communicating
energy issues related to sustainable development to policymakers and to the public,
and for promoting institutional dialogue. Each set of indicators expresses aspects or
consequences of the production and use of energy. Taken together,
the indicators give
a clear picture of the whole system, including interlinkages and trade-offs among
various dimensions of sustainable development, as well as the longer-term
implications of current decisions and behaviour. Changes in the indicator values over
time mark progress or lack of progress towards sustainable development.
The same value for a given energy indicator might not mean the same thing for two
different countries. The meaning will depend on the state of development of each
country, the nature of its economy, its geography, the availability of indigenous
energy resources and so on. Caution, therefore, needs to be applied when using such
indicators for cross-country comparisons. Nonetheless, changes in the value of each
indicator over time will help to quantify the progress of each country.
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Instead of
relying on abstract analysis, policymakers will have a simple set of figures to guide
their decisions and monitor the results of their policies.
Consider an example from medicine. A doctor can evaluate a patient’s health using a
handful of numbers: blood pressure, pulse rate, weight-to-height ratio, cholesterol
level and so on. By watching how these numbers change over time, the doctor can
advise the patient whether his or her health is improving or deteriorating. This will
help the patient to choose the best diet, exercise regimen and medicine. Of course, the
numbers do not mean the same thing for all patients.
A naturally stocky person, even
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Indicators are useful for monitoring progress towards specific country goals. For example, to reach
an annual limit on a set of emissions from the energy sector, it would be sensible to identify the
values of appropriate indicators that would be necessary to meet this goal. With knowledge of the
energy sector, policymakers can identify the indicators over which they have the most control.
Progress is then more easily monitored and policy is often more easily implemented by using these
indicators rather than focusing solely on the goal.
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in perfect health, will have a higher weight-to-height ratio than a naturally slight
person; some people naturally have rather high blood pressure. But by monitoring the
numbers over time, the doctor can advise different patients on their progress towards
good health.
The indicators presented here constitute a core set of Energy Indicators for
Sustainable Development (EISD) with corresponding methodologies and guidelines
useful
to policymakers, energy analysts and statisticians. Some indicators focus on the
delivery of essential energy services for reducing poverty and improving living
conditions, while other indicators focus on environmental effects. It is important to
take not only the economic but also these social and environmental issues into account
when deciding on policies. The role of the analyst is to select, weigh and present to
policymakers appropriate indicators for the situation in their own country so as to
foster development in a sustainable manner.
Each of the EISD presented in this report might, in fact, represent a set of several
indicators, as many of the issues touched on are best analysed using a group of related
indicators.
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