The indicators are....

a baseline from which to infer progression towards or regression from energy-related sustainability.

By concentrating on feasible, policy-relevant, energy-related indicators at the intersection of economic, social, technological, environmental sustainability, and civil society this tool can deliver a usable set of goals and measurements to citizens and decision-makers alike.

However, important as the indicators are, they are only carefully chosen statistics and merely give one part of the story. The most interesting contribution of the reports prepared by SEW comes from the qualitative personal assessment given by the observer-reporters in each country. Indeed this is the component that generates the greatest added-value in the SEW reports.

Each indicator must.....

• be clearly definable, simple to understand, and easily communicated to citizens and decision-makers alike;
• be relevant to actual or anticipated policies;
• reflect an important aspect of the social, economic, environmental, or technological elements of the energy system;
• measure something of obvious value to observers and decision-makers; and
• have durability and long-term relevance.

The underlying metric...

that is, the actual measurement or statistic used, must be generally available for most, if not all, countries. This combines measurability, data availability, and achievability; in other words, data collection and vector calculation must be do-able.

In addition...

• If calculation is required to derive an indicator, it must be simple to do;
• The indicator set as a whole is indicative of a country's and the world's progress towards energy-related sustainability; and
• Improvement in an indicator's measurement is indicative of genuine progress toward an energy system that sustains and improves human health and happiness.

The aim of this indicator set is...

to be applicable to the current energy situation in a given country and to highlight what is pertinent and achievable. SEW has selected eight indicators. Each indicator has been chosen because it reflects an underlying and measurable value ; ultimately an indicator value should be as small as possible, reflecting a smaller footprint, i.e. impact.

SEW has determined this set of "sustainability objectives," not so much as absolute goals (for nobody knows what a sustainable goal really entails) but to act as a series of benchmarks. It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong.

The indicators cover the following aspects...

• environmental
• CO2 emissions per capita (global pollution)
• ambient energy-related emissions (local pollution)
• social
• guaranteed access to electricity
• investments in clean energy
• economic
• energy resilience
• burden of public energy investments
• technological
• energy intensity
• renewable energy deployment
• civic
• quality of information
• participative governance
  
  

Click here for a complete explanation of the indicators and the method of calculation.

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