Indicators for sustainable energy development in Thailand

This article examines energy priorities for Thailand from the economic, social and environmental perspectives of sustainable development. The article uses a set of indicators devised by the International Atomic Energy Agency in partnership with other international agencies and research institutes in seven countries. Thailand's energy efficiency in the 1980s and 1990s are analysed using energy intensity indicators, and possible impacts on sustainable energy development are highlighted. The early 1990s in particular was an important period for Thailand, as the country was at the height of its economic growth, and a number of energy efficiency and conservation programmes were launched. Energy intensity indicators show continuing and faster growth in energy consumption relative to economic activity. The financial crisis in the late 1990s did halt growth in energy consumption, with positive consequences on environmental emissions, but only temporarily as Thailand's economy quickly started to recover in 2000. Notwithstanding the financial crisis, the other indicators show significant progress in economic and social dimensions.     

Indicators for sustainable energy development in Mexico

This article presents a summary of a study on the application to the Mexican energy sector of a core set of indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED), developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The study focused on the elaboration of socio‐economic and environmental indicators related to energy production and use, and was aimed at assessing Mexico's existing energy policies and identifying strategies and possible policies that could bring about improvements in major priority areas: energy intensity, atmospheric emissions, energy import dependency and use of renewables. While positive trends have been observed in relation to energy intensity and atmospheric emissions, Mexico is becoming more dependent on imports of gasoline, natural gas and other high‐value secondary energy sources, while exporting significant amounts of primary fuels, such as crude oil. Also, no significant increase has been observed in the use of renewable sources of energy. Social, economic and environmental policies need to be formulated for the energy sector and related investments (public and private) reinforced so that all economic sectors have access to energy from cleaner and more diverse sources.     

Indicators for sustainable energy development: Brazil's case study

This article summarizes the results of the project on indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED) in Brazil. The project's aim was to present energy related economic, social and environmental data to policy makers in a coherent and consistent form, showing interlinkages, time‐series and cross‐sectoral analyses and assess energy policy. Two priority areas assessed by these indicators, regarding the country's energy supply and demand, helped in the identification of a number of energy policy options that focused on specific aspects of the country's energy sector. On the supply side, these options include the development and stimulation of renewable energy, such as small‐scale hydroelectric, wind, solar photovoltaic power and bagasse cogeneration; stimulation of programmes for ethanol use as automotive fuel and sugarcane bagasse cogeneration; and implementation of natural gas‐fired, combined heat and power (CHP) plants. On the demand side, policy options include: the full implementation of the law on efficiency standards for appliances; expansion of utility investment in end‐use energy efficiency; adoption of targets and protocols to reduce energy intensity in the industrial sector; improvement of passenger transport efficiency; and the creation of a fund to improve energy affordability for the poor.     

Indicators for sustainable energy development: An initiative by the International Atomic Energy Agency

Since 1999, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been leading a multinational, multi‐agency effort to develop a set of energy indicators useful for measuring progress on sustainable development at the national level. This effort has included the identification of major relevant energy indicators, the development of a framework for implementation and the testing of the applicability of this tool in a number of countries. To achieve these goals, the IAEA has worked closely with other international organizations, leaders in energy and environmental statistics and analysis including the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the International Energy Agency (IEA), Eurostat and the European Environment Agency (EEA). Also, the IAEA completed a three‐year coordinated research project for the implementation and testing of the original set of indicators in seven countries — Brazil, Cuba, Lithuania, Mexico, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic and Thailand. This article provides an overview of the IAEA programme on Indicators for Sustainable Energy Development (ISED) and highlights its experiences and accomplishments.     

Evaluation of energy policy in Cuba using ISED

This article discusses the development of Cuba's energy sector in the last half century, especially the last 25 years, emphasizing social, economic, environmental and institutional aspects. Energy use is evaluated with the indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED) developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and applied by the authors, based on data series from Cuba's National Office of Statistics. Cuba's economy and energy sector have undergone important changes, particularly in the 1990s during the crisis that resulted from the termination of the country's special trade relations with former socialist countries. Based on an analysis of Cuba's economy and energy situation, a number of policies were selected for evaluation, including those aimed to reduce energy import dependence, increase the share of renewable energy sources and improve energy efficiency. The effects of these policies are evaluated in view of sustainable energy development. The article concludes with an evaluation of recent progress towards sustainable energy development in Cuba, and outlines future options for the country.     

Monitoring the sustainability of Russia's energy development

This article presents an assessment of Russia's energy sector, its current state and planned future direction. The analysis of Russia's energy trends is based on a set of indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED), developed under the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The article discusses Russia's Energy Strategy to 2020, and outlines major developments and challenges of the country's energy system. Russia's energy priorities, captured in the Strategy to 2020, emphasize securing a stable and uninterrupted energy supply; reducing energy intensity and improving energy efficiency; developing the domestic energy resource base; reducing negative environmental impacts; and ensuring affordable energy for the poorer segments of the population. Energy needs and challenges are discussed in relation to the three aspects of sustainability as defined in Agenda 21: economic, social and environmental. Concerns are expressed regarding environmental repercussions of energy development, in particular since Russia's 1998 economic rebound. There are also concerns, despite the economic recovery, that anticipated increases in energy tariffs may exceed the affordability of poorer segments of the population.     

Energy for sustainable development: Review of national and international energy policies

This article presents an assessment of the effectiveness of national and international energy policies directed toward the objectives of sustainable development contained in Agenda 21. Following a brief overview of energy and transport sector trends over the past ten years, the article discusses whether and to what extent energy policies for sustainable development have impacted on poverty reduction, energy security, equitable access to energy, and transition to a more efficient and environmentally sound energy system.
The impact of policies is assessed considering that such a transition involves appropriate combinations of energy efficient technologies and usage patterns, wider use of renewable energy, and gradual induction of advanced energy technologies. The article then examines the extent to which such policies have been based on integrated assessments of the needs and priorities in economic growth, social development and environmental protection and identifies some of the main constraints and barriers hampering the implementation of energy for sustainable development. The article also examines whether decision-making processes ensure multi-stakeholder participation in policy development and support a fair sharing of commitments, responsibilities and benefits among the participating stakeholders in policy implementation. Selected case studies of policies that have made a tangible difference in promoting energy for sustainable development are outlined.
Finally the article discusses the challenges facing energy for sustainable development and discusses various options to accelerate the implementation of its goals.     

Social features of energy production and use in Brazil: Goals for a sustainable energy future

This paper focuses on the social features of ene rgy production and use in Brazil and discusses the role of the energy policy goals of accessibility, affordability and acceptability in defining a sustainable energy future for the country. The major findings are that social inequalities in Brazil regarding energy use continue to be substantial and important. This can be explained by the fact that, although recent decades have seen significant improvements in energy accessibility all over the country, much more needs to be done to provide affordable, and socially acceptable modern energy carriers to all socio‐economic groups in all regions.     

Evaluating the prospects for sustainable energy development in a sample of Chinese villages

This paper describes the methods used to evaluate the potential for achieving sustainable energy development in six Chinese villages included in the Sustainable Users' Concepts for China Engaging Scientific Scenarios (SUCCESS) Project by examining energy efficiency potential and local renewable energy prospects. The approaches needed to obtain and analyse information on possible energy efficiency measures and renewable energy resources are summarised. Results are presented in terms of cumulative net savings in primary energy consumption, as an indicator of energy resource depletion, and associated carbon dioxide emissions, as an indicator of global climate change. Options for sustainable energy development are ranked in order of likely implementation and practical actions which could be considered in each village are identified.     

EU sustainable development indicators: An overview

The European Union's commitment to sustainable development at the 1992 Earth Summit resulted in an EU‐wide sustainable development strategy, adopted in Gothenburg in 2001. This article presents an overview of the set of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) recently adopted by the European Commission to monitor, assess and revise the strategy. It provides a critical assessment of the current status of the indicator set, and reviews the main policy trends in the areas of the strategy through a brief analysis of headline indicators, placing energy and climate change issues in a broader perspective. Finally, the article compares the energy SDIs to the recent inter‐agency energy indicators for sustainable development (EISD), underlining their similarities as well as their different priorities and objectives. The article concludes that further research is needed to improve the SDI set and further explore the linkages between themes.     

Indicators for managing biosolids in Ireland

Sustainable development indicators (SDIs) have emerged as a tool to measure progress towards sustainable development for a number of fields. However, no indicator initiative to date has been aimed at biosolids management at local authority, regional or national levels. This paper presents a study where stakeholders involved in the management of biosolids in Ireland participated in the development of SDIs for managing biosolids at the local/regional level. A significant 81% of participating stakeholders find SDIs either 'useful' or 'very useful' as a tool for managing biosolids. A suite of 22 indicators has been developed and arranged according to the driving force-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) indicator framework. The indicators address all the domains of biosolids management namely, production, quality, cost, legislation/regulation, training/research and recycling/disposal. The stakeholder approach is recognition that no effective indicator set can be developed without the input of stakeholders.     

Significant developments in sustainable development law and governance: A proposal

This article develops a practical proposal for progress on sustainable development law. It examines the prospects for an international sustainable development law to provide a framework for more effective, coherent governance. Sustainable development law is briefly defined and an analytical framework is provided. Different degrees of integration between economic, social and environmental law are described. Certain principles of international law related to sustainable development are also highlighted. It is argued that these principles may serve to guide law‐makers and jurists where social, economic and environmental law and policy conflict or overlap. Continuing, underlying questions of sustainable development governance are addressed and its global frameworks analysed. The article also focuses on the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in August‐September 2002, and its specific mandate for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to take related legal developments into account. The article advances a proposal: that governments, economic, social and environmental intergovernmental organizations and other actors establish a ‘network of inquiry’ with members from relevant groups, including legal and academic organizations, and other expert groups, in order to follow, research, analyse and debate legal developments in a balanced way.     

Positive psychology in education for sustainable development at a primary-education institution

The present global environmental crisis is demanding serious rather than superficial changes within the cultural assumptions of human-to-human and human-to-nature relationships. In this sense, education is one of the strongest tools to model our future and a key factor of cultural change. One of the principal aims of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is to develop cognitive and affective skills that affect people's values, such as empathy and critical thinking. Together with compromise and responsibility towards a group, it is possible to build new values and ways to interact with both people and the environment. In the present study we used positive psychology principles in creating teaching interventions to empower empathy and critical thinking through an ESD programme at a Chilean primary school. The results show that an intervention of this kind helps to harmoniously build reflective thinking and empathy within students. This enables them to achieve important changes in their disposition to make sound personal and environmental decisions, and prepares them to positively meet imposing present and future challenges.     

A new index for assessing the contribution of energy efficiency in LEED 2009 certified green buildings to achieving UN sustainable development goals in Jordan

Jordan faces stringent energy challenges mainly in the form of import dependence and escalating demand. The building sector accounts for 58% of total national electricity consumption and therefore plays an important role in addressing these challenges. This article investigates how energy efficiency in green buildings certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system contribute towards achieving United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Jordan. Furthermore, this paper proposes a new Comprehensive Contribution to Sustainable Development Index (CCSDI) to assess the contributions of implementation of the LEED 2009 prerequisites and credits in the Energy and Atmosphere (EA) category to achieve UN SDGs in Jordan. Questionnaire surveys were conducted to obtain data. Relative Importance Index (RII) method was used to evaluate the contributions of LEED 2009 prerequisites and credits in the EA category. Results indicate a positive relationship between the LEED 2009 prerequisites and credits in category and UN SDGs 7?9 and 12?13. We conclude that our proposed CCSDI is a robust tool for assessing the contribution of energy efficiency in LEED 2009 certified green buildings towards achieving UN SDGs in Jordan.     

Developing an indicator set for measuring sustainable development in India

The global agenda of sustainable development (SD) will get a major boost from the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries. This requires effective planning and understanding of the SDGs at the national level and developing sound SDG indicators that account for country priorities. Currently, there is no formal SDG indicator set in India, but the process for it is underway. This paper has attempted to propose a unique technique for identifying the most representative indicator set for SD measurement in India based on the SDGs. Considering the needs and preferences of the country, a three‐stage process is proposed to develop the priority indicator set. The application of the approach has been presented for SDG 7, which relates to energy. This is supported with a background on India's SD progress. The proposed technique is simple yet effective, and can be easily replicated by other developing countries.     

Income,environmental considerations,and sustainable energy consumption in Africa

Evidence on income as a crucial driver of renewable energy consumption in Africa is mixed. But hydropower accounts for over 90% of renewable energy in sub-Sahara Africa alone. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that hydropower may not be as environmentally sustainable as believed and, as a legacy source of energy in Africa, may not accurately reflect attitudes on renewable energy motivated by environmental concerns. This paper examines the role played by economic performance in the rising sustainable energy consumption in Africa, focusing on the renewable energy sources that are compatible with sustainable development. The difference generalized method of moments, fully modified ordinary least squares, and dynamic ordinary least squares are employed to estimate the statistical significance of income, environmental sustainability proxy, and prices as important drivers of sustainable energy consumption in a panel of 10 African countries for the period 2000–2011—a time frame characterized by a rapid rise in renewables as a priority in environmental policy. With timing and measurement considerations on sources of renewables, results indicate that in contrast to recent literature, the rise in sustainable energy consumption in Africa is strongly driven by rising domestic incomes. In line with literature, however, there is a generally positive, albeit statistically insignificant relationship between sustainable energy consumption and levels of carbon emissions. Oil prices in real terms also correlate with sustainable energy consumption. Available data also show that countries with low energy security also coincidentally tend to have high small hydropower capacity, providing potential for sustainably reducing energy insecurity.     

Indicators of Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities at the Interface of Science and Policy

Rising global interest in sustainability has triggered attention in indicators as a means of achieving a more sustainable world. Although the search for indicators has led to the development of criteria for good indicators, it has also been dominated by scientific elites. The consequences of such dominance leads to significant social and policy implications, particularly with regard to how the search for sustainability has become defined primarily as a technical/scientific exploration when it is actually a moral and ethical issue. Our discussion about sustainability and appropriate indicators centers on what constitutes the public interest, a question that requires inclusiveness and centers on the interface of science and policy. The paper reviews the rationale for selecting indicators, the functions they serve, and the implications and consequences involved when one sector—science—dominates the debate. The paper concludes with suggestions about appropriate roles of science, policy and the public in the indicator selection process.     

Towards sustainable development? The evolution of environmental policy in Malaysia

Over the last five decades, Malaysia has undergone rapid economic, social and environmental change, a process which is still continuing. The pursuit of socio‐economic progress has been accompanied by an unprecedented rate of change in the natural environment. In parallel to this development, governmental responses have also adapted over time to address emerging environmental situations. This article views the recent history of Malaysia's evolving policy response to development needs and environmental change as consisting of four distinct stages. Despite an impressive array of policy statements and strategies to implement sustainable development, many challenges remain today. A clear articulation of normative principles of sustainable development is of paramount importance, as is the monumental task of policy implementation. The article argues that the trajectory of Malaysia's policy on natural resources and environmental issues bears the characteristics of path‐dependent evolution.     

Analytical conceptual plan to reforest central Himalaya for sustainable development

The Central Himalayan region is suffering from severe ecological problems as a consequence of deforestation and that threatens the subsistence population of the region. We analyze this problem and propose a plan for ecologically sustainable development for the region based on an analysis of the interrelationships of various ecosystems, particularly cropland and forest ecosystems, around which most human activities are concentrated. Each energy unit of agronomic yield leads to expenditure of about 12 energy units of forest/grazing land energy. Because with rapidly declining forest area, this form of agriculture is no longer sustainable and cannot be converted into a fossil fuel-based agriculture, we propose that agriculture in the mountain region has to be largely replaced with farm forests to revitalize the environment and to generate the basic needs of the subsistence economy of the hill population whose food grain needs can be met from the plains. We conclude by describing the advantages that are likely to accrue to the people for their long-term future. In terms of both energy and money, the value of resources collected from the forest to support agriculture in the present systems far exceeds the value of food grain that would be required to enable the proposed farm forest-based systems to function. At regional level, the proposed system would generate more energy than the existing systems, not only because the productivity of forest is about tenfold greater than that of cropland, but also because the proposed plan promotes recovery of various ecosystems.     

Energy indicators and sustainable development: The International Energy Agency approach

The International Energy Agency (IEA), together with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UN‐DESA, Eurostat and the European Environmental Agency, has recently published a comprehensive joint‐agency overview of energy indicators for sustainable development. The IEA's contribution to this publication is based on the IEA energy indicator approach. This approach has been developed and used by the IEA over a number of years. The indicators advocated by the IEA are relatively disaggregated to allow for meaningful analysis of sustainability issues in the energy sector. Using a decomposition approach helps reveal the causal links between human/economic driving forces, energy use and emissions. This article presents examples of IEA's work with indicators and an overview of the methodology used, including an explanation of the link to sustainable development. It also provides an example of a simplified indicator analysis of India, to illustrate the importance of improved data systems in developing indicators that can provide meaningful policy analysis.