The Inclusive Green Energy Index of Progress

Abstract

This paper presents the Inclusive Green Energy index (IGE) to evaluate the progress in achieving the key dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) nº 7, which entails ensuring “access to affordable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. The key aspects of this index are: (i) it focuses on the change of the corresponding variables, rather than on their levels; (ii) it exhibits a decomposability feature that permits integrating several dimensions in a simple way, allowing for the inclusion of “goods” and “bads”; and (iii) the evaluation of progress is made relative to some reference values (targets and thresholds) that can differ between countries. We calculate the IGE index of progress for 157 countries using data from 2000 to 2015 on three indicators intended to capture inclusiveness, greenness and efficiency regarding energy use. The results show that progress has, on average, been positive across the world, with more than 85 per cent of the sample of countries experiencing some degree of progress. However, progress is smaller for the Middle East and North African and Sub-Saharan African countries and it is negative for most of the countries that exhibit low levels of human development, as measured by the Human Development Index. Furthermore, less than five percent of the countries in the sample have an IGE commensurate with having met their respective country-level targets. This means that much remains to be done by almost all countries worldwide in regard to being in track towards meeting their SDG nº 7 by 2030.