Since the majority of GHG emissions are generated in the energy sector, it is widely recognized that the greatest proportion of emissions reductions will have to occur within this sector. Consequently, an indicator that reflects emissions intensity of the energy sector highlights which countries have the most inefficient energy production. A useful proxy, therefore, is calculated using GHG emissions per unit of electricity and heat output.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 2005 (Metric Tonnes CO2-equivalent) / Electricity and Heat Output (kWh)
Like the previous indicator considering the industrial sector, the Emissions per unit Electricity Generation indicator observes specific emission reductions within one of the sectors most responsible for GHG emissions. Countries that have invested in policies promoting energy efficiency or derive energy from renewable energy sources will score higher for this indicator. In contrast, countries that meet their electricity demand with fossil fuels or fuel wood will do poorly.
We chose a target value of zero emissions per unit of output as the theoretically ideal target for the Emissions per Electricity Generation indicator. Many climate change economists have argued that abating pollution to the point of zero emissions is not optimal due to the exponentially increasing costs of abating the last units of pollution. While we acknowledge this important aspect, by choosing an overly optimistic indicator, we can observe a greater spread among the countries’ environmental performances. Ultimately, the relative distance to a target will determine a country’s EPI score rather than their absolute distance, so an overly stringent target will not affect all countries equally.
Where data were missing for emissions per electricity and heat output, we imputed missing values were imputed by calculating renewable energy consumption as a percentage of total energy consumption.
