Monitoring Sustainable Development: Climate and Energy Policy Indicators

Abstract

Both the UN SDGs and the Paris Agreement imply ambitious long-term targets that can only be met through a fundamental restructuring of economic and social systems. We propose a set of energy and climate policy indicators that allow informed policymaking and go beyond the UN indicator set. The indicators cover the whole energy system as well as the three dimensions of sustainable development. Our approach combines an energy service centered perspective with research on energy and climate indicators, and it embeds the indicator framework in the broader socio-ecologic context. We compile a set of 109 high-level energy indicators for four key sectors of energy demand (households, transport, industry and manufacturing) that can be further disaggregated to 334 indicators. For electricity and heat supply we assemble a set of 21 indicators that can be disaggregated to 54 indicators, differentiating by energy source and plant type. Interactions, i.e., synergies and conflicts, between the different target dimensions and the corresponding indicators need to be carefully considered. The main aim of the comprehensive indicator set is to help policymakers define measurable goals and strategies in the field of energy and climate policy, as well as to provide a tool for policy monitoring, evaluation and revision. The challenge in using indicator systems for policy analysis is that they have to consider a multitude of aspects in order to reflect the complexity of the issues analyzed and at the same time have to deliver concise information on various trends.