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The Sustainable Energy Development Index—An Application for European Union Member States

Author

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  • Magdalena Ligus

    (Department of Corporate Finance and Public Finance, Wroclaw University of Economics and Business, Komandorska 118/120, 53-345 Wroclaw, Poland)

  • Piotr Peternek

    (Department of Econometrics and Operational Research, Wroclaw University of Economics and Business, Komandorska 118/120, 53-345 Wroclaw, Poland)

Abstract

The development of a complete system of indicators and a composite sustainable energy index could prove useful to evaluate both the state of the art and the progress of national energy towards sustainable development. However, in the case of energy sustainability, a knowledge gap arises due to incomplete coverage and lack of systematic focus on sustainability components. The objective of our research is to obtain Sustainable Energy Development Aggregated Index to rank the EU Member States on the path to sustainable energy. We propose a set of indicators related to sustainable development in energy policy in the EU-28, grouped in three dimensions: social, economic and environmental and apply the standardized sums method in order to obtain the dimensional and aggregated indexes. The countries on the podium are Denmark, The Netherlands and Austria. The worst-performing countries (with index values below the first quartile) are Estonia, Malta, Slovakia, Poland, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria. A comparative analysis of the outcome with a few existing indexes for the EU Member States shows how large an impact on the index values and the ranking obtained does the selection of indicators and the methodology used have. The refinement of the set of energy indicators is necessary for the context where they will be applied to ensure their policy relevance and usefulness. It is also necessary to conduct a sensitivity analysis each time in the study.

Suggested Citation

  • Magdalena Ligus & Piotr Peternek, 2021. "The Sustainable Energy Development Index—An Application for European Union Member States," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-32, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:4:p:1117-:d:502559
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    Cited by:

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    3. Kang, Duan, 2024. "The establishment of evaluation systems and an index for energy superpower," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    4. Malgorzata Klaudia Guzowska & Barbara Kryk, 2021. "Efficiency of Implementing Climate/Energy Targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Structural Diversity between Old and New Member States," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Fahad Bin Abdullah & Rizwan Iqbal & Sadique Ahmad & Mohammed A. El-Affendi & Pardeep Kumar, 2022. "Optimization of Multidimensional Energy Security: An Index Based Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-25, May.
    6. Katarzyna Łukasiewicz & Piotr Pietrzak & Jakub Kraciuk & Elżbieta Kacperska & Małgorzata Cieciora, 2022. "Sustainable Energy Development—A Systematic Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Magdalena Tutak & Jarosław Brodny & Peter Bindzár, 2021. "Assessing the Level of Energy and Climate Sustainability in the European Union Countries in the Context of the European Green Deal Strategy and Agenda 2030," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-32, March.
    8. Katarzyna Kubiak-Wójcicka & Leszek Szczęch, 2021. "Dynamics of Electricity Production against the Backdrop of Climate Change: A Case Study of Hydropower Plants in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-24, June.

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