Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development: Guidelines and Methodologies International Atomic Energy Agency United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs International Energy Agency Eurostat European Environment Agency

particularly from the mining of energy resources.

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3.2.4 Institutional Dimension 
The EISD do not yet include institutional indicators. These indicators are the most 
difficult to define for two reasons. First, they tend to address issues that are, by nature, 
difficult to measure in quantitative terms. Many of these issues relate to the future and 
require dynamic analysis based on projections of energy production, use and 
investment. Second, the variables measured by institutional indicators tend to be 
structural or policy responses to sustainable development needs. 
For example, institutional indicators might help to measure not only the existence but 
also the effectiveness of a national sustainable energy development strategy or plan, 
energy statistical capacity and analytical capabilities, or the adequacy and 
effectiveness of investments in capacity building, education or research and 
development. Institutional indicators could also help to monitor progress towards 
appropriate and effective legislative, regulatory and enforcement institutions for 
energy systems. 
Infrastructure is the backbone of any national energy system. Countries need to 
monitor the state of their major energy infrastructures to ensure a sustainable energy 
future. Many countries now depend on major energy infrastructures that are obsolete, 
inefficient, insufficient or environmentally unacceptable. 
3.3
Accommodating National Sustainability and Development Priorities 
Some caveats are in order about the use of the EISD and their interpretation for 
monitoring progress towards sustainable energy development. Since the publication of 
the Brundtland Report, countries have begun to define their own sustainable 
development objectives and priorities, reflecting national resources and needs, 
aspirations, and social and economic conditions. Sustainable development strategies 
must therefore be structured to accommodate a wide range of definitions of what 
desirable sustainable development can encompass, and monitoring the success of such 
strategies through indicators must also avoid rigid definitions or judgements about 
what is universally desirable and necessary. 
For example, it is possible for an economy to be sustainable without developing. This 
was true of hunter-gatherer groups living twenty thousand years ago. It is also 
possible for a country to develop without its development being sustainable. This 
would be true of a country completely dependent on a lucrative and highly effective 
fishing industry that generates high income levels, thus enabling investment in 
schools, hospitals, art galleries and welfare services, but that also exhausts the fish 
stocks. This country would have achieved a degree of development, but that 
development would not be sustainable since it is destroying the country’s source of 
income. 
However, it is also true that the depletion of resources does not necessarily imply 
unsustainable development. By definition, if an energy source is not renewable, any 
use of it is irreversible. But this does not mean it should never be used. Consider a 
country with a natural gas field that uses all of the gas in a way calculated to bring in 
funds to build up its economy and technology, and then moves on to another form of 
energy — for example, renewables or imported fuels. This may represent sustainable 
development. The depletion of the gas field by one generation does not necessarily 
jeopardize the energy supply for future generations. 

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Paradoxically, the economic and environmental crises of depletion in the past have all 
come from the exhaustion of renewable resources — overfishing, overgrazing, cutting 
down too many trees, etc. This highlights the importance of not using renewable 
resources at a rate faster than their natural replenishment rates. 
The indicators, with one possible exception, do not individually distinguish between a 
focus on sustainability or on development. The possible exception is SOC1 (share of 
households without electricity or commercial energy). This is clearly an indicator of 
development only and not sustainability. The rest of the indicators could mark either. 
However, used together and in the context of a country’s individual circumstances, 
they can be used to show progress towards sustainable development and attainment of 
the goals defined by the country’s particular sustainable development strategy.