Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development ... - IAEA Publications

Paradoxically, the economic and environmental crises of depletion in the past have allcome from the exhaustion of renewable resources — overfishing, overgrazing, cuttingdown too many trees, etc. This highlights the importance of not using renewableresources at a rate faster than their natural replenishment rates.The indicators, with one possible exception, do not individually distinguish between afocus on sustainability or on development. The possible exception is SOC1 (share ofhouseholds without electricity or commercial energy). This is clearly an indicator ofdevelopment 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 ofthe goals defined by the country’s particular sustainable development strategy.3.4 Establishing Links and CausalityIf indicators are to be used to guide policymaking and strategic decisions, then theymust provide some notion of where to apply policy pressure and where to initiatechanges that can bring desired results. Establishing links and some idea of causality isthus an important feature of policy monitoring with indicators. Seeing trends withoutunderstanding how to affect them is not useful for strategic development.A complete understanding of how each individual economic activity influences allothers and fits into the whole is not yet in reach. Nonetheless, one can establish usefulgeneral rules of cause and effect to analyse economies and guide policymaking. Theindicators can help us understand some of the effects that energy production and usehave on the economy and the environment. By linking these indicators and monitoringchanges in their values, one should be able to see the effects that shifts in energyproduction or use have on the economy, society and the environment.In general, a cause–effect framework allows policymakers to track pathways andsubsidiary effects from the point of a policy’s implementation to its impacts in orderto discern linkages among energy and to target policies more specifically.A model of cause and effect was initially designed to identify and categorize the EISDusing a driving force, state and response (DSR) framework. Similar models are usedby international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development (OECD), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the UnitedNations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Eurostat and theEuropean Environment Agency (EEA). These include, for example, the pressurestate-response(PSR) model developed by the OECD for categorizing the nature ofdifferent environmental indicators and the DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State ofthe environment, Impacts, and societal Responses) framework developed by the EEA.The PSR framework describes indicators for environmental pressures as ‘direct’ and‘indirect’ pressures exerted on the environment. These indirect pressures are calleddriving forces in other models. The indicators for the environmental state relate toenvironmental quality and the quality and quantity of natural resources. The indicators21