A third indicator in this category is the Trend in CO2 Emissions per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity produced, determined for most countries as a trend from 2000 to 2010. For those countries that already perform at the lowest levels of carbon intensity per kWh of electricity produced, a score is calculated as an absolute level of CO2 emissions per kWh of electricity and heat produced, divided by the total amount of electricity and heat production.
Why We Include It Climate change is among the direst environmental challenges. Still, too little progress has been made to mitigate its effects, aid vulnerable populations to adapt, account for loss and damage already experienced, or to move the policy conversation toward consensus on the problem’s scope, origins, or potential solutions. These indicators are intended to rank progress in reducing the carbon intensity of emissions over roughly the last decade (2000 to 2010).
Where The Data Come From Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions data come from the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) 2.0 database provided by the World Resources Institute. Data for the Access to Electricity indicator are from the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative, a joint effort by the World Bank and the International Energy Agency (IEA). The Trend in CO2 Emissions per kWh of electricity generation indicator is developed from data provided by the IEA.
DESCRIPTION In 2007 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon called climate change “the 112 Since then global greenhouse gas emissions have increased and accelerated.113 Our understanding of the underlying science of climate change has improved vastly, but the data and indicators we used to measure and track policy response to it has lagged. Most of the climate data are based on levels of primary CO2 emissions, due to the near linear relationship between carbon dioxide and global temperature rise.114 However, although emissions-based indicators may be a proxy for climate change performance, they are also a proxy for level of economic development. Countries such as Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo may not emit much in comparison to the United States, but that has less to do with outright climate policy than economic underdevelopment. The 2014 EPI takes a new approach to climate and energy. In past iterations of the EPI, the primary goal was to develop indicators that, when statistically transformed and normalized, allowed for absolute comparability among countries. The 2014 EPI acknowledges that generally applying the same targets to every country provides little insight into policy. We agree with international climate Frameworks like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
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World Bank. (2013) How we classify countries accessed: December 30, 2013. 112 United Nations. (2007)
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2014. International Energy Agency. (2013) Four energy policies can keep the 2°C climate goal alive. Available: http://www.iea.org/ newsroomandevents/pressreleases/2013/june/name,38773,en.html. Last accessed: January 10, 2014. 114 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2013) Fifth assessment report: working group 1. Available: http://www. 113
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