World Energy Council officials Stuart Neil, Director of Communications, Joan MacNaughton, Executive Chair, Policy Assessment, and Mark Robson, Partner of Oliver Wyman, attending a media briefing at the QNCC yesterday. Salim Matramkot
By Isabel Ovalle
DOHA: The World Energy Council (WEC) has ranked Qatar in 41st place in energy sustainability, in a report that evaluated 94 countries.
The country has improved its position in comparison with 2011, when it was in 48th place.
The WEC’S global ranking of energy sustainability performance of countries has revealed that most of the over 90 countries assessed are still far from achieving fully sustainable energy systems.
Members of the council said in a press conference yesterday that the main conclusion of the study is that the environmental impact mitigation remains a universal problem.
On this basis, they added that providing high-quality and affordable energy access remains a significant challenge for developing and emerging economies. In addition, countries at various stages of development still struggle with energy security.
The council has also rated energy performance dimensions, such as security (Qatar is 81), social equity (15) and environmental impact mitigation (64).
In all the categories, the ranking is headed mainly by Western countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, France and Austria, among others. While there are exceptions like Zimbabwe, which is fourth in energy security, followed by Colombia. The last places on energy sustainability are for Pakistan, India and Senegal.
Niger, Jordan and Ethiopia take the last places in energy security, and Nepal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe have the last positions in social equity. Regarding environmental impact mitigation, Israel, India and Botswana land in the last positions.
Pierre Gadonneix, Chairman of the World Energy Council, presented the report in the context of the UN climate change conference saying: “The message of the Energy Sustainability Index is clear: all countries are facing challenges in their transition towards more secure, environmentally friendly, and equitable energy systems”.
“What makes the difference is how they set their final goals; how they balance market economics and public policies, and how they design the smartest policies in order to promote efficiency and to optimise costs, resources and investments for the long term. If we are to have any chance of delivering sustainable energy for all and meeting the +2°C goal, we need to get real,” he said.
Joan MacNaughton, executive chair of the World Energy Trilemma report, admitted that “much still needs to be done to make our energy systems sustainable, but there is good news. As countries that use a larger share of low-carbon energy such as renewables and nuclear as part of a diversified energy mix, tend to perform better”.
Mark Robson, Partner of Oliver Wyman, the global consulting firm Oliver Wyman which compiled the Index with the WEC, concluded that “providing sustainable energy is the responsibility of both government and industry”. The Peninsula
