Wednesday

6th Dec 2023

EU doing well in global energy ranking

  • Swiss nuclear plant. Switzerland comes out top at the World Economic Forum's annual energy ranking (Photo: Fomal Haut)

The European Union is dominating the World Economic Forum's annual Global Energy Architecture Performance Index, published on Wednesday (22 March).

This year, fourteen of the twenty best-scoring countries are members of the European Union – two more than in 2016.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The index gives points for eighteen different energy-related categories, on issues such as: the levels of diversity and quality in the energy supply, or the volume of CO2 emissions.

The ranking is topped by non-EU members Switzerland (1) and Norway (2). The top-7 are all European countries: Sweden (3), Denmark (4), France (5), Austria (6), and Spain (7).

The list's methodology included eighteen indicators that quantified the countries' contributions to economic growth and development, environmental sustainability, and energy access and security.

EU countries, such as: Portugal (11), Finland (12), Slovenia (13), United Kingdom (15), Ireland (16), Latvia (17), Croatia (18), Germany (19), and Slovakia (20), also performed well.

The report stated that Europe's “strong performance is underpinned by advantages gained through a long history of coordination between European nations, which is a model for regional cooperation”.

The report was published by the Swiss-based foundation, the World Economic Forum, best-known for its annual meeting in Davos.

The authors recognised that the index “cannot fully reflect the complexity of energy systems or of managing energy transitions”, but could work as “a basis for comparison across nations”.

For the third year in a row, Switzerland received top marks and was put in first-place because it had “a diverse supply mix, low-energy intensity and low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electricity production”.

Norway was praised for “energy access and security”, while Sweden scored well on environmental sustainability.

“From being heavily reliant on oil in the 1970s to achieving one of the highest shares of renewables across the EU, it has reached 50% of consumption from renewable energy before the 2020 deadline,” the report said about Sweden.

Most EU countries were in the 40 highest ranked countries, of 127, with only Estonia (56), Cyprus (67), and Malta (71) performing less well.

Several non-EU European countries outperformed those lower ranked EU member states - with Albania in 25th place, and Iceland in 26th.

EU tables energy 'mega-package'

Energy Union commissioner Maros Sefcovic calls on member states to rally behind a bundle of proposals to increase energy efficiency that runs to more than 1,000 pages.

Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies

Disruption at the Polish-Ukrainian border by disaffected Polish truckers is escalating, potentially affecting delivery of military aid to Ukraine. A Polish request to reintroduce permits for Ukrainian drivers has been described as "a shot to the head" during war.

Opinion

Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence

What is obvious is that PiS put in place a set of interlocking safeguards for itself which, even after their political defeat in Poland, will render it very difficult for the new government to restore the rule of law.

Latest News

  1. Crunch talks seek breakthrough on EU asylum overhaul
  2. Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies
  3. 'Green' banks lend most to polluters, reveals ECB
  4. Tense EU-China summit showdown unlikely to bear fruit
  5. A look to the past and the future of China-EU relations
  6. Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence
  7. EU nears deal to fingerprint six year-old asylum seekers
  8. Orbán's Ukraine-veto threat escalates ahead of EU summit

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us