New Zealand is in the world top ten for energy outcomes.
The World Energy Council’s Energy Trilemma Index ranks countries on how well they achieve the energy ‘trilemma’ balance of security, equity and sustainability and shows New Zealand ranking 9th out of 130 comparator countries, up from 10th last year and maintaining its overall balanced rating of AAB.
This year the top ten ranked countries are Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway, Finland, New Zealand and Austria. New Zealand was the best performing country in the Asia-Pacific region.
BusinessNZ Energy Council Chair David Caygill said that while well placed, this year’s result highlights the challenges and opportunities facing countries of achieving an overall balanced approach to energy policy.
The ranking suggests that New Zealand is in a good position performing relatively better on energy security and energy equity than environmental sustainability.
Maintenance of New Zealand’s top ten ranking demonstrates our consistent approach to the pursuit of balanced energy policies. But there is room for improvement.
Despite being a world leader in renewable electricity we are ranked 36th in the sub-index of environmental sustainability largely as a result of our carbon emissions performance. Having just ratified the Paris Agreement this ranking shows we have room to improve our performance relative to our top ten peers.
We need to constantly learn from what other countries are doing, but also what we can improve, regardless of what others do.
The 36th ranking raises important policy questions; how do we achieve the rapid uptake of new technologies, high economic growth and deliver on the environmental goals all New Zealanders aspire to, while keeping the economy resilient to a range of future outcomes?
What policy balance do we strike between encouraging greater energy efficiency in our primary industries versus a structural shift towards high value-creating, low energy intensity and low carbon opportunities?
“The BusinessNZ Energy Council’s recent report – BEC2050: A deep-dive into 2030 energy targets for New Zealand – is designed to aid thinking and provoke debate on these and other questions. It seeks to help companies, consumers and policy makers make informed choices that balance energy policy outcomes across the dimensions of energy security, equity and sustainability.
The deep-dive report can be found here. The full New Zealand Energy Scenarios: Navigating energy futures to 2050 report on which the deep-dive is based can be found here.
Contact David Caygill 027 432 5228 or Kathryn Asare 021 555 744
About the World Energy Council (WEC)
The World Energy Council’s network of 100 national committees represents over 3,000 member organisations including governments, industry and expert institutions, with the mission of promoting the sustainable supply and use of energy for the greatest benefit of all. www.worldenergy.org
About the BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC)
The BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) is a group of New Zealand organisations taking on a leading role in creating a sustainable energy future for New Zealand. The BEC is the New Zealand Member Committee of the World Energy Council (WEC). All BEC members are automatically members of the WEC. www.bec.org.nz
Email: