The Energy Transition Index’s analytical framework is designed to track country‑level energy transitions. It takes the energy sector’s wide range of roles within a country’s economy into account, along with its supporting regulations, markets and technologies. This allows for following the evolving energy system performance as measured by the system’s ability to support inclusive economic development and growth, secure and reliable access to energy, and environmental sustainability (the energy triangle).

Strong energy system performance is due to several energy transition readiness factors, including the availability of investment and capital, effective regulation and political commitment, stable institutions and governance, supportive infrastructure and innovative business environment, human capital, and the maturity and fixed assets that make up the existing energy system’s structure (Fig. 1).

Figure 1: Energy system performance and transition readiness dimensions

The 2019 Energy Transition Index (ETI) provides scores for 115 countries spanning the many dimensions of energy transition performance and enablers. The Index delivers country‑level composite scores that aggregate 40 energy transition indicators over these dimensions; this includes integrating information from trustworthy data sources that describe country levels of energy pollution, prices, supply chains, infrastructure, political institutions, financial systems, human capital and more. Country‑specific scores are derived by normalizing the individual indicators and applying a weighting framework (Fig. 2).

Figure 2: Energy Transition Index indicators and weighting framework

The ETI 2019 rankings (Following Table) did not change significantly from last year, especially at the top and bottom of the table. This indicates continued leadership by countries that have performed well historically, an outcome of both technological advances and effective policy‑making and implementation. Sweden retains the top spot in the ranking, followed by Switzerland and Norway. All countries ranked in the top 10 are from Western and Northern Europe, and are diverse in their primary energy mix, energy system structure and natural resource endowments. High‑ranking countries also show high scores on transition readiness due to their strong institutional and regulatory frameworks, ability to attract capital and investment at scale, innovative business environment and high‑level of political commitment on energy transition.

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