The overall Trilemma Top Ten countries for 2022 are largely unchanged from previous years rankings, with some new additions to the top performers. European and other OECD countries continue to dominate the top rankings due to their well-established energy policies and diverse energy systems. Slovenia and Estonia join the top ranked countries for 2022 with significant improvements on last year to both score 78.8 and share the #9 ranking. Slovenia (AAB) rising 11 places and Estonia (CAA) rising 8 places.
The top three of Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland perform very well across all three Trilemma dimensions with well-established energy policies that promote diverse and decarbonising energy systems. Sweden retains its #1 ranking from last year, performing well across all three dimensions – scoring 73 for energy security, 95 for Energy Equity and 87 for Environmental Sustainability. Improving Energy Security and maintaining Energy Equity is a focus of current energy policies.
In the so-called trilemma report, the WEC assesses a country’s energy sector according to three key dimensions:
(1) energy security,
(2) energy equity and
(3) environmental sustainability.
Ratings for Slovenia:
(1) energy security: 69,8 (Canada remains in the first place with 76.9 points),
(2) energy equality: 94,7 (Luxembourg is in the first place with 100 points),
(3) environmental sustainability: 76 (Switzerland remains in the first place with 87.5 points).
Slovenia ranks 9th globally with an overall grade of 78.8 (ABA), one point up compared to Trilemma Index Report 2021, which means that Slovenia remains a strong Energy Trilemma performer (positioned among top 25% of countries in two dimensions). Due to the implementation of measures to protect most vulnerable consumers that have been affected by rising energy prices in several EU Member States, including Slovenia, the energy equity index rose by 11 points compared to the year 2021 and has an ongoing growth potential. There is still room for improvement in sustainability dimension of the Trilemma index, although we can see a steady growth in this area over the past 20 years due to the declining emissions from the energy sector, decreasing CO2 intensity and air pollution. A slight change in energy security dimension can be explained by an overall challenging geopolitical situation, namely the war in Ukraine, that represents a threat to the security of supply in Europe, including Slovenia, being a part of the EU single energy market.
Global rankings
As in all recent years, this year the first three places went to Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden. According to the Energy Trilemma Index 2022, 14 countries are ranked among the top 10 performers:
- Sweden
- Denmark and Switzerland
- Finland
- Canada and United Kingdom
- Austria
- France and Norway
- Germany
- New Zealand
- Slovenia and Estonia
- USA
Russia is in 29th place, China in 40th place.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THE EDITORS:
WEC has been publishing reports on the Global Energy Trilemma since 2010.
The present state of the Trilemma dimensions highlights trajectories that are not aligned to the recent energy shocks and crises; the 2022 data is not reflective of the existing energy situation. However, the long term trends in the data remain informative as countries seek to drive a secure, equitable, and sustainable transition. This 2022 report examines how the Trilemma offers a prism on the past and opportunities for driving forward improvements to measure the impact of the energy transition.
Given the recent speed and scale of change across energy markets caused by the war in Ukraine, the relevance of the 2022 World Energy Trilemma Index source data carries risk. Data was sourced prior the conflict.
Accordingly, the 2022 report focuses mainly on the lessons learnt from the different shocks and crises of the year and will inform about new metrics needed to incorporate justice (users) and resilience agendas.
The World Energy Council’s Insights team has an ambitious delivery plan for next year. The 2023 plan will be to progress the flexible Trilemma approach that is more resilient to the multiple crises that we witnessed in 2022. The redesign will focus on the transparency of the methodology and the increased ability to measure and track the performance of different countries.
READING MATERIAL:
- World Energy Trilemma Index 2022: trilemmaindex2022-final.pdf (clickdimensions.com)
- Country Profile: Slovenia: WEC Trilemma: Country profile (worldenergy.org)
For any further clarifications regarding the results of the trilemma, methodology, expert basis and interpretation, the WEC Secretariat is available at: aamerlaan@worldenergy.org and avickers@worldenergy.org