REGULATORY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

The RISE 2018 report tracks sustainable energy policies across 133 countries, finding that the number of nations with advanced frameworks tripled between 2010 and 2017. While progress is evident, the global average score of 58/100 suggests the world is only halfway to advanced policy adoption, potentially jeopardizing SDG7 and Paris Agreement goals. The report highlights a strong focus on electricity over heating and transport, a decline in utility creditworthiness in access-deficit countries, and a gap between 'on paper' regulations and actual enforcement.

• The number of countries with advanced (green) policy frameworks for sustainable energy increased from 17 in 2010 to 59 in 2017, with non-OECD economies like Côte d’Ivoire, United Arab Emirates, Rwanda, Jordan, and Egypt showing the largest improvements.
• The global average RISE score in 2017 was 58 out of 100, placing the world in the 'yellow' (intermediate) zone. At the current rate of improvement (approximately two percentage points per year), the global average would not reach the green zone until 2025.
• Sustainable energy policies are heavily skewed toward the electricity sector, neglecting heating and transportation, which together account for 80 percent of global energy use.
• In low-access countries, there is a significant shift toward off-grid solutions. The share of these countries adopting measures for mini-grids and solar home systems rose from 15 percent in 2010 to 70 percent in 2017.
• A pilot study of 12 countries reveals that clean cooking is the most overlooked area of the sustainable energy agenda. While planning has improved, there is little progress on standard-setting for cookstoves or incentives for clean technology adoption.
• The financial health of power utilities is deteriorating, particularly in low-access countries. In 2016, only about half of all power utilities met basic creditworthiness requirements, a drop from 63 percent in 2012 for low-access countries.
• There is a consistent gap between the adoption of regulations 'on paper' and the implementation of enforcement measures. Globally, countries score an average of 49 for paper regulations compared to 41 for enforcement measures.
• Renewable energy legal frameworks have seen wide adoption, with 84 percent of countries having one by 2017. However, grid integration remains a challenge; only 25 percent of countries had variability forecasting provisions in their dispatch operations.
• Energy efficiency progress is most advanced in the industrial sector, where the uptake of efficiency measures increased from 26 percent in 2010 to 60 percent in 2017. However, monitoring and verification of these mandates remain weak, with only 22 percent of countries having measurement and verification programs for large consumers.
• In the residential building sector, there is a significant gap between the existence of building energy codes and the presence of compliance systems, a disparity that is more pronounced in middle-income countries than in high-income countries.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2018). REGULATORY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2019-04/RISE_2018.pdf

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. REGULATORY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY. 2018. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2019-04/RISE_2018.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=REGULATORY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY |date=2018 |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2019-04/RISE_2018.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2018regulatory, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{REGULATORY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2018}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2019-04/RISE_2018.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }