The World Energy Council, a London-based network of energy leaders, pioneers and experts, issued the “World Energy Trilemma Index 2020” report, which sheds light on energy sustainability across countries. In details, the report rates the energy performance of 108 countries based on 3 main dimensions namely Energy Security, Energy Equity and Environmental Sustainability with a fourth dimension (Country Context) also included in the calculations. Countries are assigned a score ranging between A (best score) and D (worst score) for each of the aforementioned dimensions and are ranked accordingly. Further information on the covered dimensions is highlighted below:

Energy Security: Assesses a nation’s ability to meet current and future energy demand in a reliable manner and its ability to sustain & recover from system shocks

Energy Equity: Highlights the country’s capacity to provide nationwide access to an affordable and fairly priced energy for domestic and commercial use

Environmental Sustainability: Depicts the transition of the country’s energy sector towards circumventing any potential environmental harm

Country Context: Represents the elements that enable a country to develop & implement energy policy and accomplish its energy goals.

As per the report, the index reflects historical energy policy performance & excludes data from the year 2020 and accordingly, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not accounted for.

Ranking wise, the top 3 positions were dominated by European countries, with Switzerland coming first with a score of 84.3 “AAAa”, followed by Sweden (score 84.2; “ABAa”) and Denmark (score: 84.0; “AAAa”). As far as countries with the most improvement since the year 2000 are concerned, Cambodia ranked first with a 77% improvement in its score, followed by Myanmar (50% improvement) and Kenya (41% improvement).

Regionally, the U.A.E. occupied the first position and ranked 44th globally with a score of 69.7 “BADa”, followed by Iran (47th position globally with a score of 69.3 “AADb”) and Qatar (49th position globally with a score of 69.1 “AADa”). Locally, Lebanon ranked 77th in the world and 8th regionally, with a score of 59.9 “DACd”. More specifically, Lebanon’s scores in each dimension came as follows: 27.7 in Energy Security, 97.3 in Energy Equity and 60.7 in Environmental Sustainability. It is worth noting that Lebanon is the tenth best performer in the Energy Equity dimension in 2020.