Sustainable Development Indicators for Energy in Pakistan

Abstract

The strong challenges of sustainable development are as diversified and complex as the human societies and natural ecosystems around the world. Sustainable development requires the participation of diverse stack holders, with the idea of reconciling different and sometimes opposing values and goals toward a coordination of mutual action to achieve required goals. Energy sector issues and developments continued to severely constrain Pakistan’s economy in 2009–2010. Against a backdrop of a sharp increase in the international price of oil through the calendar year 2009, which put enormous upward pressure on the cost structure in the power generation (and transport) sector, in particular, large domestic supply shortages of electricity and gas occurred. Lower accumulation of water reserves in dams compounded the severity. The cumulative effect of the energy crisis on the economy is estimated at upward of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) during 2009–2010 alone. Brundtland Commission and others provide the background for the approach we have chosen to structure the indicators. Sustainability indicators are generally designed to illustrate the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainable development. Policymakers need methods for measuring and assessing the current and future effects of energy use on human health, human society, air, soil, and water. Energy indicators for sustainable development: guidelines and methodologies, IAEA (Energy indicators for sustainable development: guidelines and methodologies, Vienna, 2005) are focused here. Some guidelines are recommended for the sustainable development of energy in Pakistan.