India Ranks 87th On Energy Architecture Performance: WEF

NEW DELHI: India has marginally improved its position to 87th place on a global energy architecture performance index, but ranks among the worst for pollution, a survey showed today. 

Switzerland topped the annual list released by Geneva- based World Economic Forum (WEF) and was followed by Norway, Sweden, Denmark and France in the top five. India's rank improved three places from 90th last year.

According to the findings, the world's biggest energy consumers struggle to take leading positions on the index as they grapple with inherent challenges of their large, complex energy systems and are outperformed by more nimble economies. 

"Overall, some of the largest consumers of energy such as China (95th), India, Japan (45th), the Russian Federation (48th) and the United States (52nd) have either slipped in the rankings or experienced only marginal gains," it added. 

Bahrain is ranked the lowest at 127th. 

Regarding India, the WEF said it is gradually improving its performance on the index, but faces an uphill battle to increase energy access and security (95th). 

"A large percentage of the population still lacks access to electricity (101st) and uses solid fuels for cooking (108th). The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking action on this, having committed to increase solar power capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2022, which would make India a leader in renewable capacity," it said. 

The study further said that India, just like China, boasts of a strong score on the indicator for diversification of import counterparts (5th), but its energy system continues to face some significant challenges, particularly in environmental sustainability (109th). 

"India has some of the lowest scores in the EAPI for CO2 emissions from electricity production and PM2.5 levels (117th and 123rd, respectively). 

"While sources of pollution are diverse and intermittent (such as agricultural crop burning, refuse combustion, fireworks), the energy sector is a large, consistent contributor to this issue of major concern. 

"Many solutions have been attempted with varying degrees of impact, but the country sorely needs a comprehensive plan of action to implement an effective and sustainable answer." 

The report, developed in collaboration with Accenture Strategy and launched today at the European Commission, ranked 127 countries based on their ability to provide energy across three dimensions of the 'energy triangle'. 

Being compiled since 2013, the Energy Architecture Performance Index (EAPI) is a composite index that focuses on tracking specific indicators to measure the energy system performance of 127 countries. 

It has 18 indicators defined across the three sides of the 'energy triangle' -- economic growth and development, environmental sustainability, and energy access and security.

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