Preface

Effectively balancing the demands of providing an affordable, sustainable and secure energy supply continues to play a key role in the development of countries. Driven by the boundary constraints of economic development, geography and prosperity, countries are striving to find new and innovative ways to meet the demands of their energy system.

During the past three years, the World Economic Forum has been working on the New Energy Architecture initiative to better understand the changes underway in the global energy system, and how they can be managed to enable an effective transition. A core pillar of this work has been the development of the Global Energy Architecture Performance Index. 

The key message of the first edition of the Energy Architecture Performance Index report, which is reiterated and further supported by the findings of this year’s report, is that transition pathways look different in each country. Setting the course for transition to a new energy architecture means developing a long-term strategy which takes into account the trade-offs and complementarities surrounding the core imperatives of every energy system: managing risks to energy supplies while ensuring a country’s economic, social and environmental well-being.

The World Economic Forum and Accenture are pleased to present the second edition of this report examining the factors for an effective global transition to a new energy architecture. The transition debate is framed through the results of the Energy Architecture Performance Index (EAPI) – a tool designed to help countries monitor and benchmark the progress of their transition against a series of indicators. This report, similarly to its earlier edition, looks at what a new energy architecture might look like and how best-in-class enabling environments have already helped some high-ranking countries begin their transitions to more efficient energy architectures. The different demands of countries’ individual energy architectures – the sometimes competing goals of economic growth and development, environmental sustainability, and energy access and security – form the crux of the index and this analysis. 

This year’s report also looks at transition pathways and challenges faced by regions and economic clusters, underlining the effect of cross-national factors such as geographic location, regional geology and stage of economic development on a country’s energy system.

The New Energy Architecture project is conducted under the Forum’s Energy Industry Partnership, with support from the World Economic Forum team responsible for The Global Competitiveness Report and key business, government and civil society constituents from the energy sector. We would like to thank the Expert Panel, which has supported the dialogue and research behind this report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) as the main data contributor, and the external perspective contributors.

We believe the EAPI 2014 will prove a useful addition to the global dialogue on the transition to a new energy architecture and a practical tool for energy decision-makers. This version of the EAPI already represents an evolution from last year’s edition. We continue to welcome feedback and constructive debate on how to further improve the quality of the index and ensure it tracks the relevant metrics of the energy system as it evolves.