The subject of energy is central to many aspects of sustainable development. In developing countries, electricity and other forms of energy are critical to social and economic development, but the energy is often supplied at high social, economic and environmental costs. In developed countries, there are issues of cost and environmental damage, and uncoupling the amount of energy used from the development process. In all parts of the world, adaptation to the effects of climate change, and mitigation of the causes, are important issues closely connected to energy policy.

At IISD, energy policy is a topic that links our work on economic policy to our work on climate change. Some examples are:

• Work on full-cost accounting for electricity in Canada (i.e., costs borne by society and the environment that are not accounted for in the price of the energy) and a research agenda for similar work in India.

• Work on national-level energy policy goals, and success in achieving them in India and Canada. This work, via the Energy Sustainability Gauge, is intended to give policy-makers and the general public a quick overview of how government policy is moving toward sustainable development.

• Work on estimating the impacts on different income groups of scenarios of carbon emissions regulation, through the use of a modified market allocation model, MARKAL-EQUITY modelling.

Further details on these and other research activities can be found through the navigation buttons on the left.