may result in corresponding increases in fossil-fuel based electricity generation. Industrial expansion and urbanization will require huge investment in capital-intensive electricity infrastructure development.

In July 2007 a meeting of experts, held in Bangkok, reviewed and discussed the possibility of developing a set of indicators to measure the sustainable The purpose of Electricity and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific is to provide a snapshot of the issues surrounding the development of the power sector in recent years in the context of sustainable development.

The role of electricity in social and economic development has long been recognized. In recent years, there is an emerging consensus that the electric-power sector plays a very important role in determining sustainable development. The links between energy services (including electricity) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) stresses the importance of electricity in contributing to achieve the MDGs related to poverty reduction, education, gender equality, reduced child mortality and environmental sustainability.

As a convenient form of commercial energy that permits or facilitates many activities of modern life, electricity is an indispensable input for economic development. However, wide disparities in accessibility and affordability of electricity severely threaten equity and social sustainability. Electricity generation from fossil fuels is the largest contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Power systems are also large sources of air pollution and other adverse environmental impacts. The continued growth of the global economy, especially in emerging markets development of the power sector. This was to complement other work on sustainable development indicators for energy previously accepted internationally. Some of this information and these indicators are reflected in the present publication, though it should be noted that a significant amount of work is still needed to develop an internationally agreed set of indicators.

The purpose of these indicators would be to assist policymakers understand the impacts of the development of the power sector.

The discrepancies in the data and the differences between countries often make it difficult to make regional comparisons. However, for the purpose of developing national policies, national-level indicators could be sufficient.

Data on electricity access is a good indicator that highlights a number of constraints with respect to indicator development and subregional comparisons. First, the definition of electricity access varies from country to country and published data are not always comparable. For example, in many developing countries, the national grid reaches a limited fraction of the population, and many households obtain their electricity from stand-alone systems or batteries. These are not always reported in country-level data.

In addition, electricity access can be presented in terms of share of the total population, total number of households or total number of villages. For the same country, the level of electricity access in terms of population, household or village can vary. The share of households with access to electricity is usually higher than the share of people with access to electricity, because poor and rural households with limited access to electricity usually have more members than more affluent and urban households.

Similarly, the share of electrified villages is usually higher than the share of electrified households, although this is not always the case as different countries have different definitions for an electrified village. In India for example, a village is considered electrified when all the community buildings and at least 10 per cent of the households are electrified. In other countries the definition of an electrified village is less clear and might simply refer to “electricity services available in the village”.

Data on household electricity consumption is not always collected and reported at the country level. Household surveys usually focus on expenditures and not on quantities consumed. In situations where data on electricity expenditures is available, the average consumption can be calculated if the average electricity tariff is known.

Another example is data on electricity expenses per income group, which is usually difficult to obtain, especially in developing countries. In addition to the constraints in obtaining data related to the affordability of electricity, the main constraints for data on affordability per income group include the unavailability of the average income for each income group and the classification of electricity expenses and average income per expenditure group. For this reason, it is not appropriate to compare countries; information for selected countries is discussed further in the section entitled Country Information.

In an attempt to consider the sustainability issues of the power sector, information on environmental impacts and policy developments were collected where available. Not many countries in Asia and the Pacific collect or publish information on pollutant emissions from their power utilities. In some instances it is possible to obtain information on policy requirements with respect to pollution control from power stations, though often very little information is available on actual measures and technical improvements individual utilities have undertaken to meet environmental regulations. Where available, information has been incorporated for selected countries under the Country Information section.

Some subregional and regional comparison is attempted in the regional discussion in the following chapter and is based on statistics and data presented in the Statistical Overview section.

For example, energy efficiency throughout the energy supply and consumption chain has been discussed in the Regional Overview along with the use of renewable energy. Where individual countries have recently introduced policies to develop renewable energy, improve energy efficiency or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they are discussed in the Country Information section.

For further information on the draft set of indicators, please refer to the ESCAP website.