Analyzing the sustainable energy development in the EU-15 by an aggregated synthetic index

In the last decades, sustainable development has been one of the key guiding principles in the European Union policies. It is based on a three-pillar framework - economic development, social development and environmental protection - that are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. As energy appears to be the cornerstone of economic growth, Europe 2020 strategy emphasizes the importance to make European Union more sustainable by means of the establishment of a long-term approach with a clear guidance to climate change. However, empirical literature about methods to elaborate SD indexes is scarce. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to obtain a Synthetic Index of Energy Sustainable Development for EU-15. Based on 33 variables, three indexes are calculated related to energy security of supply, competitive energy market and environmental protection dimensions which are later aggregated into a Synthetic Index. Our results show that Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Portugal and UK have the better scores. The success of these member states is given by the development of a suitable management in their energy policies regarding the reduction of their energy dependency, the increase of competitiveness in their energy markets and the establishment of measures to increase climate change protection. New reinforcing policies are necessary in intermediate member states based on new energy saving actions (in the cases of Sweden, Austria and Finland), the introduction of more competition in its energy market (in the case of Italy) and environment protection actions (in the case of Germany). Greater efforts are necessary in member states that have the worst results (Spain, Ireland, Greece, Belgium and Luxembourg). EU's budget support should be available for these member states in order to develop new and more effective actions that allow them to secure access to importations of energy sources under the best possible conditions while supplying energy at competitive prices and protecting the environment. It requires better coordination of national energy policies and greater cooperation between member states. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.