Energy sustainability plays a crucial role in achieving environmental sustainability, hence, underpins climate change mitigation. Yet, studies assessing the overarching effect of existing sustainability frameworks on energy production and consumption are limited. Here, we provide comprehensive assessment of energy sustainability across 217 countries and territories spanning 1960-2019. Using 11 targets and 15 indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we present winners and losers of energy sustainability by accounting for pre-millennium development goals (MDGs), MDGs, and SDGs across income groups. While the inception of the 2030 agenda has improved energy and environmental performance across economies, low-income countries are still struggling to meet several of the SDGs. We find that sustained economic growth with reduced income inequality improves energy sustainability in developing economies. However, sustainable climate policies that reduce trade-offs between energy resources and environmental threats are highly recommended in climate-prone regions that depend heavily on water resources to boost power generation capacity.
Keywords: Climate change; Energy sustainability; Environmental performance; Sustainable development goals.
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