Index Commentary

Australia moves up four places in the Index. Most significant improvements were achieved in energy security driven by an increased wholesale margin on gasoline and a reduction in the energy consumption growth rate. Highly reliant on fossil fuels, Australia’s weakest performance is environmental impact mitigation (rank 73). As Australia improves slower than peer countries, a small drop is noted from last year despite small improvements across all indicators: better quality of air and water, a decrease in energy and emission intensity on a per capita basis and from electricity and heat generation. Australia keeps up a strong and stable performance in social equity (rank three) and in all contextual dimensions. Economic strength ranks a little lower than political and societal strength due to higher costs of living