Index Commentary

Ethiopia increases its position in the Index by three places to rank 89 due to improvements in environmental impact mitigation and economic strength. Environmental performance, Ethiopia’s strongest performance, further increases due to a better quality of air and water and lower Co2 emissions from electricity and heat generation; however this is partly offset by higher energy and emissions intensity per GDP per capita. Low performance in social equity remains (rank 90) as only 17% of the population has access to electricity. Ethiopia now ranks last in energy security with a poor performance across all indicators. The recent downward trend was driven by a decrease in the wholesale margin on gasoline and by the increased, positive energy consumption growth rate, which is however necessary for Ethiopia’s economic and social development. Poor performance across all indicators drives the rankings in the three contextual dimensions; however economic strength was improved by eleven positions due to stronger macroeconomic stability.