Proposing an evaluation framework for energy policy making incorporating equity: Applications in Australia

The sustainability of energy policy performance is determined by a combination of environmental, economic and equity impacts on society. To date, analysis of the equity impacts of energy policy have been largely overlooked in favour of environmental and economic impacts. As equity is an important issue within sustainability and energy justice considerations, this paper sets out to provide a framework and methodology which allows an assessment of both policy effectiveness in terms of an environmental and economic evaluation, followed up by an assessment of resultant quantitative equity impacts on society, in order to engender a holistic policy sustainability evaluation. Following an investigation of prominent energy policy equity issues and Australian peoples preferences towards equity, multiple scenarios are evaluated for effectiveness within the Australian National Electricity Market. The results of this evaluation provide an evidence base for the development of an alternative energy scenario which addresses the identified equity issues whilst meeting policy goals. The equity evaluation demonstrates the comparative equity resultant from each scenario and identifies the apportioning of burden according to income level. The proposed evaluation processes allow the policy maker to develop policies sensitive to both effectiveness and equity, and can be applied in energy justice conscious jurisdictions.