A Multi-Attribute Decision-Making Framework for Assessing China’s Energy Transition from the Perspective of the Power Sector

The power sector, as a major source of carbon emissions, plays a central role in promoting China’s low-carbon energy transition. This study takes a novel approach from the perspective of the power sector to construct a multi-attribute comprehensive evaluation system encompassing three subsystems: energy, economy, and environment. Using the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method, the energy transition performance of 30 provincial-level regions in China from 2006 to 2022 is systematically assessed. The results indicate a steady national improvement in the overall Energy Transition Index (ETI), with all three subsystems showing varying degrees of growth: the environmental subsystem achieved the highest and most stable scores, the energy subsystem grew the fastest, albeit from a low base, while the economic subsystem lagged behind. Significant regional disparities were also observed. Further comparison with existing studies reveals a high degree of consistency between this study’s results and previously reported trends, thereby validating the scientific soundness and effectiveness of the proposed evaluation framework. Compared with conventional approaches, this study introduces a new perspective on measuring energy transition by focusing on the power sector, enriching the methodological toolkit for assessing regional energy transition in China.