Supporting Sustainable Energy Finance through Hierarchical Multi-criteria Sorting of Electricity Generation Technologies

Authors

  • Efrain Solares Faculty of Accounting and Administration, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Torreón, Mexico,
  • Raymundo Díaz Business School, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico,
  • Juan Manuel Sanchez Department of Accounting, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, United States,
  • Eduardo Fernández Faculty of Accounting and Administration, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Torreón, Mexico,
  • Juan Antonio Granados Montelongo Department of Renewable Natural Resources, Antonio Narro Autonomous Agrarian University, Saltillo, Mexico,
  • Juan Antonio Álvarez Gaona Faculty of Marketing, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Saltillo, Mexico.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.22964

Keywords:

Electricity generation technologies, Multi-criteria decision analysis, Sustainability assessment, Ordinal classification (sorting)

Abstract

Sustainable finance requires decision-support tools capable of integrating financial indicators with environmental and social risk factors in a transparent and data-driven manner. This study introduces a hierarchical multi-criteria sorting approach for the evaluation of electricity generation technologies, aimed at informing capital allocation and investment screening decisions. The framework relies exclusively on quantitative criteria obtained from public datasets and organizes them into a structured hierarchy encompassing economic performance, technical reliability, system relevance, and environmental and health impacts. Interval-valued evaluations and preference parameters are employed to represent uncertainty and heterogeneity in financial decision contexts. The resulting range-based classifications distinguish technologies according to their overall acceptability from a sustainable finance perspective. Results for the U.S. electricity sector highlight the ability of the approach to support responsible investment decisions under multiple, potentially conflicting financial and sustainability considerations.

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Published

2026-01-30

How to Cite

Solares, E., Díaz, R., Sanchez, J. M., Fernández, E., Granados Montelongo, J. A., & Álvarez Gaona, J. A. (2026). Supporting Sustainable Energy Finance through Hierarchical Multi-criteria Sorting of Electricity Generation Technologies. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 16(2), 979–990. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.22964

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2026)

Section

Articles

License

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