This paper proposes a meta-frontier nonparametric approach to construct the slacks-based composite indicator considering heterogeneity. The meta-frontier approach is useful to control and study the impact of potential heterogeneity in constructing composite indicator. In virtue of the Malmquist index, we further study tracking the evolvement of the constructed meta-frontier slacks-based composite indicator over time, and quantifying the driving forces behind the change. The proposed approach has been applied to assess China's regional sustainable energy utilization capacity during 2005-2010. Our empirical results show that all the three regions, i.e. the eastern, central and western, in China experience deterioration in sustainable energy development level. The best practice gap change and technology gap change are identified as the main contributors to the declining trend. Hence, improving the general production technology and enhancing technology diffusion among regions can help to promote China's overall sustainable energy development level. At the provincial level, Beijing is found to maintain a good balance in improving efficiency and absorbing advanced technology, while other provinces show diverse performance during this time period. More results and discussions are presented in this paper. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.