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Feasible mitigation actions in developing countries
Abstract
Energy use is not only crucial for economic development, but is also the main driver of greenhouse-gas emissions. Developing
countries can reduce emissions and thrive only if economic growth is disentangled from energy-related emissions. Although
possible in theory, the required energy-system transformation would impose considerable costs on developing nations.
Developed countries could bear those costs fully, but policy design should avoid a possible ‘climate rent curse’, that is, a
negative impact of financial inflows on recipients’ economies. Mitigation measures could meet further resistance because of
adverse distributional impacts as well as political economy reasons. Hence, drastically re-orienting development paths towards
low-carbon growth in developing countries is not very realistic. Efforts should rather focus on ‘feasible mitigation actions’ such as
fossil-fuel subsidy reform, decentralized modern energy and fuel switching in the power sector.
... Indonesia is actually among the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases. This is in large part related to emissions from land-use change (primarily deforestation), but CO2 emissions associated with rising consumption has played an increasing role in recent years (Jakob et al. 2014;Irfany, 2014). Thus is it important to understand the drivers of these increasing consumption-based CO2 emissions which make up 81% of global emissions (UNFCCC, 2010). ...
... When it comes to drivers of the carbon footprint, we find that household income (or proxied here by expenditures) is the largest driver of emissions in the cross-section as well as in the comparison between the regions, as well as over time (see also Irfany, 2014). Thus suggests that rising incomes will be associated with further increases in the carbon footprint unless major changes occur on the way energy is being produced and used (see also Jakob et al. 2014). ...
Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract This study analyzes the consumption-based carbon footprint of households in Sulawesi, Jambi and Indonesia as a whole. Combining the use of the GTAP data for emission intensities, of input-output tables for inter-industry linkages with household expenditure categories, we then estimate and calculate the carbon footprint from household consumption, including its drivers, pattern and decomposition of increasing household emission intensities. We find that the main driver of carbon footprint is overall household income, but that differentials in fuel, light and transportation expenditures are key drivers of the household carbon footprint. These expenditures also ensure that the carbon footprint of household in Jambi is higher than in Indonesia as a whole, despite lower per capita incomes. At the same time, substantially lower income inequality in Jambi ensures that the inequality in the carbon footprint is much lower in Jambi than in Indonesia as a whole; particularly noteworthy is the poorer quintiles in Jambi have substantially higher emissions than average Indonesian households in the same quintiles. In Sulawesi, average emissions are much lower and also not as unequal than in Indonesia as a whole. Overall expenditures are by far the most important driver of household carbon emissions, but in Jambi, emissions are higher at all expenditure levels, suggesting particularly carbon-intensive consumption patterns.
... Therefore, although there are relationships between freedoms and sustainability, they have not yet been identified in the literature, especially in terms of the CE practices. A better understanding of this could lead to the fulfilment of one of humanities' greatest challenges: achieving higher IF while preserving the environment [30][31][32]. Next, we present the conceptual integration between CE and CA that guided this research. ...
... Considering a micro perspective, energy saving intention in the production process is of paramount importance for mitigating climate change, which can drastically reduce IF, especially in developing countries [31]. Energy efficiency should also be thought of beyond manufacturing processes, being incorporated into product development to create appliances that are more efficient for consumers. ...
This paper identifies, through a literature review, how 53 circular economy (CE) practices are related to the capability approach (CA) proposed by Sen. The main goal was to identify how a virtuous cycle between CE and CA can be developed. Five instrumental freedoms (IF) were analysed: economic facilities, social opportunities, protective security, political freedoms, and transparency guarantees. These relationships were analysed in three flows: CE practices positively impacting IF, CE practices negatively impacting IF, and the feedback influence of IF on CE practices. The results show that 32 of the 53 practices previously mentioned have not yet been studied from the CA context, which indicates that there are several research opportunities. From the practices considered, 72 articles were analysed in the final sample. The results suggest that several CE practices are aligned with the CA, considering that all five IF were identified as positive outcomes of CE practices. However, in some contexts, certain practices can have negative outcomes, which indicates that CE, at least in some cases, may not be considered as sustainable, since it decreases IF and, therefore, the social aspect of sustainability. The results also highlight that there is a feedback from IF to CE, in such a way that investing in the expansion of IF can facilitate the development of CE practices. Therefore, this study concludes that CE is indeed a way to fully operationalize sustainable development
... Given the economic importance of the agricultural sector and the role of agricultural production in greenhouse gas emissions, more needs to be done. Economic growth leads to a decrease in absolute poverty, especially when not associated with an increase in income inequality (e.g., Dollar and Kraay (2002) indicates that economic growth is at least a certain level of economic development) (Jakob et al. 2014). Therefore, from the perspective of developing countries, national economic growth can reduce poverty but exacerbates climate problems. ...
Most of the developing and emerging countries are focusing to increase economic growth, enhance the living standard of the people, and reduce income inequality. Increasing economic growth through the factors such as agriculture, energy use for production, and other related activities can harm the environment. Considering this situation, this study utilizes data from the Belt and Road Initiative countries for the period of 1999 and 2018 to explore the nexus between income inequality, agricultural value added, and carbon dioxide using two-step system GMM model. The findings of the study indicate that income inequality, economic growth, energy consumption, and agriculture significantly contribute to an increase in carbon emissions and a decrease in environmental quality. On the other hand, the findings also indicate that manufacturing and service industries significantly contribute to an improvement in environmental quality by reducing carbon emissions. The findings lend even more credence to the environmental Kuznets curve, but the results do not indicate that there is a strong relationship between income inequality and economic growth. The outcomes of this study have crucial policy implications for the sample countries to build environmental regulations.
... Socioeconomic stability of an economy is important for moving up the energy ladder in that economy. The studies by Jakob et al. (2014) and Sy and Mokaddem (2022) display that the effective implementation of the climatic policies for boosting energy transition necessitates a conducive social environment. Imbalance of any kind in the social strata might hinder the policy effectiveness. ...
In line with the COP26 Summit objectives, this paper develops a policy framework to achieve energy transition by considering the social imbalances and regulatory effectiveness. A new energy transition index is proposed. It is an output-side indicator based on the energy ladder hypothesis. This index enables to apprehend the energy transition scenario in any country by capturing (a) the transition to a cleaner energy source, and (b) the transition to more energy efficient sources. Using the two-step System GMM approach and data for 37 OECD countries over the 2000–2019 period, the dynamic and extreme marginal impacts of energy transition drivers with respect to estimates of the model parameters are analyzed. The results show that the social imbalance dampens the positive impacts of energy transition drivers, whereas governance quality helps in augmenting those impacts. The outcomes, drawn from a scenario-based policy design approach, are particularly helpful in advancing potential policy discourse. They have important practical implications for the development of the SDG-oriented policy framework, with special focus on the attainment of the SDG 7 and 13.
... At the same time, adaptation and mitigation actions can be evaluated in terms of their co-benefits, the social, economic or other benefits of actions in addition to avoiding climate change impacts . The clearest co-benefits of mitigation are associated with economic development through low-carbon industrialisation (IPCC, 2014c;Jakob et al., 2014;Lu, 2017 Chapter 8 Poverty, Livelihoods and Sustainable Development projects (e.g., hydropower) (Hennessey et al., 2017). Adaptation can support mitigation and contribute to co-benefits in various ways: ensuring development-based natural resource management (Denton et al., 2014;Suckall et al., 2015;Reang et al., 2021), integrating water resources management (Liang et al., 2016;Sharifi, 2021), practicing sustainable agriculture (Bustamante et al., 2014;Duguma et al., 2014a;Di Gregorio et al., 2017;Reang et al., 2021), ensuring the protection of ecosystem services (Pandey et al., 2017a;Baumber et al., 2019), conserving biodiversity (Di Gregorio et al., 2017;Loboguerrero et al., 2019;Smith et al., 2019) and managing bioenergy resource (Dovie, 2019). ...
... The research can provide a decision-making reference for synergizing the reduction of pollutants and carbon dioxide emissions of the whole sector in Ningbo City and can also provide a valuable benchmark for promoting industrial structure optimization in other similar regions. 工业领域污碳同源 [1] ，协同减排潜力巨大且能有力推动区域绿色转型 [2] . 产业结构调整是其中一项行之 有效的途径，可通过资源环境要素在不同生产率的部门间重新分配而推动经济高质量增长 [ 3 -4] DEA 模型 [19] 、LEAP 模型等 [ 20 ] . ...
Carbon dioxide peaking and carbon neutrality, a grand strategic goal in China, is of great significance to promoting eco-transformation and green development of the manufacturing industry. Achieving decoupling of economic growth with resource
... This also holds for many other fossil fuel subsidies, which, in general, lead to higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and may lock countries into carbon-intensive technologies. This is why fossil fuel subsidy removal has been advocated by international organizations and many developing-country governments have embarked on such reforms (Coady et al., 2018;Rentschler and Bazilian, 2017;Jakob et al., 2014), even though many countries continue to subsidize LPG (Kojima, 2016). ...
... Establishing low-carbon pathways needs an effective transition from fossil fuelbased sources to renewables, enhancing energy efficiency, offsetting emissions and adjusting production and production patterns (Yin and Shi 2021). Assessing low-carbon and energy transitions requires the comparison and analysis of different scenarios, including under business-as-usual assumptions (Shukla and Chaturvedi 2012;Jakob et al. 2014;Steckel et al. 2011). ...
Understanding of strategic environmental assessment’s (SEA) influence on low-carbon development (LCD) is critical as societies strive to decarbonize without jeopardizing economic growth. As best practice perceptions are still evolving, plausible conceptual and analytical frameworks are needed. This paper offers a conceptual clarification and proposes a framework for analyzing environmental reports. We employed a multi-phased, mixed-methods approach. The first phase involved an integrative literature review that combined theoretical insights from LCD and transition management with SEA’s procedural aspects. The extracted data was used to develop an initial framework in the second phase. The third phase utilized an international case study and expert consultations to illustrate, validate and refine the framework. The resulting framework comprises five review areas to be verified by a series of review questions reflecting good practice. It could assist SEA researchers, practitioners, responsible authorities, policymakers and environmental agencies better understand, prioritize and address the issue of LCD.
... The RERs such as wind, hydro, solar, geothermal, and tidal are free from GHG emissions [63] and, therefore, non-polluting. Moreover, these energy sources can be integrated for utilization on a large scale without an increase in emissions [64]. The exploitation of RERs can provide an alternative solution to fossil fuels for clean and cheap energy production. ...
Wind speed forecasting (WSF) accuracy is vital for exploiting renewable and environment-friendly wind energy. Therefore, a hybrid WSF model, namely VIL (VMD-ICEEMDAN-LSTM), was constructed in this study. VIL is a three-layered structure utilizing variational mode decomposition (VMD), improved complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with additive noise (ICEEMDAN), and a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network optimized using a differential evolutionary algorithm (DEA). The VIL was trained on multivariate meteorological data collected from Sujawal station, Pakistan. The partial autocorrelation function (PACF) analysis and an ensemble of VMD and ICEEMDAN techniques were employed to determine the appropriate input variables. The forecasted results obtained through LSTM were combined to create an ensemble forecasting model for the WSF. Seven other models including radial basis function (RFB), support vector regression (SVR), random forest regression (RFR), extreme learning machine (ELM), extreme gradient boosting (XGB), gated recurrent unit (GRU), and LSTM were developed as benchmarks for comparison purposes. As per the results, the VIL model revealed the lowest statistical errors, the best goodness-of-fit, the consistency of variation trend following the pattern of the observed wind speed, and the nearly matched probability distribution with the observed wind speed data. VIL reduced MAPE compared to RFB, SVR, RFR, ELM, XGB, GRU, and LSTM models by 7.297%, 5.704%, 4.993%, 5.233%, 6.514%, 5.013%, 5.204%, respectively, during testing. Similarly, VIL revealed highest R² = 0.984 value during testing compared to the counterpart models including RFB (R² = 0.911), SVR (R² = 0.927), RFR (R² = 0.930), ELM (R² = 0.932), XGB (R² = 0.931), GRU (R² = 0.934), and LSTM (R² = 0.935). The results validated the efficacy and statistical significance of the VIL model over the seven other constructed standalone models. The superior results of the VIL model compared to the counter developed models highlight the viability of integration of VMD and ICEEMDAN decomposition approaches and LSTM deep learning network for multivariate WSF. Therefore, the VIL model is performant for WSF and has good prospects for the energy-environment-transportation-health nexus.
... The human dependence on fossil fuels needs to be delinked, and sustainable energy practices will reduce GHG emissions. The energy transformation would impose a considerable cost on the low-income nations [13]. The relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions is visited frequently by researchers to find the existence of an inverted Ushaped curve, proving that as the economy grows, environmental degradation increases, beyond a certain period, the environment improves, pollution reduces, causing an inverted U-shaped Curve [14e16]. ...
This study considered a panel of twenty countries characterized by tourist glut to investigate the role of renewable energy towards sustainable tourism transition. We used a nonparametric kernel density approach to facilitate the analysis and examine the distributional dynamics; besides, using a nonparametric quantile regression approach to trace nexus through different strata. Kernel density estimates reflect multimodality character across the countries. Quintile estimates reveal the negative impact of economic growth on carbon emissions across all quintiles. The coefficient of the international tourist arrival is positive and significant in lower quantiles; nevertheless, it turns out to be negative at higher quantiles implying tourist arrivals reduce carbon emissions. Non-renewable energy consumption positively affects carbon emissions but negatively impacts international tourist arrivals. On the other hand, renewable energy consumption negatively affects carbon emissions but affects the international tourist arrivals positively. This study intends to guide policymakers to hold back fossil fuel dependence for sustainable tourism.
... A fairly large number of articles by researchers had examined cause-effect correlation between energy consumed, economic progression and carbon emissions in advanced and developing economies (Al-Mulali et al., 2015;Hatzigeorgiou et al., 2011;Jayanthakumaran et al., 2012;Salahuddin and Gow, 2014). Some researchers found energy usage and economic advancement of the country influence its emission level (Alam et al., 2012;Hatzigeorgiou et al., 2011;Jakob et al., 2014;Márquez-Ramos, 2018). A study conducted in Bangladesh by (Alam et al., 2012) showed that energy usage and carbon emissions were bidirectional. ...
To avert the disruption of the Earth’s ecosphere, global carbon stock reduction must be embarked upon with all solemnity. Emissions-induced climate pattern would reduce the comparative advantage of critical sectors in emerging economies like agronomy sector, adventure industry, forest sector and fishery’s sector, thus altering the structure of trade openness. The influence of trade on global carbon stock is at a precarious stage. In this way, our study spread out the frontiers of current empirical study on the link between pollution and trade by further disaggregating international trade into trade import and export of merchandise in some emerging economies between 1971 and 2013, using Driscoll-Kraay error’s regression in pooled OLS to determine long run coefficients. Empirical results suggest that 1% rise in imports, energy usage and industrialization cause’s upsurge emissions by 0.471%, 1.176% and 0.596% respectively while 1% increase of economic progress causes a huge drop of emissions by as much as 1.153%. However, it was found that exports and urbanization increase improve emerging economy’s environment but it is statistically not significant. The path of causation between variables was examined using Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test. Potentially, emerging economies should minimize or control imports to reduce impact on environment. This will ensure that international trade benefits the environment, boosts economic growth, protects environment and generates additional income to mitigate ecological pollution. Emerging economies should increase awareness on how to protect environment and offer a reduction of the carbon tax to green industries.
... At the same time, adaptation and mitigation actions can be evaluated in terms of their co-benefits, the social, economic or other benefits of actions in addition to avoiding climate change impacts . The clearest co-benefits of mitigation are associated with economic development through low-carbon industrialisation (IPCC, 2014c;Jakob et al., 2014;Lu, 2017 Chapter 8 Poverty, Livelihoods and Sustainable Development projects (e.g., hydropower) (Hennessey et al., 2017). Adaptation can support mitigation and contribute to co-benefits in various ways: ensuring development-based natural resource management (Denton et al., 2014;Suckall et al., 2015;Reang et al., 2021), integrating water resources management (Liang et al., 2016;Sharifi, 2021), practicing sustainable agriculture (Bustamante et al., 2014;Duguma et al., 2014a;Di Gregorio et al., 2017;Reang et al., 2021), ensuring the protection of ecosystem services (Pandey et al., 2017a;Baumber et al., 2019), conserving biodiversity (Di Gregorio et al., 2017;Loboguerrero et al., 2019;Smith et al., 2019) and managing bioenergy resource (Dovie, 2019). ...
Birkmann, J., E. Liwenga, R. Pandey, E. Boyd, R. Djalante, F. Gemenne, W. Leal Filho, P.F. Pinho, L. Stringer, and D. Wrathall, et al. 2022. Poverty, Livelihoods and Sustainable Development. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. In Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
... In turn, structural change in future economic development pathways will to some degree shape emission profiles and influence climate change mitigation opportunities and barriers. For instance, fulfilling development needs may prevent shifting to lowcarbon growth patterns in developing countries (Jakob et al., 2014), notably due to industrialisation processes and the need for infrastructures (Steckel et al., 2013). Existing scenarios may underestimate these barriers to lower energy use (Semieniuk et al., 2021b). ...
This paper analyses structural change in the economy as a key but largely unexplored aspect of global socio-economic and climate change mitigation scenarios. Structural change can actually drive energy and land use as much as economic growth and influence mitigation opportunities and barriers. Conversely, stringent climate policy is bound to induce specific structural and socio-economic transformations that are still insufficiently understood. We introduce Multi-Sectoral macroeconomic Integrated Assessment Models as tools to capture the key drivers of structural change and we conduct a multi-model study to assess main structural effects – changes of the sectoral composition and intensity of trade of global and regional economies – in a baseline and 2°C policy scenario by 2050. First, the range of baseline projections across models, for which we identify the main drivers, illustrates the uncertainty on future economic pathways – in emerging economies especially – and inform on plausible alternative futures with implications for energy use and emissions. Second, in all models, climate policy in the 2°C scenario imposes only a second-order impact on the economic structure at the macro-sectoral level – agriculture, manufacturing and services - compared to changes modelled in the baseline. However, this hides more radical changes for individual industries – within the energy sector especially. The study, which adopts a top-down framing of global structural change, represents a starting point to kick-start a conversation and propose a new research agenda seeking to improve understanding of the structural change effects in socio-economic and mitigation scenarios, and better inform policy assessments.
... Regarding "Social Opportunities", it appears that access to education and health guarantees individuals the means to act in the context of climate change (Alves and Mariano, 2018). Thus, living in urban areas with access to the resources necessary for full development is essential for an individual, especially in the current climate context (Gutierrez and LePrevost, 2016), increasing their medical care (Steinberger et al., 2012), and providing access to information and education (Jakob et al., 2014). ...
Although there is a growing interest in the concept of climate justice, both in academia and society in general, there is still no consensus regarding the best models and data to represent it. Thus, the objective of this paper is to test and statistically validate the confirmatory factor model for climate justice. To do this, we applied Confir-matory Factor Analysis (CFA), which designs and tests statistically the significance of a multidimensional theoretical construct. The main results were: a) the individual freedoms derived from the capability approach and the climate actions of adaptation and mitigation were empirically confirmed as viable perspectives for assessing climate justice; b) the theoretical constructs of human development, climate actions and climate justice can be constructed based on a set of 25 indicators; and c) the three confirmatory models were successfully tested to validate a theoretical/measurement model for climate justice. We believe that the results observed will provide policymakers and national governments with a new perspective for the alignment of different types of human development programs with climate change actions, helping them on the establishment of possible links between actions taken at the national level and the definition of global goals.
... There is empirical evidence supporting each of the theoretical positions summarized above. Several studies report an inverse relationship between income and the propensity to pollute (Holtz-Eakin and Selden, 1995;Jakob et al., 2014;Seriño et al., 2015). While this finding may suggest that higher inequality reduces emissions or any other form of environmental degradation (Grunewald et al., 2017), it is necessary to note that income growth in and of itself does not connote inequality; it has to be accompanied by a disproportionate share of this growth accruing to those located on the uppermost rungs of the stratification ladder. ...
This study examines income- and wealth-based disproportionalities in carbon emissions from energy consumption in the residential sector of the United States. An ongoing debate in the field is whether or not inequality drives environmental degradation, especially carbon emissions. This study speaks to this important debate, focusing on the micro (household) level. While numerous studies address this question, they have done so largely at the macro- (cross-national) or meso- (subnational states and provinces) level. Based on probability-weighted ordinary least squares regression analysis of nationally representative data pertaining to United States households, I find substantial positive relationship between income and wealth inequality and carbon emissions from residential energy consumption. The data show huge disproportionalities in carbon emissions from energy consumption among the households analyzed, suggesting inequality does not bode well for environmental protection. What this finding also implies is that measures implemented to reduce income- and wealth-based inequalities may double as climate change mitigation policies.
... Mesmo os países mais ricos e desenvolvidos têm dificuldades em aspectos do desenvolvimento sustentável (SCHMIDT-TRAUB et al., 2017). Os países em desenvolvimento, como o Brasil, ainda têm o desafio de conciliar a pressão por desenvolvimento econômico com a preservação do meio ambiente, o que não é algo simples devido a restrições orçamentárias e a diferentes demandas da sociedade que precisam ser atendidas (DE OLIVEIRA, 2002;JAKOB et al., 2014). A superação desses desafios requer a participação conjunta de diferentes esferas administrativas, como dos governos locais, regionais e nacionais (NAGY; BENEDEK; IVAN, 2018). ...
O Programa Município VerdeAzul (PMVA), desenvolvido pelo estado de São Paulo, é um programa de gestão ambiental municipal descentralizado e voluntário composto por 10 diretivas. Este trabalho tem o objetivo de analisar os resultados do PMVA com o intuito de melhor entender o estágio atual do programa. Após uma pesquisa bibliográfica inicial sobre o programa, foram feitas análises de estatística descritiva com as notas dos 645 municípios do estado. A matriz de correlação indica uma correlação baixa entre as dimensões do IDH municipal (renda, educação, saúde) com as notas do programa, sendo que a dimensão renda apresentou resultados um pouco superiores. Com relação a nota final e as 10 diretivas que compõem o PMVA, todas apresentaram correlações altas, o principal destaque é a diretiva biodiversidade, que apresentou correlações mais baixas com todas as demais notas. As análises mostraram que o programa tem um caminho para se consolidar uma vez que a maioria das cidades obtiveram notas baixas. Contudo, algumas conseguiram ótimos desempenhos, demonstrando a viabilidade do programa. Por ser relativamente novo, o PMVA tem passado por atualizações que devem torná-lo mais adequado à realidade local.
... Extensive effort has accordingly been devoted to improving building envelopes, increasing mechanical heating efficiency, and expanding renewable energy supplies [3][4][5]. At the same time, growth in built floor area [6,7], and growth of electricity demand beyond that of renewable supplies [8][9][10], are causing total space heating energy use and emissions to resist decline [11,12]. In response, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has called A.R. Rempel et al. ...
Space heating is the single greatest source of building-related greenhouse gas emissions in the industrialized world, giving urgency to the development of strategies for carbon-free heating. Recent advances have shown that the direct capture, storage, and deployment of solar energy, without conversion to electricity, has considerable potential to address space-heating needs even in cold and cloudy climates. However, the solar energy available for direct heating at climatic and metropolitan scales is both unquantified and widely assumed to be negligible, impeding further investigation, development, and policy responses. To estimate the magnitude and distribution of solar resources concurrent with space-heating needs, we spatially integrate datasets characterizing solar radiation, outdoor temperature, and heating energy use across U.S. climates. Results show that the median resource incident upon collectors of residential scale (10 m²) and distribution is much greater than previously realized, equaling 7 MWh per household annually; by comparison, the median household heating need is currently 10.3 MWh. Unexpectedly, cloud-diffused solar radiation accounts for over one-quarter of this resource in all but semi-arid climates. Metropolitan residential resources exceed 5 TWh in areas including Detroit and Boston (cold continental), Washington D.C. (humid subtropical), Seattle and San Francisco (Mediterranean), and Denver (semi-arid), and national resources exceed 750 TWh annually, compared to approximately 1200 TWh of annual heating need. Current technology is able to capture and retain over half of a direct solar heating resource, revealing that the untapped U.S. solar heating potential is comparable to one-third of the national residential space-heating need and implying that analogous resources exist in analogous climates worldwide.
... Addressing climate change, while also tackling other more urgent policy priorities, such as poverty eradication and enhancing the overall quality of life, remains a dilemma for developing countries (Jakob et al., 2014). Our present-day uncertainties will be amplified in the future due to changes in drivers in the local and global environments. ...
... South Africa is the third largest supplier of coal worldwide and the country has relied on coal for electricity generation since 1870 rendering itself into a coal energy lock-in phenomenon. However, recent efforts are tending towards energy mix (Furtado and Perrot 2015;Jakob et al 2014;Baptista 2018;Brent et al 2008;Baker 2011). Ayodele et al (2014) report that wind power application that is viable in Johannesburg is standalone. ...
An overview on the assessment of wind energy technology adoption and the extent of penetration of wind energy as an alternative energy source in different regions of the world is presented. A global scenario of Asia, Americas, Europe and Gulf States were reviewed and particular attention was centred on the successes of wind energy in Africa. The four major drivers—global warming, natural disasters, crisis and agreements—that have affected growth of wind energy technology were discussed. The economics of wind energy technology particularly as a grid connected solution was reviewed, challenges in the roll-out of wind energy technology were also highlighted. Finally, the prospects and future of wind energy as part of the overall energy mix was reviewed.
... In India, average food consumption is 550 gm per capita per day while the consequent figures in China and USA are 980 gm and 2580 gm, respectively (IPCC, 1990). Since, additional trauma on natural resources, decline in soil health, alteration in water table, salinity, ruin of irrigation water quality, pesticide resistance, altering situation of world agriculture trade and also the prospective changes in the global climate (Jakob et al., 2014;Kalfagianni and Duyck, 2015). Agriculture ensures livelihood security to more than 85 per cent of the rural populace in India (Ma et al., 2009). ...
Small scale farming dominates the agricultural landscape of India. More than 80 per cent in India are marginal and smallholders having less than two ha farm size. Therefore, marginal and small farmers constitute a key group requiring attention in agriculture to increase their productivity and income for reducing hunger and poverty in India. On the basis of socioeconomic impact of climatic resilient drought tolerant and short duration cultivars of Maize, research is to be designed to achieve it by primary and secondary data. Here in the study primary data was collected from structural questionnaire which has been framed with the help of expert suggestions, existing literature and concerned thesis on this topic. Mostly, questionnaire was framed on Likert-Scale, which has 5-point satisfaction level. Potential for adoption of drought tolerant and pest resistant cultivars of Wheat have been assessed on point scales for variables. This data have been collected through interview, observation, pilot survey and questionnaire. The impact assessment was done using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. They also faced a big challenge to cope with vulnerability of local varieties of Maize. The major themes under Climatic resilient Crop production technologies identified were enhanced crop yield and promote drought tolerant and short duration cultivars of Maize. The whole questionnaire was divided into independent variables viz; block, sex, caste, level of education, source of irrigation and land holding particulars. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage, correlation, standard deviation, mean). For analysis of data, budgeting techniques and cost concepts (fixed cost, variable cost and total cost) and economic efficiency measures viz., Benefit-Cost Ratio, Net present value were used. Economics to be worked out based upon total cost of production per unit area and not on critical inputs alone. The results on the profile characteristics of the smart and non smart farmers are given in tables at appropriate place. Socioeconomic impact of climate change implies the effect of recent changes in the climatic parameter on the livelihood of farmers. Hence, there is an increase in crop sowing area as well as improving economy of smart farmers. Thus, there is an upliftment of socioeconomic status of smart farmers rather than non smart farmers of Nadaun and Bhoranj blocks of rain-fed Hamirpur district in Himachal Pradesh.
... Meanwhile, even the rich may lack access to various forms of modern energy. For them, the marginal propensity to emit might be close to zero (Jakob et al., 2014). Thus, increasing the proportion of either the poor or the better off segment of society would lower aggregate emissions. ...
This paper examines the relationship between economic complexity and income inequality. Using panel data on eighty-eight countries from 2002 to 2017 and two estimation methods, this paper finds that economic complexity is significantly associated with higher income inequality. Moreover, because building economic sophistication is a long and costly process, we further identify whether the changes in the nature of this relationship is conditional on the evolution of other economic and social factors. The results provide qualified evidence that when the level of education, government spending, and trade openness reach certain thresholds, they facilitate the beneficial aspects of higher economic complexity on reducing with income inequality. Conversely, in an environment with less education, ineffective government spending, and low economic openness, economic complexity fails to reduce income inequality. Our findings are relevant for policymakers in tailoring their policies toward combating inequality in the process of developing a knowledge-based economy.
... The test will come when oil prices rise and whether or not previously highsubsidizing countries such as Indonesia can then maintain reforms by implementing an appropriate fuel pricing system (Beaton, Christensen and Lontoh, 2015). Jakob et al. (2014) point to FFSR, along with decentralized modern energy for rural areas and fuel switching in the energy sector, as one of three feasible mitigation policy instruments to help reach a 2 °C target. The IEA (2015) points to FFSR as one of five key measures to help bridge the gap between current commitments and the emissions reductions needed from the energy sector to stay within the 2 °C degrees warming target. ...
... Moreover, climate policy scholars have proffered measures such as improving 'energy access and energy security, reducing local air pollution and increasing economic efficiency' through access to renewable sources [101] that assumes that fossil fuel energy is easily substitutable with renewable sources. In Haiti, existing poor infrastructure and lack of fiscal autonomy aggravate dependence and reinforce the existing fossil fuel energy-based social order. ...
The uneven effects of the climate crisis and the need for decarbonization by reducing fossil fuel exploitation and eliminating subsidies create critical trade-offs and tensions for low-income developing countries. Recent reform of fuel consumption subsidies has shown a perennial mitigation bias largely imposed by external forces, in particular multilateral agencies and foreign governments in the context of the Paris accord. Contradictorily, external pressures to reduce subsidies have created competitive markets for multinationals to have a disproportionate role in supplying energy products which foreground the inequities in Haitian society that have spurred social and political resistance. Empirical work on energy-subsidy reform and climate policy do not sufficiently interrogate the interplay and implications of underlying assumptions, power imbalances between domestic and foreign actors, the challenging infrastructural and political context of renewable energy promotion, and immediate concerns to address worsening social conditions and development priorities. Drawing upon these policy debates, this paper considers the recent experience of Haiti to reform its energy subsidies required by the International Monetary Fund to enforce austerity. The paper takes a more integrated and critical approach to these policy discussions in a context of interconnecting political and socio-ecological crises and climate policy in Haiti. By inductively analyzing Haiti's main climate and energy policies and evidence drawn from field experience, the paper offers a more nuanced understanding of decarbonization and energy debates in this extremely vulnerable context. This approach gives priority to a more dynamic historical analysis of the socio-political context and factors that seek to advance climate justice.
... Understanding how and when climate change mitigation and antipoverty policies are not mutually exclusive is critical as governments in many LMICs prioritize social goals over climate goals. The literature has already identified examples of policies that could achieve both goals, such as the recycling of revenues from carbon taxes and the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies (which are regressive and have negative health effects) to address the needs of the poor segments of the population (Ojha 2009), to build social infrastructure (such as modern energy in rural areas), and to implement progressive policies in relation to agriculture and transport (Jakob et al. 2014). ...
Is it possible for countries to eradicate poverty while also meeting environmental goals? Despite the passage of international agreements calling for these issues to be addressed simultaneously, little is known about the direct relationship between them. This study addresses this gap by proposing a new and composite indicator that integrates measures for both poverty and environmental outcomes (carbon emissions) into a single variable, the carbon intensity of poverty reduction (CIPR). This variable defines the trade-off between the proportional changes of emissions per capita and of the share of the population above the poverty line. In parallel an analytic framework is developed to formulate propositions concerning the possible effects of growth and inequality on the CIPR. The propositions are tested empirically using data from 135 countries across a 30-year time period (1981–2012). The findings confirm that the carbon intensity of poverty reduction is heterogeneous across countries. This heterogeneity is partly explained by economic growth, which is found to have a negative effect on the CIPR up to a certain income level, defined here as a “turning point”. Above that turning point, economic growth increases the CIPR. By contrast, inequality reduction is shown to have a significant negative effect on the CIPR. This study contributes to the literature on sustainable development by analytically and quantitatively linking its three dimensions (social, economic and environmental) and by employing a composite indicator that directly measures the trade-off between poverty reduction and emission levels across countries.
... Millions of tons of CCW have been deposited into surface impoundments across the United States, and as of 2015, the USEPA had identified more than 500 coal power facilities with 735 surface impoundments to store CCW in the United States alone (US Environmental Protection Agency 2015). Furthermore, coal use is on the rise in developing countries, making CCW important at a global scale (Jakob et al. 2014). Many of these storage areas are unlined and present a risk of environmental pollution from the multifarious combustion by-products that are enriched in potentially toxic trace elements such As, Se, and Hg (Greeley et al. 2016). ...
Waterfowl are often exposed to and readily accumulate anthropogenic contaminants while foraging in polluted environments. Settling impoundments containing coal combustion waste (CCW) enriched in trace elements such as arsenic (As), selenium (Se), and mercury (Hg) are often used by free-ranging migratory and resident waterfowl and represent potential sources for contaminant uptake. To assess accumulation of CCW contaminants, we experimentally restricted waterfowl to a CCW contaminated impoundment and quantified trace element burdens in blood, muscle, and liver tissues over known periods of exposure (between 3 and 92 days). From these data we developed models: 1) to predict elemental bioaccumulation with increased exposure time, and 2) to predict muscle/liver burdens based on concentrations in blood as a non-destructive sampling method. Although Hg and As did not bioaccumulate in our waterfowl, we observed an increase in Se concentrations in muscle, liver, and blood tissues over the duration of our experiment. Furthermore, we found that blood may be used as an effective non-destructive sampling alternative to predict muscle and liver tissue concentrations in birds contaminated with Se and As through dietary exposure. These data provide unique insights into accumulation rates of contaminants for waterfowl utilizing habitats contaminated with CCW and demonstrate the efficacy of non-lethal sampling of waterfowl to quantify contaminant exposure. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... The assumption that the MPE is bigger if compared with richer countries corresponds to the Keynesian model when lower-income individuals, rather than higher income, have a higher marginal tendency to consume, so the growth of inequality reduces the income of the poor and decreases the emissions . A large number of authors identified that the MPE falls with the level of income Jakob et al. 2014;Serino and Klasen 2015;Grunewald et al. 2017). Meanwhile, if low-income individuals have a lower level of MPE than the high income, the growth of income inequality raises CO 2 emissions (Mader 2018). ...
In recent decades, many authors have investigated possibility of simultaneous reduction of income inequality and pollution related to climate change. However, none of the previous researches reviewed the empirical studies of relationship between inequality and CO2 emissions. The authors of the selected papers, published from 2001 to 2019, found a diverse impact of income inequality on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. It could depend on different trajectories of Kuznets curves. Furthermore, the majority of authors have provided theoretical analysis (even including human behaviour) of the influence of income inequality on CO2 emissions, considering only territorial (or production-based) emissions. However, this paper recommends to distinguish between the production-based and consumption-based emissions and suggests the revised approaches to the impact of income inequality on CO2 emissions with regard to the production-based and consumption-based emissions. Regarding the production-based emissions, the following approaches are proposed: (i) determination of environmental policies, which also could reveal and explain the leakage phenomenon, and the channels of EKC, i.e. (ii) scale, (iii) composition, (iv) technical and (v) globalization effects. The influence of income inequality on consumption-based emissions can be explained by applying two approaches, namely (i) inequality determined changes in working time (this approach is also related to “Veblen effect”) and (ii) individual economic behaviours of households. Therefore, the present study provides a new insight into the subject of the relationship between income inequality and pollution related to climate change.
... In poorer countries, states often fail to carry out even basic functions, such as effective taxation. It has therefore been suggested that the implementation of more sophisticated climate policies (such as feed-intariffs) are a foregone conclusion in the context of poor state capacities [83]. Indeed, there are strong positive correlations between weighted carbon prices levels and subjective scores of "government effectiveness" and "regulatory quality" [see 84], even after controlling for GDP [63] . ...
In the wake of the Paris Agreement, countries have yet to embark on deep decarbonisation pathways. This article explores the reasons for this limited response, taking a comparative political economy lens to identify national constraints that actively hinder climate policy progress. We discuss different metrics of climate policy progress, including emissions trends, climate legislation adoption, policy adoption, policy stringency, and policy outcomes. We then review literatures that explain varying national outcomes along these dimensions. Identified constraints include (but are not limited to) exposure to fossil fuel extraction activities, supply-side coal dependency , a lack of democratic norms, exposure to corruption, a lack of public climate awareness, and low levels of social trust. Correlation and principal component analysis of these variables demonstrates strong code -pendencies, including a North-South divide in institutional quality, trust and climate awareness that limits full participation in climate legislation and the removal of fossil subsidies. Recent trends indicate stability in corruption across the whole sample, and the continued durability of autocratic and extractivist states. We identify common constraints for five distinct country groups using cluster analysis: 'oil & gas states', 'fragile states', 'coal-dependent development', 'fractured democracies' and 'wealthy OECD'. We highlight the need to scrutinise ar-chitectures of constraint-combinations of political economic factors that are mutually reinforcing and highly resistant to intervention.
... Moreover, climate policy scholars have proffered measures such as improving 'energy access and energy security, reducing local air pollution and increasing economic efficiency' through access to renewable sources [101] that assumes that fossil fuel energy is easily substitutable with renewable sources. In Haiti, existing poor infrastructure and lack of fiscal autonomy aggravate dependence and reinforce the existing fossil fuel energy-based social order. ...
The uneven effects of the climate crisis and the need for decarbonization by reducing fossil fuel exploitation and eliminating subsidies create critical trade-offs and tensions for low-income developing countries. Recent reform of fuel consumption subsidies has shown a perennial mitigation bias largely imposed by external forces, in particular multilateral agencies and foreign governments in the context of the Paris accord. Contradictorily, external pressures to reduce subsidies have created competitive markets for multinationals to have a disproportionate role in supplying energy products which foreground the inequities in Haitian society that have spurred social and political conflict. Empirical work on energy-subsidy reform and climate policy do not sufficiently interrogate the interplay and implications of underlying assumptions, power imbalances between domestic and foreign actors, the challenging infrastructural and political context of renewable energy promotion, and immediate concerns to address worsening social conditions and development priorities. Drawing upon these policy debates, this paper considers the recent experience of Haiti to reform its energy subsidies required by the International Monetary Fund to enforce austerity. The paper takes a more integrated and critical approach to these policy discussions in a context of interconnecting political and socio-ecological crises and climate policy in Haiti. By inductively analyzing Haiti's main climate and energy policies and evidence drawn from field experience, the paper offers a more nuanced understanding of decarbonization and energy debates in this extremely vulnerable context. This approach gives priority to a more dynamic historical analysis of the socio-political context and factors that seek to advance climate justice.
... Tian et al. (2016) also highlighted in their paper documenting that emissions related to transportation has become one of the most important emissions sources in China and they suggested that it is necessary to advocate for green transportation. With increasing mobility of people, goods and services, improvement and access to efficient public transport and increasing use of renewable energy are critical options for policy interventions (Jakob et al. 2014). There are local initiatives promoting the use of electric vehicle for public transport system in the Philippines (Greenpeace Philippines 2018) but more has to be done. ...
The literature is abundant with studies analyzing inequality in carbon emissions at the macroeconomic level, but very limited at the household level. The issue of household carbon footprint inequality is relevant in mitigating climate change through curbing household emissions. This study investigates household carbon footprint inequality in the Philippines and decomposes it into consumption sources applying the standard method used in analyzing income inequality. Results show that the richest 20% of the population has an aggregate share of more than 50% in the total household emissions. Between 2000 and 2006, the Gini coefficient of carbon footprint increases from 0.455 to 0.475. This implies that there is a high and worsening carbon footprint disparity among Filipino households. This disparity in emissions is more pronounced among rich and poor households relative to the middle-income households depicting a non-monotonous kind of relationship between household income and carbon emissions. This suggests that variations in lifestyle and consumption preferences determine overall household emissions inequality. In addition, the decomposition analysis suggests that inequality in carbon footprint is mainly driven by energy-intensive consumption such as fuel, light and transportation. At any affluence level, promotion of less carbon-intensive or energy-efficient consumption allows for the reduction of not just the emissions level, but also the disparity in household carbon footprint.
... Deforestation becomes the main problem that caused high carbon dioxide emission in Indonesia. However, in the past few years, household consumption has part of the increase of carbon dioxide emission in Indonesia ( Jakob et al., 2014;Irfany& Klasen, 2017). ...
Sustainable development has become an interesting issue in the 21st century. The main pillar of sustainable development is the economic sustainability, social, and environmental. Since the industrial revolution, there is a trade-off between economic growth and environment. The main environmental problem nowadays is a huge amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This study aims to analyze the determinant of carbon footprint formation through household consumption approach, with the case of cacao farmers in Polewali Mandar. This study employed OLS and quantile regression as the method. A combined GTAP-E data, I-O, and the calculation of carbon footprint survey used in this study. The result shows that fuel light consumption and transportation are the most carbon footprint formers. Furthermore, household income determines the most carbon footprint. The higher household income, the higher carbon footprint produced. The control variables that influence the carbon footprint are marriage status, poverty level and household size.
Keeping global warming from evolving into irreversible climate disaster requires immediate and sustained decarbonization of global energy systems. Of urgent priority are the energy systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where billions of people are projected to gain energy access in the next several decades. Therefore, leapfrogging traditional fossil fuel-based electricity production in favor renewable energy technologies is a critical issue area for sustainability. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, political and economic challenges mean $44B in external investment is required to achieve its 2030 emissions reduction targets. Additionally, RETs are often more expensive.
This study sought to generate, evaluate, and recommend possible national policies for the DRC government to implement to most effectively boost growth and investment in RETs. Financial incentives were identified as the policy type most practical for DRC. Modeling the resulting energy systems for policy pathways involving a 16% RET subsidy, a 70% fossil fuel tax, and both in combination relative to no-policy baseline scenarios, the scenarios including the tax had the lowest net costs and the highest proportion of RETs (above 90%). Additionally, despite current reliance on hydropower to fulfill 98% of its energy needs, hydropower plays a very minor role in all modeled scenarios. Finally, a post-modeling market potential assessment was performed on the technology that dominated off-grid supply across policy pathways: the 0.3 kW small solar home system (SHS). Based on learning rates for solar PV, demand for the small SHS system in DRC (>160 million units in total) was found to be sufficient to substantially reduce the unit cost as deployment scales.
Putting results into context, emissions reductions for the policy pathways were higher than a past study focused on distributed RETs in DRC, and system costs were 15% higher than estimated in other analysis. These results provide a novel contribution to the literature by demonstrating how financial incentive policies can influence RET uptake in DRC specifically. Ultimately, this study yielded four policy recommendations for the DRC government:
1. Pursue financial incentives to catalyze DRC’s renewable energy supply
2. Tax fossil fuel energy production
3. Re-evaluate focus on hydropower
4. Promote DRC as a healthy market for solar home systems
Keeping global warming from evolving into irreversible climate disaster requires immediate and sustained decarbonization of global energy systems. Of urgent priority are the energy systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where billions of people are projected to gain energy access in the next several decades. Therefore, leapfrogging traditional fossil fuel-based electricity production in favor renewable energy technologies is a critical issue area for sustainability. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, political and economic challenges mean $44B in external investment is required to achieve its 2030 emissions reduction targets. Additionally, RETs are often more expensive.
This study sought to generate, evaluate, and recommend possible national policies for the DRC government to implement to most effectively boost growth and investment in RETs. Financial incentives were identified as the policy type most practical for DRC. Modeling the resulting energy systems for policy pathways involving a 16% RET subsidy, a 70% fossil fuel tax, and both in combination relative to no-policy baseline scenarios, the scenarios including the tax had the lowest net costs and the highest proportion of RETs (above 90%). Additionally, despite current reliance on hydropower to fulfill 98% of its energy needs, hydropower plays a very minor role in all modeled scenarios. Finally, a post-modeling market potential assessment was performed on the technology that dominated off-grid supply across policy pathways: the 0.3 kW small solar home system (SHS). Based on learning rates for solar PV, demand for the small SHS system in DRC (>160 million units in total) was found to be sufficient to substantially reduce the unit cost as deployment scales.
Putting results into context, emissions reductions for the policy pathways were higher than a past study focused on distributed RETs in DRC, and system costs were 15% higher than estimated in other analysis. These results provide a novel contribution to the literature by demonstrating how financial incentive policies can influence RET uptake in DRC specifically. Ultimately, this study yielded four policy recommendations for the DRC government:
1. Pursue financial incentives to catalyze DRC’s renewable energy supply
2. Tax fossil fuel energy production
3. Re-evaluate focus on hydropower
4. Promote DRC as a healthy market for solar home systems
Keeping global warming from evolving into irreversible climate disaster requires immediate and sustained decarbonization of global energy systems. Of urgent priority are the energy systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where billions of people are projected to gain energy access in the next several decades. Therefore, leapfrogging traditional fossil fuel-based electricity production in favor renewable energy technologies is a critical issue area for sustainability. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, political and economic challenges mean $44B in external investment is required to achieve its 2030 emissions reduction targets. Additionally, RETs are often more expensive.
This study sought to generate, evaluate, and recommend possible national policies for the DRC government to implement to most effectively boost growth and investment in RETs. Financial incentives were identified as the policy type most practical for DRC. Modeling the resulting energy systems for policy pathways involving a 16% RET subsidy, a 70% fossil fuel tax, and both in combination relative to no-policy baseline scenarios, the scenarios including the tax had the lowest net costs and the highest proportion of RETs (above 90%). Additionally, despite current reliance on hydropower to fulfill 98% of its energy needs, hydropower plays a very minor role in all modeled scenarios. Finally, a post-modeling market potential assessment was performed on the technology that dominated off-grid supply across policy pathways: the 0.3 kW small solar home system (SHS). Based on learning rates for solar PV, demand for the small SHS system in DRC (> 160 million units in total) was found to be sufficient to substantially reduce the unit cost as deployment scales.
Putting results into context, emissions reductions for the policy pathways were higher than a past study focused on distributed RETs in DRC, and system costs were 15% higher than estimated in other analysis. These results provide a novel contribution to the literature by demonstrating how financial incentive policies can influence RET uptake in DRC specifically. Ultimately, this study yielded four policy recommendations for the DRC government:
1. Pursue financial incentives to catalyze DRC’s renewable energy supply
2. Tax fossil fuel energy production
3. Re-evaluate focus on hydropower
4. Promote DRC as a healthy market for solar home systems
Climate change mitigation measures can yield substantial air quality improvements while emerging clean air measures in developing countries can also lead to CO 2 emission mitigation co-benefits by affecting the local energy system. Here, we evaluate the effect of China’s stringent clean air actions on its energy use and CO 2 emissions from 2013-2020. We find that widespread phase-out and upgrades of outdated, polluting, and inefficient combustion facilities during clean air actions have promoted the transformation of the country’s energy system. The co-benefits of China’s clean air measures far outweigh the additional CO 2 emissions of end-of-pipe devices, realizing a net accumulative reduction of 2.43 Gt CO 2 from 2013-2020, exceeding the accumulated CO 2 emission increase in China (2.03 Gt CO 2 ) during the same period. Our study indicates that China’s efforts to tackle air pollution induce considerable climate benefit, and measures with remarkable CO 2 reduction co-benefits deserve further attention in future policy design.
Industrial upgrading and international collaboration in production have a vital impact on climate change globally. However, few studies have investigated the potential transmission role of industrial upgrading in the effect of participating in global value chains (GVCs) on carbon emissions. This study combines the value-added accounting method under the new trade accounting framework with the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to recalculate the real emissions embodied in trade for developing countries and investigate the relationships among GVC participation, industrial upgrading, and embodied emissions in different groups of countries identified using the fuzzy C-means clustering method. The empirical results show that the transforming and upgrading of industrial structure when participating in GVCs is conducive to easing the expansion of pollution emissions in developing countries such as Russia and Brazil, but the adjustment effect is relatively weak. The industrial structures of developing countries such as China and India face the dilemma of “low-end locking” when participating in GVCs, intensifying pressure on reducing carbon emissions domestically. The governments should promote low-carbon structural reform, cultivate endogenous comparative advantages, and promote the transformation from low-end to high-end product processing to break the path dependence on low-end locking in GVCs. This study provides a reference for governments of developing countries to effectively participate in the division and cooperation of production, conduct industrial upgrading, and reduce pollution emissions.
While a range of climate actions have made remarkable contributions to reducing carbon emissions, the past decades have experienced a sharp increase in carbon inequality, particularly in developed countries. Through the difference-in-differences method we find that the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has relatively smaller impact on individuals with higher income, in other words, those having higher carbon footprints. After the implementation of the EU ETS, the per capita carbon footprint of the top 1% and 10% income groups has only decreased by 28.5% and 29.5%, respectively, while the reduction for the middle 40% and the bottom 50% income groups is 30.4% and 32.3%, respectively. It seems that the EU ETS further exacerbates carbon inequality. Our study implies that while meeting the goals of carbon reduction, for environment justice and social fairness, climate actions should be aware of the possibility of induced carbon inequality.
The development of indexes for human development and environmental sustainability issues are an emerging topic in the current literature. However, the literature has put less emphasis on municipal indexes, which is the focus of this research. In this paper, we considered municipal environmental management as the adoption of environmental activities and the development of infrastructural and technical capacities in municipalities. This article aims to create a sustainable human development index with municipal data from the state of São Paulo in Brazil. Using information from the Municipal Human Development Index (IDHm) and the GreenBlue Municipal Program (PMVA), we applied the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique to connect human development and environmental sustainability in 645 Brazilian municipalities. Our findings show that regions with higher human development present better DEA scores on the Sustainable Human Development Index. In contrast, regions with a low or a middle level of human development do not present significant change considering both dimensions. Moreover, our findings reveal that PMVA certification has a different and statistically significant impact on the DEA score considering certified, qualified, or not qualified regions. We found similar results for urbanized and service-oriented municipalities. Our indicator is an essential and straightforward tool for regional policymakers, helping to allocate resources and to find human development and environmental sustainability benchmarks among developing regions.
Securing energy supply and pursuing low-carbon economic growth trajectory has become doubly challenging for the Philippines as it faces depletion of its indigenous natural gas. Importing liquefied natural gas is seen as the immediate solution. Our objective is to gauge the extent of the potential demand for natural gas among manufacturing firms. Specifically, we aim to determine the likelihood of switching to natural gas among firms in manufacturing ecozones, which account for a lion share of 85% of total exports. Using logistical regression, we find that the extent of knowledge about natural gas and their production process are the primary determinants of the likelihood to switch. For firms with heating component and perceived natural gas to be more cost-competitive, the predictive probability to switch is higher by 39.4 percentage points compared to their counterpart. More knowledgeable firms have 19.1 percentage points higher predictive probability of switching than less knowledgeable firms. The study is important for low-income countries as it sheds light on how to make one low-income country’s manufacturing industry at once cleaner and more competitive by replacing the more expensive diesel fuel and on the obstacles to transitioning to relatively cleaner natural gas and renewable sources.
Integrating intermittent photovoltaic (PV) power into dispatchable hydropower has become a promising way in the modern power systems. Despite being two primary energies, their planning and management often does not consider the effects of climate change. To determine the size of a PV plant appropriate for integration into a hydropower system, this study developed a climate–hydrology–operation framework to identify system resilience in a changing climate. This bottom-up framework comprises four modules: ?1?1 a weather generation and hydrology simulation module; ?2?2 a GCMs forecast information module; ?3?3 a hydro/PV integrated operation optimization module; and ?4?4 a resilience evaluation module. With a case study of the China’s Longyangxia hybrid hydro/PV power system, our analysis revealed conclusions as follows. (1) This complementary propertity of precipitation and radiation in the study area provides a driving mechanism for complementary operation of the hybrid power system. (2) Precipitation and radiation are the factors dominating the variation of the system reliability and economy under climate change, respectively. (3) The optimal size of the PV plant is 600–800 MW, in this range, the hybrid power system exerts an excellent operational capacity adaptive to climate change, and it performs satisfactorily in terms of reliability and economy.
The increasing diversity of renewable energy sources in developing countries is receiving attention in discussions about the future of energy security and climate change. Given the strong relationship between energy demand and economic growth, this paper explores the factors that influence the diversification of non-hydro renewable energy sources across 117 developing countries covering more than 30 years. We contribute to the literature by using a new measure capturing diversification of non-hydro renewable energy sources and explore several estimation techniques in investigating determinants of diversification. Controlling for regional variations, results show that higher per capita income, implementation of policies promoting renewable energy, technological innovations and human capital improvement encourage diversification. In addition, the squared term of income was included to capture nonlinear effects. The results depict a U-shaped kind of relationship suggesting non-monotonic changes in renewable energy diversification in relation to increasing affluence. This implies that greater environmental concern in terms of energy use can be expected as countries developed. Other determinants suggest that high dependence on imported fuels and increasing world market price for crude oil will motivate developing countries to diversify non-hydro renewable energy sources. In contrast, the local abundance of hydropower and the availability of natural resources like oil impede diversification. Finally, we conclude that the progressive integration of renewable energy in developing countries energy mix can be hastened with environmental awareness, relevant policy, and favorable economic conditions.
Since the climate change context is increasingly the focus of decision-makers, indices capable of helping them in the transition to a low-carbon economy are considered necessary. Therefore, the objective of this work is to propose an index of climate justice that includes factors of human development and climate action. The index was developed using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique and, in this study, assessed the climate justice of 198 nations. After the calculation, statistical analysis was used to compare the climate justice of the aforementioned countries, grouped by level of development and geographical location. The results obtained were: a) there is currently no nation that fully guarantees climate justice to its population; b) there is a difference in the performance of climate justice between the Annex I, Non-Annex I and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) groups; c) nations located in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Eastern Europe are similar in terms of climate justice index performance. The main contribution of the proposed index is that it can help policy-makers and national governments to define and create synergy between climate and human development policies.
This study examines the effects of income inequality and innovation on environmental quality, conditional on the level of each factor. We apply system generalized method of moments to a panel dataset of 91 countries from 1971 to 2015. The estimation results consistently reveal that although income inequality and innovation significantly contribute to better environmental quality, the effect of one factor largely depends on the evolution of the other. Specifically, the beneficial impact of income equality on environmental quality can only be achieved at a high level of innovation. In the same way, innovation is only an effective tool for a nation to reduce environmental degradation when income is fairly distributed among its citizens. This means that more equitable income distribution and higher innovative capacities are two interrelated prerequisites that must both be in place for a country to actualize their beneficial environmental impacts. Overall, our findings shed new light on the relationship between income inequality, innovation, and environmental quality, and they provide relevant implications for policymakers with regard to tackling the dual tasks of reducing inequality and pollution.
Solar photovoltaics and batteries are key technologies to enable a rapid decarbonization of electricity systems. Commercial & industrial consumers are an important market for these technologies due to their fast growing electricity demand, particularly in emerging economies. However, it remains unclear if photovoltaics and battery installations are profitable for commercial & industrial applications in an emerging country context. Assessing the profitability of investments in photovoltaics and battery projects, however, is much more complex than for standalone photovoltaics projects, and strongly depends on the regulatory regime. These regimes are often complex and can be inconsistent. Hitherto decision makers lack models which are suitable for detailed assessments and which can serve as basis to adjust the regime. Here, we develop a techno-economic optimization model for commercial & industrial photovoltaics and battery projects, which returns a profit-maximizing storage dispatch and system design. We investigate three South-East Asian countries (Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia) and three different industries (Textile, Consumer Goods, and Electronics). The results show that profitable investment opportunities in photovoltaics and battery projects exist already today, even though a battery typically reduces profitability vis-à-vis standalone photovoltaics projects. We discuss how reducing investment risks, building local industries, and shifting existing support schemes towards batteries could support battery deployment in South-East Asia and thereby contribute to the decarbonization of electricity systems in the region.
A diferencia de las más importantes economías latinoamericanas, la principal fuente de las emisiones de GEI en el Perú es el Uscuss, proveniente de la deforestación del bioma amazónico, sobre todo en zonas con un alto nivel de informalidad y pobreza. Esta situación expresa el carácter multidimensional de la problemática ambiental en el Perú, y deja
en claro la necesidad de abordar sus alternativas de solución desde una visión integral, que incluya una evaluación de instrumentos de mercado. ¿Puede una reforma fiscal verde contribuir a enfrentar la deforestación? Este artículo busca responder a esta interrogante y plantea cuáles deben ser las consideraciones económicas y políticas para la introducción de un precio al carbono en el Perú.
"Precio al carbono en América Latina" busca llevar al centro del debate público la necesidad de utilizar instrumentos de mercado para mitigar los efectos del cambio climático. Pero no solo eso: busca evaluar la efectividad de las principales reformas fiscales verdes en América Latina y, en paralelo, trazar el derrotero para otros países de la región, como el Perú, que todavía no han emprendido estrategias integrales en esta materia.
Governance is a basic factor explaining the poor economic, social and environmental performance of many developing countries. Since good governance impacts the environment and management of carbon emissions, in this study, we examine the relationship between governance and economic performance and its impact on CO2 emissions, employing the World Bank’s Aggregate Governance Indicators. To this end, data from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries over 8 years (from 2006 to 2015) is analyzed through spatial econometric techniques for panel data. The results show that the governance index (with a negative sign) and GDP growth variable (with a positive sign) have the greatest impact on carbon dioxide emissions. The inflation rate, exports, imports, foreign investment, and employment also have an impact on CO2 emissions. The policy recommendations of this research are that governments can help protect the environment by adopting better governance practices, improving the governance structure, and implementing a clean technology strategy in production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
How feasible is it to eradicate poverty by 2030, whilst tackling climate change? What would be the impact of poverty eradication on emission levels and needed mitigation rates? The question is crucial as it addresses the two most critical challenges of our time. Despite the necessity to address both issues simultaneously, a significant gap exists in
the empirical literature as poverty and environmental outcomes, including both the level of emissions and energy use per capita, have been researched separately. While it has been shown that no country has achieved high human development with sustainable environmental consumption, more research is needed to link emissions and energy use
with poverty directly. This paper aims to fill this gap by summarizing the existing literature and by estimating the poverty-energy-emissions pathway across countries and time using country level data from 149 countries, representing the majority of global emissions, energy use and poverty. The findings show that current poverty-energy-emissions
pathways can be approximated by a generalized logistic function, with extreme poverty eradication associated with relatively low levels of per capita emissions and energy use. Second, the analysis demonstrates that a weak decoupling process, between emission levels and poverty, has taken place in the last two decades. It also shows, however, that this decoupling process is less evident when energy use (rather than emissions) is considered. Finally, through a comparison of different scenarios, the study indicates that the eradication of global poverty by 2030 following the estimated pathways would mean an increase in emissions significantly higher compared to the case in which poverty is eradicated through targeted policies. The paper concludes by underlining the need for a stronger decoupling. Nonetheless given the difficulty of achieving further reductions in energy intensity, and the barriers for a complete de-carbonization of the energy system, alternative development approaches are also proposed.
Renewable energy targets announced in 2014 present an opportunity to reform Indonesia's electricity sector which is dominated by fossil fuels. In this paper we discuss Indonesia's current renewable energy policies and future outlook for achieving the targets. This paper serves as a literature review of Indonesia's changing energy policy landscape, as part of a broader research investigating renewable energy targets and the role of the private sector. Despite Indonesia's wealth of renewable energy resources, numerous studies have identified multiple constraints to the development of renewable energy, including geographical, institutional and investment factors. Influential groups are calling for the Indonesian Government to put in place a clear policy framework that facilitates private sector investment. Therefore, interventions to facilitate investment in energy infrastructure in Indonesia must address the monopolised power market system that oversees a changing, complex malaise of electricity pricing regulations which make investment risky and uncertain. This study will enrich the existing literature on renewable energy policy which emphasises the importance of engaging the private sector. It is based on a rigorous qualitative assessment of Indonesia's changing policy that affects the progress of the renewable energy targets. The lessons from Indonesia's experience may provide insights for policymakers notably in developing countries.Keywords: energy in Indonesia, private sector investment, renewable energy
Significance
Many case studies of specific cities have investigated factors that contribute to urban energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions. The analysis in this study is based on data from 274 cities and three global datasets and provides a typology of urban attributes of energy use. The results highlight that appropriate policies addressing urban climate change mitigation differ with type of city. A global urbanization wedge, corresponding in particular to energy-efficient urbanization in Asia, might reduce urban energy use by more than 25%, compared with a business-as-usual scenario.
Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, industrialized countries have agreed to cover the incremental costs of climate change mitigation in developing countries and recent climate negotiations have reaffirmed the central role of climate finance for global mitigation efforts. We use an integrated energy–economy–climate model to assess the potential magnitude of financial transfers to developing countries that can be expected under non-market transfer mechanisms as well as international emission trading with several allocation schemes. Our results indicate that for the latter, depending on international permit allocation rules financial transfers to developing countries could reach almost USD bln 400 per year in 2020, with Sub-Saharan Africa receiving financial inflows of as much as 14.5% of its GDP. Reviewing the literature on natural resource revenues, official development assistance and foreign direct investment, we identify three major channels through which such sizable financial inflows may induce harmful effects for recipients: volatility, Dutch disease, and rent-seeking and corruption. We discuss the relevance of these mechanisms for climate finance and identify institutional arrangements which could help to avoid a ‘climate finance curse’. We conclude that there is no deterministic relationship between financial inflows and adverse consequences, as the most serious problems could be prevented or at least alleviated by appropriately designed policies and governance provisions.
Energy subsidies are pervasive. Pretax subsidies, which arise when energy consumers pay less than the supply cost of energy, are high in many developing and emerging economies. Although pretax subsidies are not prevalent in advanced economies, they have large tax subsidies. These arise when energy is taxed below the rate of other consumption goods and are not high enough to capture the negative externalities from energy consumption, including the effects on climate change, local pollution, and traffic congestion. Posttax subsidies (the sum of pretax and tax subsidies) are estimated at about US$2 trillion (2.9 percent of global GDP) in 2011, with advanced economies accounting for a substantial share of the total. Energy subsidies aggravate fiscal imbalances, depress growth, damage the environment, and reinforce inequality. Country experience suggests that well-designed energy subsidy reform strategies can win public support. A far-reaching communications strategy, appropriately phased energy price increases, and targeted mitigating measures to protect the poor are among the most important elements of these strategies.
Investment and policies must support cheap, clean energy technologies to cut both poverty and climate change, say Reid Detchon and Richenda Van Leeuwen.
Actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions often
reduce co-emitted air pollutants, bringing co-benefits for air
quality and human health. Past studies[1–6] typically evaluated
near-term and local co-benefits, neglecting the long-range
transport of air pollutants[7–9], long-term demographic changes,
and the influence of climate change on air quality[10–12]. Here
we simulate the co-benefits of global GHG reductions on air
quality and human health using a global atmospheric model
and consistent future scenarios, via two mechanisms: reducing
co-emitted air pollutants, and slowing climate change and its
effect on air quality.We use new relationships between chronic
mortality and exposure to fine particulate matter[13] and ozone[14],
global modelling methods[15] and new future scenarios[16].
Relative to a reference scenario, global GHG mitigation avoids
0.5+/-�0.2, 1.3+/-�0.5 and 2.2+/-�0.8 million premature deaths in
2030, 2050 and 2100. Global average marginal co-benefits
of avoided mortality are US$50–380 per tonne of CO2, which
exceed previous estimates, exceed marginal abatement costs
in 2030 and 2050, and are within the low range of costs in
2100. East Asian co-benefits are 10–70 times the marginal
cost in 2030. Air quality and health co-benefits, especially as
they are mainly local and near-term, provide strong additional
motivation for transitioning to a low-carbon future.
At a time of stagnant international climate negotiations, national
legislation on climate continues to progress apace. So what can these
policy developments deliver?
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, including crop and livestock production, forestry and associated land use changes, are responsible for a significant fraction of anthropogenic emissions, up to 30% according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Yet while emissions from fossil fuels are updated yearly and by multiple sources—including national-level statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA)—no comparable efforts for reporting global statistics for agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) emissions exist: the latest complete assessment was the 2007 IPCC report, based on 2005 emission data. This gap is critical for several reasons. First, potentially large climate funding could be linked in coming decades to more precise estimates of emissions and mitigation potentials. For many developing countries, and especially the least developed ones, this requires improved assessments of AFOLU emissions. Second, growth in global emissions from fossil fuels has outpaced that from AFOLU during every decade of the period 1961–2010, so the relative contribution of the latter to total climate forcing has diminished over time, with a need for regular updates. We present results from a new GHG database developed at FAO, providing a complete and coherent time series of emission statistics over a reference period 1961–2010, at country level, based on FAOSTAT activity data and IPCC Tier 1 methodology. We discuss results at global and regional level, focusing on trends in the agriculture sector and net deforestation. Our results complement those available from the IPCC, extending trend analysis to a longer historical period and, critically, beyond 2005 to more recent years. In particular, from 2000 to 2010, we find that agricultural emissions increased by 1.1% annually, reaching 4.6 Gt CO2 yr−1 in 2010 (up to 5.4–5.8 Gt CO2 yr−1 with emissions from biomass burning and organic soils included). Over the same decade 2000–2010, the ratio of agriculture to fossil fuel emissions has decreased, from 17.2% to 13.7%, and the decrease is even greater for the ratio of net deforestation to fossil fuel emissions: from 19.1% to 10.1%. In fact, in the year 2000, emissions from agriculture have been consistently larger—about 1.2 Gt CO2 yr−1 in 2010—than those from net deforestation.
A lack of access to modern energy impacts health and welfare and impedes development for billions of people. Growing concern about these impacts has mobilized the international community to set new targets for universal modern energy access. However, analyses exploring pathways to achieve these targets and quantifying the potential costs and benefits are limited. Here, we use two modelling frameworks to analyse investments and consequences of achieving total rural electrification and universal access to clean-combusting cooking fuels and stoves by 2030. Our analysis indicates that these targets can be achieved with additional investment of US$ 2005 65–86 billion per year until 2030 combined with dedicated policies. Only a combination of policies that lowers costs for modern cooking fuels and stoves, along with more rapid electrification, can enable the realization of these goals. Our results demonstrate the critical importance of accounting for varying demands and affordability across heterogeneous household groups in both analysis and policy setting. While the investments required are significant, improved access to modern cooking fuels alone can avert between 0.6 and 1.8 million premature deaths annually in 2030 and enhance wellbeing substantially.
A lack of access to modern energy impacts health and welfare and impedes development for billions of people. Growing concern about these impacts has mobilized the international community to set new targets for universal modern energy access. However, analyses exploring pathways to achieve these targets and quantifying the potential costs and benefits are limited. Here, we use two modelling frameworks to analyse investments and consequences of achieving total rural electrification and universal access to clean-combusting cooking fuels and stoves by 2030. Our analysis indicates that these targets can be achieved with additional investment of US$ 2005 65–86 billion per year until 2030 combined with dedicated policies. Only a combination of policies that lowers costs for modern cooking fuels and stoves, along with more rapid electrification, can enable the realization of these goals. Our results demonstrate the critical importance of accounting for varying demands and affordability across heterogeneous household groups in both analysis and policy setting. While the investments required are significant, improved access to modern cooking fuels alone can avert between 0.6 and 1.8 million premature deaths annually in 2030 and enhance wellbeing substantially.
The transportation sector is a major source of air pollution worldwide, yet little is known about the effects of transportation infrastructure on air quality. This paper quantifies the effects of one major type of transportation infrastructure—urban rail transit—on air quality using the sharp discontinuity in ridership on opening day of a new rail transit system in Taipei. We find that the opening of the Metro reduced air pollution from one key tailpipe pollutant, carbon monoxide, by 5 to 15 percent. Little evidence that the opening of the Metro affected ground level ozone pollution is found however.
We present an analysis of the barriers and opportunities for incorporating air quality co-benefits into climate policy assessments. It is well known that many strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions also decrease emissions of health-damaging air pollutants and precursor species, including particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide. In a survey of previous studies we found a range of estimates for the air quality co-benefits of climate change mitigation of $2- 196/tCO2 with a mean of $49/tCO2, and the highest co-benefits found in developing countries. These values, although of a similar order of magnitude to abatement cost estimates, are only rarely included in integrated assessments of climate policy. Full inclusion of these co-benefits would have pervasive implications for climate policy in areas including: optimal policy stringency, overall costs, distributional effects, robustness to discount rates, incentives for international cooperation, and the value of adaptation, forests, and climate engineering relative to mitigation. Under-valuation results in part from uncertainty in climatic damages, valuation inconsistency, and institutional barriers. Because policy debates are framed in terms of cost minimization, policy makers are unlikely to fully value air quality co-benefits unless they can be compared on an equivalent basis with the benefits of avoided climatic damages. While air quality co-benefits have been prominently portrayed as a hedge against uncertainty in the benefits of climate change abatement, this assessment finds that full inclusion of co-benefits depends on—rather than substitutes for—better valuation of climate damages.
Abstract The energy problems of the developing world are both serious and widespread. Lack of access to sufficient and sustainable supplies of energy affects as much as 90% of the population of many developing countries. Some 2 billion people are without electricity; a similar number remain dependent on fuels such as animal dung, crop residues, wood, and charcoal to cook their daily meals. Without efficient, clean energy, people are undermined in their efforts to engage effectively in productive activities or to improve their quality of life. Developing countries are facing two crucial-and related-problems in the energy sector. The first is the widespread inefficient production and use of traditional energy sources, such as fuelwood and agricultural residues, which pose economic, environmental, and health threats. The second is the highly uneven distribution and use of modern energy sources, such as electricity, petroleum products, and liquefied or compressed natural gas, which pose important issues of economics, equity, and quality of life. To address these problems, this paper evaluates some successful programs and recommends that governments support market-oriented approaches that make the energy market equally accessible and attractive to local investors, communities, and consumers. Such approaches ideally improve access to energy for rural and poor people by revising energy pricing and by making the first costs of the transition to modern and more sustainable uses of energy more affordable.
Further substantial climate change is unavoidable and the risks to the natural world, the economy and our everyday lives are immense. The way we live in the next thirty years – how we invest, use energy, organise transport and treat forests – will determine whether these risks become realities.
Fuel Taxes and the Poor challenges the conventional wisdom that gasoline taxation, an important and much-debated instrument of climate policy, has a disproportionately detrimental effect on poor people. Increased fuel taxes carry the potential to mitigate carbon emissions, reduce congestion, and improve local urban environment. As such, higher gasoline taxes could prove to be a fundamental part of any climate action plan. However, they have been resisted by powerful lobbies that have persuaded people that increased fuel taxation would be regressive. Reporting on examples of over two dozen countries, this book sets out to empirically investigate this claim. The authors conclude that while there may be some slight regressivity in some high-income countries, as a general rule, fuel taxation is a progressive policy particularly in low income countries. Rich countries can correct for regressivity by cutting back on other taxes that adversely affect poor people, or by spending more money on services for the poor. Meanwhile, in low-income countries, poor people spend a very small share of their money on fuel for transport. Some costs from fuel taxes may be passed on to poor people through more expensive public transportation and food transport. Nevertheless, in general the authors find that gasoline taxes become more progressive as the income of the country in question decreases. This book provides strong arguments for the proponents of environmental taxation. It has immediate policy implications at the intersection of multiple subject areas, including transportation, environmental regulation, development studies, and climate change. Published with Environment for Development initiative. © 2012 Thomas Sterner for selection and editorial matter; individual contributors for their contributions.
Transitioning to a low-carbon economy will require significant investment to transform energy systems, alter the built environment and adapt infrastructure. A strategy to finance this investment is needed if the limit of a 2°C increase in global mean temperatures is to be respected. Also, high-income countries have pledged to pay the "agreed full incremental costs" of climate-change mitigation by developing countries, which are not necessarily the same as incremental investment costs. Building on simulations using Integrated Assessment Models and historical evidence, this paper explores some of the issues posed by this dual financing challenge. We discuss the "fiscal self-reliance" of the energy sector, finding that carbon pricing would generate sufficient fiscal revenues within each region to finance total investment in energy supply. Even when allowing for trade in emission permits, regional carbon fiscal revenues should still suffice to cover both their own investment in energy supply and permit purchases from abroad. We show that incremental energy-supply investment (and saving) needs are well within the range of past variation of aggregate investment, and argue that the challenge is rather to ensure that revenues from carbon pricing and other sources are complemented by investment in the appropriate sectors. But fairness and equity are likely to warrant transfers from advanced industrial countries to developing nations.
Emission leakage could potentially undermine the effectiveness of unilateral climate policies. Significant emission transfers from developing countries to developed countries in the form of emissions embodied in trade have been interpreted as an indication of such leakage. To reduce leakage and provide an appropriate picture of countries' responsibility for global emissions, an alternative proposal is to attribute emissions on the basis of consumption instead of production. However, as one unit of imported emissions generally cannot be equated with a corresponding increase in emissions released to the atmosphere, putting a price on emissions embodied in imports equal to the social cost of these emissions (e.g., by means of consumption-based emission pricing) is not an optimal policy. Hence, one should consider a broad scope of trade measures to reduce leakage, focusing on a few highly traded, emission-intensive industries. Finally, the optimal policy portfolio to address leakage may also contain free allocation of emission permits and sectoral approaches.
The implementation of mitigation policies will be complicated by several real-world imperfections ("second-best conditions") and constraints typically not included in the more idealized economies assumed in Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs), based on which such policies are derived. But which of these numerous imperfections found in real economies are actually relevant in this context? And how could they — in principle — be taken into account by IAMs? Based on a literature review, we propose a typology of three categories of obstacles inhibiting "first-best" conditions and outcomes: first, obstacles impeding the setting of least-cost abatement incentives; second, obstacles limiting the supply and exploitation of abatement options; and, third, obstacles creating distortions between the price and marginal costs of abatement. By reviewing the implementation of energy policy in China, we put our typology into practice and identify specific empirical evidence for each category. IAMs in principle can (and in practice often do) incorporate several relevant obstacles by means of additional cost or quantity constraints. However, the nature of some obstacles relating to strategic interactions between economic agents appears to be incompatible with the standard representative agent social-planner framework often employed in IAMs, suggesting a need for complementary analysis with decentralized "Integrated Policy Assessment Models".
Though climate change is an urgent problem especially for vulnerable developing countries, international negotiations are in a gridlock. Standard game-theoretic models that describe climate change mitigation as a public good problem predict few incentives for individual countries to act. Nevertheless - despite the absence of a globally binding agreement - we can observe some developing countries launching unilateral climate policies. Being one of th\ose, Vietnam has recently announced to strive for a low-carbon economy. Based on interviews with Vietnamese policy makers and other stakeholders, this explorative case study examines Vietnam's motivation for a policy change that has shifted from emphasizing the responsibilities of developed countries for climate change towards accepting responsibility of developing countries to also reduce their emissions. While Vietnam's high vulnerability has contributed to put climate on the political agenda, the policy shift from a pure adaptation towards a mitigation focus was mainly driven by expected multiple climate policy benefits other than climate change abatement (so-called co-benefits). These include restructuring of the economy, addressing energy security concerns and accessing international finance to counteract a phase-out of conventional development assistance. Air quality considerations, by contrast, do not seem to play a major role for Vietnam's shift in climate policy.
In this paper we study the diffusion of non-hydro renewable energy (NHRE) technologies for electricity generation across 108 developing countries between 1980 and 2010. We use two-stage estimation methods to identify the determinants behind the choice of whether or not to adopt NHRE as well as about the amount of electricity to produce from renewable energy sources. We find that NHRE diffusion accelerates with the implementation of economic and regulatory instruments, higher per capita income and schooling levels, and stable, democratic regimes. In contrast, increasing openness and aid, institutional and strategic policy support programs, growth of electricity consumption, and high fossil fuel production appear to delay NHRE diffusion. Furthermore, we find that a diverse energy mix increases the probability of NHRE adoption. Finally, we find a weak support for a positive influence of the Kyoto Protocol on NHRE diffusion and no evidence for any influence resulting from financial sector development.
India occupies an intriguing dual position in global climate politics—a poor and developing economy with low levels of historical and per capita emissions, and a large and rapidly growing economy with rising emissions. Indian climate politics has substantially been shaped around the first perspective, and increasingly, under international pressure, is being forced to grapple with the second. This review of Indian climate politics examines the initial crystallization of Indian climate positions and its roots in national climate politics, and then examines the modest ways in which climate politics have been revisited in domestic debates since about 2007. Following elucidation of these themes, the article turns to a discussion of new directions for Indian climate policy and their moorings in domestic climate politics. WIREs Clim Change 2013, 4:191–201. doi: 10.1002/wcc.210 The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Faced with serious air pollution, China is aggressively reshaping its energy system, building on recent progress with renewables and on available supplies of gas. This should help contain global warming and provide new impetus to climate change negotiations.
By 2015, global oil consumption will reach 90 million barrels per day. In part, this high level of consumption reflects the fact that many countries provide subsidies for gasoline and diesel. This paper examines global fuel subsidies using the latest available data from the World Bank, finding that road-sector subsidies for gasoline and diesel totaled $110 billion in 2012. Pricing fuels below cost is inefficient because it leads to overconsumption. Under baseline assumptions about supply and demand elasticities, the total annual deadweight loss worldwide is $44 billion. Incorporating external costs increases the economic costs substantially.
Community-level carbon abatement curves highlight opportunities for increased access to clean, efficient energy for the poor.
This article examines renewable energy (RE) technologies in a multiple-objective framework of sustainable development. We begin by locating RE in a portfolio of options available for climate change mitigation. Observing current trends in technologies, deployment levels, and costs, we discuss the future deployment levels envisioned in mitigation scenarios. We focus on biomass, given its importance in climate mitigation scenarios and because of the ongoing debates about its role in sustainability objectives. We also examine trends and successes in RE support policies. We conclude by linking the multiple objectives of sustainability to multiple policy instruments, emphasizing the need to closely consider the interaction between different policy instruments incentivizing sustainable development.
This study investigates the use of bioenergy for achieving stringent climate stabilization targets and it analyzes the economic drivers behind the choice of bioenergy technologies. We apply the integrated assessment framework REMIND-MAgPIE to show that bioenergy, particularly if combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a crucial mitigation option with high deployment levels and high technology value. If CCS is available, bioenergy is exclusively used with CCS. We find that the ability of bioenergy to provide negative emissions gives rise to a strong nexus between biomass prices and carbon prices. Ambitious climate policy could result in bioenergy prices of 70 $/GJ (or even 430 $/GJ if bioenergy potential is limited to 100 EJ/year), which indicates a strong demand for bioenergy. For low stabilization scenarios with BECCS availability, we find that the carbon value of biomass tends to exceed its pure energy value. Therefore, the driving factor behind investments into bioenergy conversion capacities for electricity and hydrogen production are the revenues generated from negative emissions, rather than from energy production. However, in REMIND modern bioenergy is predominantly used to produce low-carbon fuels, since the transport sector has significantly fewer low-carbon alternatives to biofuels than the power sector. Since negative emissions increase the amount of permissible emis-sions from fossil fuels, given a climate target, bioenergy acts as a complement to fossils rather than a substitute. This makes the short-term and long-term deployment of fossil fuels dependent on the long-term availability of BECCS.
Avoiding dangerous climate changes requires emission reductions in not only industrialized but also developing countries. This opinion piece argues that even if the ‘full incremental costs’ of abatement in developing countries would be covered by industrialized countries, the former's development prospects could be hampered by climate change mitigation due to the following reasons. First, financial inflows have the potential to induce a ‘climate finance curse’ similar to adverse effects related to natural resource exports. Second, increased use of more expensive low-carbon energy sources could delay structural change and the build-up of physical infrastructure. Third, higher energy prices could have negative effects on poverty and inequality. We conclude that these considerations should not be seen as an indication that one should abstain from emission reductions in developing countries. However, until developing countries' most severe concerns can be appropriately addressed, attention should be focused on measures that promote human well-being while saving emissions. Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Most industrialized countries are net importers of carbon emissions,
that is, they release fewer emissions for the production of their total
exported goods and services than the amount generated (by their trading
partners) for producing their total imported goods and services. But
what do such carbon trade-deficits imply in terms of global
CO2 emissions and the design of carbon trade-policies?
Drawing on trade theory, this Perspective argues that a deeper
understanding of these observed net emission transfers is required to
assess how international trade affects global emissions and proposes a
method to disentangle the underlying determinants of such transfers.
In this article, I develop and evaluate a model of dynamic climate governance. The model is based on the premise that global warming is such a complex problem that present political realities do not allow an immediate solution to it. I propose that current mitigation activities should focus on building technological and political transformation potential to enable more ambitious climate cooperation in the future. Successful international climate cooperation could comprise a series of politically feasible “small wins” guided by a “big dream” of a comprehensive future climate regime. The analysis contributes to the emerging literature on the dynamics of climate governance by showing how coherence between multiple independent climate policies can be achieved, both across policymakers and over time. To illustrate how the model can be used, I apply it to technology agreements and North–South climate finance.
We analyze the relationship between economic development and energy consumption in the context of greenhouse gas mitigation. The main contribution of this work is to compare estimates of energy thresholds in the form of minimum energy requirements to reach high levels of development with output projections of per capita final energy supply from a group of integrated assessment models (IAMs). Scenarios project that reductions of carbon emissions in developing countries will be achieved not only by means of decreasing the carbon intensity, but also by making a significant break with the historically observed relationship between energy use and economic growth. We discuss the feasibility of achieving, on time scales acceptable for developing countries, both decarbonization and the needed structural changes or efficiency improvements, concluding that the decreases in energy consumption implied in numerous mitigation scenarios are unlikely to be achieved without endangering sustainable development objectives. To underscore the importance of basic energy needs also in the future, the role of infrastructure is highlighted, using steel and cement as examples.
While notoriously inefficient, fuel subsidies are widespread, and in many cases politically stable. This paper discusses and models various political economy aspects of fuel subsidies, focusing on gasoline and kerosene. Both economic and political are considered to explain differences in subsidies, with particular focus on democratic and autocratic governments. A political process is modeled whereby a promise of low fuel prices is used in democracies to attract voters, and in autocracies to mobilize support among key groups. Subsidies to fuels are viewed as either easier to observe, easier to commit to, easier to deliver, or better targeted at core groups, than other public goods or favors offered by rulers. Easier commitment and delivery than for regular public goods can explain the high prevalence of such policies in autocracies, and also in young democracies where the capacity to commit to or deliver complex public goods is not yet fully developed. The analysis provides a framework for empirical testing and verification.
We document a U-shaped relationship between income inequality and carbon dioxide emissions per capita, using a newly available panel data set on income inequality (GINI) with observations for 138 countries over the period 1960–2008. Our findings suggest that, for high-income countries with high income inequality, pro-poor growth and reduced per capita emissions levels go hand in hand.
We study the determinants of households’ choices of lighting fuels in Kenya including the option of using solar home systems (SHS). Our goal is to add new evidence on the factors that influence the introduction and adoption of decentralized and less carbon-intensive energy sources in developing countries, and, more generally, to the empirical debate on the energy ladder. We capitalize on a unique representative survey on energy use and sources from Kenya, one of the few relatively well-established SHS markets in the world. Our results reveal some very interesting patterns of the fuel transition in the context of lighting fuel choices. While we find clear evidence for a cross-sectional energy ladder, the income threshold for modern fuel use – including solar energy use – to move beyond traditional and transitional fuels is very high. Income and education turn out to be key determinants of SHS adoption, but we also find a very pronounced effect of SHS clustering, i.e. the prevalence of SHS systems in the proximity of a potential user increases the likelihood of adoption. In addition, we do not find a negative correlation between grid access and SHS use.
Africa is well endowed with potential for hydro and solar power, but its other endowments – shortages of capital, skills, and governance capacity – make most of the green options relatively expensive, while its abundance of hydro-carbons makes fossil fuels relatively cheap. Current power shortages make expansion of power capacity a priority. Africa’s endowments, and the consequent scarcities and relative prices, are not immutable and can be changed to bring opportunity costs in Africa closer to those in the rest of the world. The international community can support by increasing Africa’s supply of the scarce factors of capital, skills, and governance.
Policies to protect the global climate offer an effective entry point
for achieving society's multiple objectives for energy sustainability.
This study reviews different approaches to the political and economic control of global public goods such as global warming.
It compares quantity-oriented control mechanisms like the Kyoto Protocol with price-type control mechanisms such as internationally
harmonized carbon taxes. The analysis focuses on such issues as the relationship to ultimate targets, performance under conditions
of uncertainty, volatility of induced carbon prices, the inefficiencies of taxation and regulation, potential for corruption
and accounting finagling, and ease of implementation. It concludes that price-type approaches such as carbon taxes have major
advantages for slowing global warming.
In this paper, a difference-in-differences estimator on panel data for 30 developing and 21 industrialized countries is employed over the period 1971–2005 to examine how patterns of energy use (characterized by the consumption of primary energy carriers, sectoral energy use and carbon emissions) are changing in the process of economic development. For the average developing country in our sample, the results indicate that economic catch-up has been accompanied by above-average growth of the use of most primary energy carriers, the consumption of final energy in most sectors and total CO2 emissions. For industrialized countries, we find that economic growth is partially decoupled from energy consumption and that above average rates of economic growth were accompanied by larger improvements in energy efficiency. These results emphasize the need to identify the relevant engines of economic growth, their implications for energy use and possibilities to achieve low-carbon growth centered on productivity and efficiency improvements rather than on capital accumulation.
