Feasible mitigation actions in developing countries

Jakob, Michael; Steckel, Jan Christoph; Klasen, Stephan; Lay, Jann; Grunewald, Nicole; Martínez‐Zarzoso, Inmaculada; Renner, Sebastian; Edenhofer, Ottmar

doi:10.1038/nclimate2370

Cited by 99 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…An incentive for switching to alternative sources of energy could lie in policy objectives other than climate policy, such as those addressing local air pollution, energy security, and energy access (22). In a meta-analysis of air quality cobenefits, Nemet et al (23) found that emission reductions would yield mean health cobenefits of US$49 per ton of CO 2 (tCO 2 ) (with a range of US$2-196 per tCO 2 , the highest cobenefits being seen in developing countries).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers for the renaissance of coal

Steckel

Edenhofer

Jakob

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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115

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Coal was central to the industrial revolution, but in the 20th century it increasingly was superseded by oil and gas. However, in recent years coal again has become the predominant source of global carbon emissions. We show that this trend of rapidly increasing coal-based emissions is not restricted to a few individual countries such as China. Rather, we are witnessing a global renaissance of coal majorly driven by poor, fast-growing countries that increasingly rely on coal to satisfy their growing energy demand. The low price of coal relative to gas and oil has played an important role in accelerating coal consumption since the end of the 1990s. In this article, we show that in the increasingly integrated global coal market the availability of a domestic coal resource does not have a statistically significant impact on the use of coal and related emissions. These findings have important implications for climate change mitigation: If future economic growth of poor countries is fueled mainly by coal, ambitious mitigation targets very likely will become infeasible. Building new coal power plant capacities will lead to lock-in effects for the next few decades. If that lock-in is to be avoided, international climate policy must find ways to offer viable alternatives to coal for developing countries. Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emission to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system (1), global emissions have continued to rise steadily. Since 1971 global annual energy-related CO 2 emissions have more than doubled (Fig. 1A). In recent years emission growth has accelerated further, interrupted only briefly during the recent economic crisis. Assessments of the factors driving these developments using the Kaya* identity have identified growing per-capita incomes, especially in developing and newly industrializing countries, as the dominant reason for rising emissions (2, 3). [The Kaya* identity decomposes changes in emissions into changes in population, percapita income, the energy intensity of gross domestic product (GDP), and the carbon intensity of energy production. See Steckel et al. (2) for further information.] However, the growing carbon intensity of energy production (i.e., the amount of emissions generated to produce one unit of energy) also has played an important role, and the increased use of coal has been particularly important (2). Coal consumption not only has risen in line with a growing global economy but has outpaced the growth of total energy use. Although coal was central to the industrial revolution (4), it increasingly was superseded by oil and gas in the 20th century. With these recent developments, however, coal again has become the most important source of energy-related emissions on the global scale (Fig. 1B).The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (5) identifies the replacement of coalfired power plants by less carbon-intensive energy technologies as one of the most cost-efficient options...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers for the renaissance of coal

Steckel

Edenhofer

Jakob

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

115

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“…Under Workstream 2, FFSR can contribute significantly to increasing pre-2020 ambition-especially because it is a measure that is ready and available to be deployed today. 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. IEA (2013) points to FFSR as one of the 4-for-2°C policy options for reducing emissions from the energy sector.…”

Section: Consumer Subsidies To Fossil Fuels and Ghg Emissions Reductimentioning

confidence: 99%

Fossil-Fuel Subsidies and Climate Change

Merrill¹,

Harris²,

Casier³

et al. 2015

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“…Existing and future climate flows have been investigated by a number of authors (see Ampri et al, 2014;Bowen, Campiglio, & Tavoni, 2014;Clapp, Ellis, & Corfee-Morlot, 2012;Jakob et al, 2014;Jürgens et al, 2012;Kirkman, Seres, & Haites, 2013;Olbrisch, Haites, Savage, Dadhich, & Shrivastava, 2011). A challenge only very recently addressed has been the lack of a common set of guidelines and definitions to ensure consistency between estimates (World Bank, 2015).…”

Section: The Landscape Of Climate Finance: a Top-down Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the case for low-carbon investment through bottom-up assessments of city-scale opportunities

et al. 2015

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(2017) Understanding the case for low-carbon investment through bottom-up assessments of city-scale opportunities, Climate Policy, 17:3, 299-313, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2015 A growing body of literature suggests that an economic case may exist for investment in large-scale climate change mitigation. At the same time, however, investment is persistently falling well short of the levels required to prevent dangerous climate change, suggesting that economically attractive mitigation opportunities are being missed. To understand whether and where these opportunities exist, this article contrasts macro-level analyses of climate finance with micro-level bottom-up analyses of the scale and composition of low-carbon investment opportunities in four case study developing world cities. This analysis finds that there are significant opportunities to redirect existing finance streams towards more cost-effective, lower-carbon options. This would mobilize substantial new investment in climate mitigation. Two key explanations are proposed for the failure to exploit these opportunities. First, the composition of cost-effective measures is highly context-specific, varying from place to place and sector to sector. Macro-level analyses of climate finance flows are therefore poor indicators of the micro-level landscape for low-carbon investment. Specific local research is therefore needed to understand the opportunities for cost-effective mitigation at that level. Second, many opportunities require enabling governance arrangements that are not currently in place. Mobilizing new lowcarbon investment and closing the 'climate finance gap' therefore requires attention to policy frameworks and financing mechanisms that can facilitate the exploitation of cost-effective low-carbon options. Policy relevanceThe importance of increasing investment in climate mitigation, especially in developing nations, is well established. This article scrutinizes four city-level studies of the scope for cost-effective low-carbon investment, and finds that significant opportunities are not being exploited in developing world cities. Enabling governance structures may help to mainstream climate considerations into investments by local actors (households, businesses and government agencies). While climate finance distributed through international bodies such as the Green Climate Fund may not always be a suitable vehicle to invest directly in disaggregated, local-level measures, it can provide the incentives to develop these governance arrangements.

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Feasible mitigation actions in developing countries

Cited by 99 publications

References 71 publications

Drivers for the renaissance of coal

Drivers for the renaissance of coal

Fossil-Fuel Subsidies and Climate Change

Understanding the case for low-carbon investment through bottom-up assessments of city-scale opportunities

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