Pro-poor, low carbon development: improving low carbon energy access and development benefits in least developed countries (LDCs)

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Low-carbon innovation for industrial sectors in developing countries

Low-carbon innovation in industrial sectors in developing countries presents economic opportunities that can help realise sustainable development pathways. Under business-as-usual, industries being established in developing countries are likely to move along carbon-intensive or inefficient pathways, increasing greenhouse gas emissions in the short term and the likelihood of establishing high-carbon lock-in over the longer term. However, there is a wealth of evidence from industrialisation experiences around the world demonstrating the kinds of strategies that make it possible to take advantage of low-carbon opportunities to instead create climate-compatible development pathways. This policy brief aims to illuminate potential pathways and policy actions for low-carbon innovation in emerging industry sectors in developing countries. It focusses, firstly, on the low-carbon and energy efficiency gains that are possible in energy-intensive manufacturing. Secondly, the brief explores opportunities for developing countries to insert themselves into global low-carbon value chains by developing manufacturing capacity in energy-supply technologies. The brief ends with policy recommendations that could be enacted at both the national and international levels, making use of existing institutions as well as learning from the literature on past industrialisation experiences

Low carbon technology transfer: lessons from India and China

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Developing networks for the low carbon energy future

This paper discusses various issues associated with the development and operation of networks to facilitate and transfer energy derived from low carbon sources such as renewables, nuclear power and burning of fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage. It starts by briefly describing the limitations of present day networks before moving on to discuss the likely features of a network for low carbon energy and how it should be developed and operated, the facilitation of new connections to the network, the roles of the network licensees, the key technologies and the support of innovation and, before drawing some overall conclusions, some lessons that can be learned from other countrie

Low-carbon technology for the rising middle class

This policy brief will discuss the role of local and international technology and innovation policies for low-carbon development of the rising middle class in developing countries. Although a large segment of the population of most developing countries remains severely deprived, most developing countries also have a significant and growing part of the population that could be a feasible target for low-carbon policies. In addition to how industrialised countries decide to reduce their emissions, a major determinant of the carbon intensity of the world economy and our collective ability to stay below 2°C global mean temperature rise, is how the rising middle class in developing countries will develop – along a low-carbon or a higher-carbon pathway. If this rising middle class could embark on a lower-carbon consumption pathway, for instance in their electricity use, their transportation demand and modes, their eating habits and other consumption patterns, this could structurally avoid a considerable amount of greenhouse gas emissions and yield other social, environmental and health benefits. As strong carbon policies incentivising such pathways are unlikely to happen soon in developing countries, technology policies can provide a solution, given they can be aimed at consumption patterns of the rising middle class specifically. This paper makes several case-based recommendations that can put those in developing countries that benefit from a more sustainable lifestyle on a low-carbon development path

Low-carbon energy governance : scenarios to accelerate the change in the energy matrix in Ecuador

Producción CientíficaThis article describes the results of a study of Ecuador’s energy status, using the system dynamics methodology to model supply, demand and CO2 emissions scenarios for the year 2030. Primary energy production increased in the different projected scenarios, with oil as the most important source of energy. The increase observed in final energy consumption was mainly associated with the transport and industry sectors. A reduction in energy intensity was projected for the different scenarios, which could be associated with the projected economic growth. The results obtained were used to build a proposal for energy policies aimed at mitigating emissions. The proposed changes to the national energy matrix could be the factors that will contribute most to the achievement of carbon emission reductions projected by the different scenarios; changes in the energy matrix are mainly associated with the development of projects to replace fossil fuels with renewable energies, mainly hydropower

Low-carbon energy: a roadmap

Technologies available today, and those expected to become competitive over the next decade, will permit a rapid decarbonization of the global energy economy. New renewable energy technologies, combined with a broad suite of energy-efficiency advances, will allow global energy needs to be met without fossil fuels and by adding only minimally to the cost of energy services The world is now in the early stages of an energy revolution that over the next few decades could be as momentous as the emergence of oiland electricity-based economies a century ago. Double-digit market growth, annual capital flows of more than $100 billion, sharp declines in technology costs, and rapid progress in the sophistication and effectiveness of government policies all herald a promising new energy era. Advanced automotive, electronics, and buildings systems will allow a substantial reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, at negative costs once the savings in energy bills is accounted for. The savings from these measures can effectively pay for a significant portion of the additional cost of advanced renewable energy technologies to replace fossil fuels, including wind, solar, geothermal, and bioenergy. Resource estimates indicate that renewable energy is more abundant than all of the fossil fuels combined, and that well before mid-century it will be possible to run most national electricity systems with minimal fossil fuels and only 10 percent of the carbon emissions they produce today. The development of smart electricity grids, the integration of plug-in electric vehicles, and the addition of limited storage capacity will allow power to be provided without the baseload plants that are the foundation of today's electricity systems. Recent climate simulations conclude that CO2 emissions will need to peak within the next decade and decline by at least 50 to 80 percent by 2050. This challenge will be greatly complicated by the fact that China, India, and other developing countries are now rapidly developing modern energy systems. The only chance of slowing the buildup of CO2 concentrations soon enough to avoid catastrophic climate change that could take centuries to reverse is to transform the energy economies of industrial and developing countries almost simultaneously. This would have seemed nearly impossible a few years ago, but since then, the energy policies and markets of China and India have begun to change rapidly -- more rapidly than those in many industrial countries. Renewable and efficiency technologies will allow developing countries to increase their reliance on indigenous resources and reduce their dependence on expensive and unstable imported fuelsAround the world, new energy systems could become a huge engine of industrial development and job creation, opening vast new economic opportunities. Developing countries have the potential to "leapfrog" the carbon-intensive development path of the 20th century and go straight to the advanced energy systems that are possible today. Improved technology and high energy prices have created an extraordinarily favorable market for new energy systems over the past few years. But reaching a true economic tipping point will require innovative public policies and strong political leadership

The Transition to a Low Carbon Economy: The Dynamics of Environmental Stakeholder Networks

The transition to a low carbon economy demands new strategies for maintaining competitiveness and benefiting from ‘green growth’. A network of stakeholders offers opportunities for, as well as constraints to, organisational growth and successful low carbon strategies. This multiple-case study explores the relational dynamics between the case organisations and a range of stakeholders. We find that stakeholders with institutional power bases are seen as the most influential. Top management is also a critical stakeholder in providing stewardship for the organisation’s low carbon initiatives. The study highlights the growing influence of customers upon the success of business strategies aimed at exploiting low carbon opportunities. Intra- and inter-organisational strategy-making practices are emergent arenas for stakeholder management in the context of the low carbon economy