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1.1 Module 1 Introduction to Mitigation Under the UNFCCC a. The science of climate change. b. Definition and scope of mitigation c. Contributions of IPCC Working Group 3 (WG3) on mitigation in the Third Assessment Report (TAR). d. The UNFCCC Guidelines on mitigation assessment. e. The potential benefits of mitigation f. Interactions between mitigation and development g. Integrating mitigation and adaptation

Module 1 - UNFCCC

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Page 1: Module 1 - UNFCCC

1.1

Module 1Introduction to Mitigation Under

the UNFCCCa. The science of climate change.b. Definition and scope of mitigationc. Contributions of IPCC Working Group 3 (WG3) on

mitigation in the Third Assessment Report (TAR).d. The UNFCCC Guidelines on mitigation assessment.e. The potential benefits of mitigation f. Interactions between mitigation and developmentg. Integrating mitigation and adaptation

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Module 1a

The Science of Climate Change

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Our Atmosphere is Changing

• During the last century, the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and their radiative forcing have continued to rise as a result of human activities.

• Global average surface temperatures have increased by about 0.6 °C.

• Global average sea level has risen and ocean heat content has increased.

• “The balance of evidence suggests a discernable human influence on global climate” (IPCC, SAR, 1995)

• “There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities” (IPCC, TAR, 2001)

• CO2 Concentrations and Global Average Temperatures Will Continue to Rise

• Pre-industrial level: 280 ppm

• Current level: 360 ppm

• Level in 2100: ~700 ppm with large uncertainty

Source: IPCC, 2001

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Some Expected Impacts• Sea level projected to rise 0.09 to 0.88m by 2100 with significant regional variations.• Extreme weather events are projected to increase.• Impacts on biodiversity generally negative.• Socioeconomic systems could show net economic benefits for small amounts of

warming, but potentially large negative impacts under greater warming.• Increased water availability in some water-scarce regions, but decreased water

availability in many water scarce regions.• Initially increased agricultural productivity in some mid-latitude regions, but decreased

in the tropics and sub-tropics.• Significant disruptions of ecosystems from fire, drought, pest infestation, species

invasion, etc.• Changes in productivity and composition of ecological systems, with coral reefs,

boreal forests, arctic and montane regions being particularly vulnerable.• Increased risk of floods, potentially displacing tens of millions of people.• Increased incidence of heat stress mortality, and vector-borne diseases.• Some impacts effectively irreversible over many generations (thermohaline

circulation, Ice sheets, migration of plant species). Thermohaline disruption is uncertain, but ice sheet melt and plant species migration are highly probable.

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Developing Countries are the Most Vulnerable to Climate

Change• Impacts are worse - already more flood and

drought prone and a large share of the economy is in climate sensitive sectors.

• Lower capacity to adapt because of a lack of financial, institutional and technological capacity and access to knowledge

• Impacts disproportionately upon the poorest countries and the poorest people, exacerbating inequities in health status and access to adequate food, clean water and other resources.

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Adaptation• Has the potential to reduce adverse effects of

climate change and can produce ancillary benefits, but cannot prevent all damages.

• Numerous adaptation options have been identified that can reduce adverse and enhance beneficial impacts of climate change.

• Greater and more rapid climate change would pose greater challenges for adaptation.

• Lower levels of future GHG concentrations will make the adaptation challenge easier.

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Stabilization of atmospheric CO2 will require significant emissions

reductions

Source: IPCC

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Energy Sector CO2 Emissions in 2000

0

5

10

15

20

25

World NA1 ROW

Billi

on T

ons

CO2

_

OtherResidentialIndustryTransportElectricity

Source: IEA

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Industrialized countries have emitted the most anthropogenic CO2

(Area proportional to historical CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, 1900-1999)

Source: WRI

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2035 total emission estimate: 11.71 billion tons of carbon

1995 total emissions: 6.46 billion tons of carbon

In the future, the share of global GHG emissions from NA1 parties will

increase

Source: OSTP

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70% of global N20 emissions from artificial fertilizers

50% of global methane emissions from enteric fermentation and rice paddies

Agricultural Sector

Contributes 20% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions

5% of global CO2

emissions from fossil fuel consumption and biomass burning

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Solid Waste and Waste Water Disposal1990 Emissions: 50-80 Mt CH4

Methane emissions are due to anaerobic digestion of organic material in landfills and sewage effluent.

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Forest SectorTotal CO2 Emissions from Deforestation and Land-Use Changes:

0.5-2.5 GtC

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Module 1b

Definition and Scope of Mitigation Assessment

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Definitions• Mitigation is defined as any anthropogenic

interventions that can either reduce the sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (abatement) or enhance their sinks (sequestration).

• In the context of the UNFCCC, a mitigation assessment is a national-level analysis of the various technologies and practices that have the capacity to mitigate climate change.

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Time-Frame• Need to examine long-run

opportunities for reducing carbon sources or enhancing sinks, bearing in mind the life-times of various appliances and systems.

• Rate of technological change is closely related to the lifetime of capital stock.

Motor vehicles 12 – 20 years

Nuclear 30 – 60 years

Coal power 45+ yrs

Hydro 75+ yrs

Gas turbines 25+ years

Buildings 45+++ years

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Scope• Includes energy demand and supply,

forestry, agriculture, rangelands and waste management.

• Includes analysis of the impact of options on the macro-economy.

• Considers policies and programs that can encourage adoption of mitigation technologies and practices

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Module 1c

The contributions of Working Group 3 (WG3) on mitigation in the IPCC Third Assessment

Report (TAR)

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Background on WG 3: Mitigation

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has three working groups:– WG I to assess the

Science of climate change– WG II to assess Impacts,

adaptation and vulnerability

– WG III to assess Mitigation of climate change

• WGIII was charged by the IPCC Plenary for the Panel’s Third Assessment Report (TAR) to assess the scientific, technical, environmental, economic, and social aspects of the mitigation of climate change.

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Major Topics Covered in WGIII Report on Mitigation

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Scenarios• Technological and Economic Potential of Mitigation

Options• Technological and Economic Potential of Sinks• Barriers, Opportunities, and Market Potential• Policies, Measures, and Instruments• Costing Methodologies• Global, Regional and National Costs and Ancillary

Benefits• Sectoral Costs and Ancillary Benefits of Mitigation• Decision Analytic Frameworks• Gaps in Knowledge

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Chapter 2: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Scenarios and

Implications• This chapter reviews three scenario literatures: general

mitigation scenarios produced since the SAR, narrative-based scenarios found in the general futures literature, and mitigation scenarios based on the new “SRES” scenarios.

• In addition, it provides recommendations for future research, including the need for more explicit analysis of policy instruments leading to mitigation, inclusion of other GHGs than CO2, and capacity building for scenario analyses in developing countries.

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Chapter 2: GHG Emissions Scenarios

• Scenarios represent plausible future worlds with particular economic, social and environmental characteristics

• Mitigation scenarios are usually defined as a description and a quantified projection of how GHG emissions can be reduced with respect to some baseline scenario.

• Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES): Four scenario families. Each family has a unifying theme in the form of a “storyline” or narrative that describes future demographic, social, economic, technological, and policy trends

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Qualitative Directions for SRES Scenarios

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Chapter 3: Technological and Economic Potential GHG Emissions

Reductions• Describes technologies and practices to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions in the end-use sectors of the economy as well as through changes in energy supply.

• Concludes that while there is significant potential for GHG emissions reductions in every sector considered, appropriate policies is required to realize the potential.

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Chapter 4: Options to Enhance, Maintain, and Manage Carbon

Sinks• Assesses biological and geo-

engineering mitigation measures to capture carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, focusing on the physical mitigation potential, ecological and environmental constraints, economics, and social considerations.

• Concludes that by 2010 mitigation in LULUCF activities can lead to significant mitigation of CO2 emissions while complementing other land management objectives. Geo-engineering is not ready for near-term application.

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Chapter 5: Barriers, Opportunities, and Market Potential of Technologies and

Practices• Discusses the barriers that slow the

transfer and penetration of technologies and practices that have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

• Also discusses theories and models to understand technological and social innovation and its drivers and implications.

• Topic addressed in Module 4.

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Chapter 6: Policies, Measures, and

Instruments • Examines the major types of policies and

measures that can be used to mitigate net GHG concentrations in the atmosphere.

• In addition to economic dimensions, political, economic, legal, and institutional elements are considered insofar as they are relevant to the discussion of policies and measures.

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Chapter 7: Costing Methodologies

• Addresses methodological issues that arise in the estimation of the monetary costs of climate change.

• The focus is on the correct assessment of the costs of mitigation measures to reduce the emissions of GHGs.

• Includes discussion of technologically rich bottom-up models and more aggregate top-down models, which link the energy sector to the rest of the economy.

• Concludes with recommendations for further research while contending that much progress has been made since the SAR.

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Chapter 8: Global, Regional, and National Costs and Ancillary Benefits of

Mitigation • Examines the literature on the costs of greenhouse gas

mitigation policies at the national, regional, and global levels.

• Net welfare gains or losses are reported, including (when available) the ancillary benefits of mitigation policies.

• These studies employ the full range of analytical tools described in Chapter 7.

• Concludes that the cost estimates of stabilizing atmospheric CO2 concentrations depend upon the concentration stabilization target, the emissions pathway to stabilization and the baseline scenario assumed.

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Chapter 9: Sector Costs and Ancillary Benefits of

Mitigation• Reviews the research on the cost implications

and ancillary benefits of mitigation strategies across sectors, including:– Top-down studies that capture general effects on the

economy and tend to consider price-driven policies such as carbon taxes rather than technology policies.

– Bottom-up studies that examine technology-driven options; and financial cost-benefit analyses of individual mitigation measures.

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Chapter 10: Decision-making Frameworks

• Provides a critical appraisal of policy-oriented analyses and summarizes the emerging insights in a form that allows policymakers to make informed judgments.

• Considers the special features of climate change in the context of how they affect decision-making in different frameworks.

• Suggests that mitigation, adaptation, and learning activities should be carefully crafted over time but that mitigation action at any level should start in the near term.

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Main WGIII Conclusions:Nature of the Mitigation

Challenge• Climate change is a problem with unique characteristics

– Global, long-term, involves complex interactions between climatic, environmental, economic, political, institutional, social, and technological processes

• Alternative development paths can result in very different GHG emissions (e.g., SRES)

• Climate change mitigation will both be affected by, and have impacts on, broader socio-economic policies and trends

• Differences in distribution of resources are key considerations (i.e., equity concerns)

• Lower emissions scenarios require different patterns of energy resource development

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Module 1d

The UNFCCC Guidelines on Mitigation Assessment

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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC)• Came into force in 1994; signed by over 150 countries.• Overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle climate change.  • Recognizes that climate is affected by anthropogenic emissions of GHGs.• Seeks “stabilization of GHG concentrations…at a level that would prevent

dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (Article 2)• Parties

– expected to “take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or minimize the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects” (Article 3).

– have “common but differentiated responsibilities” based on their national circumstances.

– gather and share information on GHG emissions, national policies and best practices.

– launch national strategies for addressing greenhouse emissions and adapting to expected impacts, including the provision of financial and technological support to developing countries. 

– cooperate in preparing for adaptation to the impacts of climate change.• The Conference of Parties (COP) is the highest decision-making authority of

the Convention.

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UNFCCC Parties• Annex I: members of OECD in 1992 + economies in transition (EIT).• Annex II: OECD members of Annex I. Required to provide financial

resources to enable developing countries to undertake emissions reduction activities and to help them adapt to adverse effects of climate change. Must also "take all practicable steps" to promote development & transfer of environmentally friendly technologies to EITs and developing countries.

• Non-Annex I (NA1) are mostly developing countries. – Certain countries recognized as being especially vulnerable to climate

change, including countries with low-lying coastal areas and those prone to desertification and drought. Others are more vulnerable to the potential economic impacts of climate change responses (e.g. fossil fuel exporting nations).

– The 48 least developed countries (LDCs), are given special consideration under the Convention on account of their limited capacity to respond to climate change and adapt to its adverse effects.

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Status of National Communications

• National communications have become an important tool for bringing climate change concerns to the attention of policy makers at the national level.

• In 2002, COP8 in India adopted a set of new and improved guidelines for national communications (17/CP.8).

• By July 2005, initial national communications had been presented to the COP by 125 NA1 parties, and second national communications had been presented by 3 NA1 parties.

• In the next phase of the Convention in which the focus is increasingly on implementation, national communications will become an important strategic tool to help countries align their interests and priorities to the overall goals of the Convention.

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Reporting Commitments• Article 4, p.1, and Article 12, p.1, of the convention

provide for each Party to report to the COP:– information on its emissions by sources and removals by sinks

of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol (greenhouse gas inventories);

– national or, where appropriate, regional programmes containing measures to mitigate, and to facilitate adequate adaptation to climate change (general description of steps taken or envisaged by the Party to implement the Convention);

– any other information that the Party considers relevant to the achievement of the objective of the Convention.

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Guidelines for National Communications

Preparation for non-Annex I Parties• Adopted in 2002, at COP8. Principal objectives:

– to assist NA1 Parties in meeting their reporting requirements; – to encourage the presentation of information in a consistent,

transparent, comparable and flexible manner;– to facilitate the presentation of information on support required

for the preparation of national communications;– to serve as policy guidance to the operating entity of the financial

mechanism of the Convention, for the timely provision of financial support needed by NA1 Parties in order to fulfill their reporting requirement;

– to ensure that the COP has sufficient information to carry out its responsibility for assessing the implementation of the Convention by Parties.

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Information to be Includedin NA1 Party National Communications• National inventory of anthropogenic emissions by

sources and removal by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol

• A general description of steps taken or envisaged by the Party to implement the Convention

• Any other information that the Party considers relevant to the achievement of the objective of the Convention and suitable for inclusion in its communication, including, if feasible, materials relevant for calculations of global emission trends.

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National Circumstances for NA1 Parties

• NA1 parties should provide a description of national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances, on the basis of which they will address climate change and its adverse impacts.– This may include information on geography, climate and economy which

may affect their ability to deal with mitigating and adapting to climate change, as well as information regarding specific needs and concerns arising from the adverse effects of climate change and/or the impact of the implementation of response measures.

• NA1 parties are encouraged to provide a summary of relevant information regarding their national circumstances, as appropriate, in tabular form.

• NA1 parties may provide a description of existing institutional arrangements relevant to the preparation of their national communications on a continuous basis.

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Mitigation Guidelines (1)• Each NA1 Party shall … communicate to the COP a general

description of steps taken or envisaged by the Party to implement the Convention, taking into account its common but differentiated responsibilities and its specific national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances. (25)

• NA1 Parties may provide information on programmes containing measures to mitigate climate change by addressing anthropogenic emission by sources and removals by sinks of all GHGs not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, and measures to facilitate adequate adaptation to climate change, following the provisions in these guidelines. (26)

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Mitigation Guidelines (2)• The extent to which developing country Parties will effectively

implement their commitment to communicate this information will depend on the effective implementation by developed country Parties of their commitments under the Convention relating to financial resources and transfer of technology. (27)

• Each Party shall provide to the COP information on … steps taken or envisaged for formulating, implementing, publishing and regularly updating national and, where appropriate, regional programmes containing measures to mitigate climate change … and any other information they consider to be relevant…. (37)

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Methodological Approaches for Mitigation

• Based on national circumstances, NA1 Parties are encouraged to use whatever methods are available and appropriate in order to formulate and prioritize programmes containing measures to mitigate climate change; this should be done within the framework of sustainable development objectives, which should include social, economic and environmental factors. (38)

• In their assessment of these programmes on various sectors of the economy, NA1 Parties may use the appropriate technical resources. (39)– Such as Technologies, Policies and Measures for Mitigating Climate

Change (IPCC Technical Paper I); GHG Mitigation Assessment: A Guidebook by the US Country Studies Program; Climate Change 2001: Mitigation (Contribution of Working Group III to the Third Assessment Report of the IPCC).

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Reporting• Based on national circumstances, NA1 Parties are

encouraged to provide, to the extent their capacities allow, information on programmes and measures implemented or planned which contribute to mitigating climate change by addressing anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all GHGs not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, including, as appropriate, relevant information by key sectors on methodologies, scenarios, results, measures and institutional arrangements.

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Module 1e

Potential Benefits of Mitigation Activities

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• Primary: GHG emissions abatement: reducing global climate change.

• Co-benefits: non-climate benefits explicitly incorporated into the creation of GHG mitigation policies.

• Ancillary benefits: side-effects that arise subsequent to any proposed mitigation policy:– E.g. reductions in local and regional air pollution,

associated with the reduction of fossil fuels, and indirect effects on issues such as transportation, agriculture, land use practices, biodiversity preservation, employment, income and fuel security.

The Benefits of GHG Mitigation

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Mitigation Could Provide Local Benefits…

• Local environmental protection.• Poverty alleviation• Reduce fossil fuel consumption• Improve technological base.• Increase in technological efficiency and effectiveness,• Improvements in the security and availability of power

supply.• Reduction in road congestion with a shift from private to

public transport.• Increase in employment resulting from mitigation

projects. • Strengthening of institutional, systemic and human

capacity.

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• Global, regional and country level.• Short, medium and long term.• Scope of the approach: general

(aggregated) benefit and sector benefit

• Identification of key benefit by sectors: energy and non energy.

Potential Levels and Scope

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Some Key Challenges• Identification, estimation and valuation of

mitigation benefits.• Relation between mitigation and

sustainable development

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• Global: Kyoto Protocol.• Country level : emissions, carbon, or energy taxes,

subsidies, deposit-refund systems, voluntary agreements, permits (tradable and non-tradable), technology and performance standards, product bans, direct government spending, including R&D investment.

• Regional level: tradable quotas, joint implementation, clean development mechanism, harmonized emissions, carbon or energy taxes, quotas, international technology and product standards, voluntary agreements, and direct international transfers of financial resources and technology.

Different Tools, Policies, Measures and Instruments

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Module 1f

Interactions between mitigation and development

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The Challenge:• Poverty: 1.3 billion people live on less than $1 per day and 3 billion people on

less than $2 per day. Top 20% income group uses 86% of resources, while bottom 20% uses under 1.3%

• Food: 800 million people malnourished today -- food production needs to double in the next 35 years

• Water: 1.3 billion people without clean water; 2 billion without sanitation• Energy: 2 billion people without electricity• Environment: 1.4 billion people exposed to dangerous levels of outdoor

pollution and even larger number exposed to dangerous levels of indoor air pollution and vector-borne diseases

• Shelter: many live in areas susceptible to civil strife, environmental degradation, and natural disasters

Development will be Undermined by Climate Change

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Developing Countries are the Most Vulnerable to Climate Change

• Impacts disproportionately on the poorest countries and people, who have contributed least to GHG emissions: exacerbates inequities in health status and access to adequate food, clean water and other resources.

• Net effects negative in most developing countries, but mixed for developed countries for warming up to a few ºC. – A warming of greater than a few ºC is likely to result in net effects

becoming negative for most countries

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Emerging Viewpoint

Climate Change

Development

`Integrated CC-SD

Strategy

Former Viewpoint

Climate Change

Development

An integrated climate change-sustainable development strategy is essential

Source: Adapted from Munasinghe, 2005

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Rad

i ati v

eFo

rcin

g

Climate

System

Feedbacks

Human and

Natural Systems

Human Actions Causing GHG Emissions

Climate Domain Sustainable Development Domain

FeedbacksDifferent

Socio-economic

Development

PathsMiti

g atio

n

AtmosphericGHG Emission

and Concentration

Scenarios

Climate Change Stresses

Ada

ptat

ion

AdaptiveCapacity

MitigativeCapacity

Econ. Soc. Envir.

Non

-clim

ate

Stre

sses

Feedbacks

Feedbacks

Feed

back

s

Source: Munasinghe, 2005

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CO2 and Development

Other sectorsNon-road transportRoad transportManufacturingEnergy industriesHeat and power

USACanada

UK

Germany

PolandFrance

Japan

Australia

OECD

20’000

Indonesia

Venezuela

Brazil

South Africa

Nigeria

Mozambique

Russia

China

PakistanIndia

Non-OECD

5000

10’000

Emissions by sector, kg CO2 per

capita per year (2001)

Source: WBCSD 2005

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Goals of Energy Development

• access to clean energy services– 1.6 billion people do not consume any

electricity, and very little kerosene or LPG– Household energy consumption is 212

kgoe/cap (compared to 651 kgoe/cap in industrialized countries); about 25% comes from biomass used traditionally

• quality of the local environment– Indoor air pollution kills 2 million women

and children prematurely– Only 15% of cities in developing countries

have acceptable urban air quality

Energy sector development focuses on enhancing:

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Energy and Poverty• The poor typically spend a greater fraction of

their income on indispensable energy services, such as cooking, than do the rich.

• At the same time, they frequently forgo (or compromise severely on) services like lighting and space heating that require energy carriers (e.g., electricity) and devices (e.g., fluorescent lights) to which they either don’t have access, or whose first costs tend to be unaffordable.

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Goals of Energy Development

• economic productivity– Non-household energy intensity in

developing countries is 0.36 kgoe/$-GDP (compared to 0.19 kgoe/$-GDP in industrialized countries)

– Competitiveness and opportunity costs of supply expansion drive energy efficiency initiatives

• security of energy supply– Energy imports are a large fraction of

exports– Volatility in international prices leads

to macroeconomic instability

Energy sector development focuses on enhancing:

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Module 1g

Integrating Mitigation and Adaptation

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Integrating Mitigation and Adaptation

• UNFCCC identifies two separate options for addressing climate change: mitigation and adaptation.

• There are increasing calls to better integrate these two fields.

• Because of long lag times in the climate system, no mitigation efforts will be able to prevent climate change.

• Conversely, reliance on adaptation alone would lead to a large magnitude of climate change, to which it would be very expensive to adapt.

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Synergies• Synergies exist when measures that control GHG

concentrations also reduce adverse climate impacts.– E.g. urban tree planting provides both sequestration and reduces heat

stress.

• Significant downside of placing too much focus on seeking synergies:– Implementation of synergistic measures can involve great institutional

complexity– Opportunities for synergistic measures are probably very limited

compared to the overall challenges of each field.– Many synergistic measures may not be a wise investment in terms of

mitigation and adaptation benefits.– Risks that activities will be labeled as both mitigation and adaptation

activities to make them more attractive for funding – thereby diminishing overall effectiveness of how climate funds are spent.

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Mixing Mitigation and Adaptation

• Seeking an “optimal” mix of activities may be a poor approach given uncertainties about climate change and the widely differing interests, values and preferences of stakeholders.

• Seeking robustness is probably a better approach to decision making.

• “Mainstreaming” is an emerging approach that seeks to integrate policies and measures that address climate change into ongoing sectoral and development planning and decision making: so as ensure long-term sustainability and reduce vulnerability to both current and future climate.

• Currently, institutions are not well adapted to support this type of integrated approach.

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Possible Topics for Discussion

• What is the proper role of mitigation in the development plans of the least developed countries?

• What are the differences between pursuing mitigation and adaptation policies?

• What is the role of the U.N. National Communications Support Programme (NCSP)?