International and Regional Approaches to Low Carbon Development

Padmashree Gehl SampathChief

Science and Technology Section,Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD

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How do we reduce energy poverty while mitigating climate change?

•Can the challenge of reducing energy poverty and mitigating climate change be tackled jointly.

• There is a new urgency to explore the role of technologies and innovation capabilities from four different perspectives:

• Energy perspective• Climate change perspective• Development perspective• Equity and inclusiveness perspective

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The world resizedU

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Territory size is proportional to the percentage of world electricity production that occurs there.

The role of RETs in alleviating energy poverty is growing…

•Over 20% of global population had no access to energy (1.8 billion people) in 2010, mostly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

•RETs offer new hope to these countries because:

• They can be combined with conventional energy sources.

• Through mini-grid or off-grid applications, they can reach poor local communities who cannot be connected by grid.

•RETs based on wind, solar and biomass are already being deployed increasingly globally and in developing countries.

•Projections show significant increase by 2030.

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Global electricity supply by energy source, 2011 U

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Fossil fuels: 67.6%

Hydropower: 16.1%

Other renewables (non-hydro): 3.3%

Nuclear: 13.0%

But low carbon technologies and their potential is different for different countries

- Grid capacity is an issue that is not only technical (because of intermittency), its financial and systemic.- For the LDCs and a large number of developing countries, leapfrogging will

depend eventually on grid capacity.- Other developing countries are faced with a similar constraint.

- Low technological capabilities limit to a large extent, low carbon development in sectors other than energy.

Technological capacity in developing countries is fairlyheterogeneous…

To promote low carbon development, national governments will need to tip the balance in favor by…

• Specific policy support targeted at RETs :

– To substitute current patterns to more RETs based one (i.e. through government agencies, specific RE programmes, etc)

– To make RETS viable solutions– To enable enterprise development in and through RETs– Capabilities building? Systematically and not through projects.

• Ensure that each time investment is made into generating low carbon technologies, not only is there a shift in the energy base, it impacts on the ability of these technologies to generate energy economically. – easier said than done.

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Particularly, the international discourse needs to be framed more positively…

• …with a focus on climate change and energy poverty.

• Central to the repositioning is the triangular relationship between: equity, development and environment.

• Obligations for mitigation of climate change should be framed equally in terms of creating developmental opportunities for all.

• This means a commensurate focus on energy access within the international technology discourse with financing and investment measures.

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The international financial support needs to be strengthened and targeted:

• Currently energy and RETs financing is not an explicit agenda within ongoing international negotiations on climate change.

• Three areas of international policy are critical to align international and national arenas: 1) financing 2) technology transfer and diffusion and 3) the green economy and Rio+20.

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The international financial support needs to be strengthened and targeted:

• On the question of financing :• Estimations of climate change adaptation and

mitigation outdo by far the existing available commitment of resources.

• Renewable energy financing is not a priority in the international discourse.

• The role of the private sector in a large range of developing countries needs to be strengthened.

• Particularly, large projects exist and smaller ventures, but enterprises at the mid-level for product and process development need to be supported.

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Important issues with the funding arrangements:

• All are multi-year commitments, whereas forecasts are per annum.• Several of the largest sources of funds are slated to cover both

mitigation and adaptation. • Finally, the commitments made under the Cancun Agreements are

valuable, but the long-term $100 billion dollar benchmark is a commitment to mobilize that amount of money, from both private and public funds, and we do not have a clear idea yet of what the respective portions will be.

• Also, those funds cover both adaptation and mitigation and some of these funds are not yet available.

• All these caveats taken into consideration, the total amount of per annum funding for RETs from public sources is likely in the neighborhood of $5 billion from the known sources.

Important issues with the funding arrangements (contd):

• If the full Cancun Agreement funding levels are reached, they will contribute some percentage of $100 billion to government support of RETs.

• This compares to estimates of needed investment that range from a low of about $150 billion to a high of $750 billion by 2030.

The international financial support needs to be strengthened and targeted:

• Technology transfer and diffusion• Many RETs are off patent, but cannot be accessed due to

lack of absorptive capacity and information.• Trends show increasing patenting in clean energy which

may impact further on access to RETs in the future.

• The green economy and Rio+20 • Concern is that market based standards (carbon

footprinting and border carbon adjustments) should not be used in ways that are inimical to developing countries.

• How to support industries to make the transition? • Move from ‘common and differential responsibilities’ to

‘common concern for all’: what does this imply for the LCD discourse?

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Targeted mechanisms are required to promote technological development in a large number of countries

• Diffusion of LCD technologies involves much more than simply transferring technological hardware. It is much more than simply making technologies available.

• In the specific context of RETs, keeping in mind the current difficulties in technological learning, the Technology and Innovation Report 2011 proposes four international support mechanisms:

• An International Innovation Centre for LDCs, with a RET-specific focus• Regional Research Funds for RETs Deployment and Demonstration• An International Technology Transfer Fund for RETs• An International Training Platform for RETs

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Several policy instruments are important for RETs….

• Innovation policy based:– Clusters, green economic zones, research grants– Flexibilities in the intellectual property regime

• Renewable energy based:– National renewable energy targets and strategies– Renewable portfolio standards and feed in tariff policies

(Philippines and Kenya)– Training programs for RETs (Botswana and Bangladesh)– Elimination of conventional subsidies (with social safety nets)

Regional Approaches

• South- South Collaboration

• Political initiatives and platforms, including BRICS Summit and the newly announced BRICS Bank.

• Scientific collaboration as opposed to technological learning: how to promote innovation capabilities systematically?

• The UNFCCC Climate Technology Mechanism• New thinking on innovation capabilities and technological

learning• Could lead to a shift in focus from projects to capabilities

building, but more geared towards countries at lower levels of development.

What is needed:

• Better integration of policy and research in this area.

• Articulation of technological and financial implications of the low carbon development agenda for countries at different stages of development.

• Articulation of ‘external’ versus ‘internal’ constraints to innovation.

• Trade and technological change are intricately linked. • Trade rules will have an impact on opportunities and sustainable

development, particularly in the context of the green economy.• Who has the ‘green advantages’? How to enable these green rents across

all countries?

THANK YOU

www.unctad.org

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