Rising energy demand and efforts to address climate change require a significant increase in low-carbon electricity generation. Yet, concern has been raised that rapid investment in some novel technologies could cause a new set of environmental problems.
This is a summary of the key findings of the International Resource Panel (IRP) report Green Energy Choices: The Benefits, Risks and Trade-Offs of Low-Carbon Technologies for Electricity Production which aims to support policy-makers in making choices about the technologies, infrastructures and energy sources. It does so through an analysis of the mainstream commercially available renewable and non-renewable power generation technologies3, analysing their GHG mitigation potential, but also tradeoffs in terms of: Environmental impacts (impacts on ecosystems, eutrophication and acidification, etc.) Human health impacts (particulates and toxicity) Resource use implications (iron, copper, aluminium, cement, energy, water and land).
Costa Rica is regarded by many as an economic and environmental success story, with an admirable record of ‘green growth’—economic growth that minimizes pollution and uses and manages resources efficiently. Yet Costa Rica is also a victim of its own success: its leadership in some areas may have blinded it to its green growth gaps. As Costa Rica approaches a crossroads in its economic and environmental journey, its choices could provide the model for others to follow.
This report looks at concrete results of green growth in Costa Rica, rather than listing policies and projects. It examines the root causes of under-performance, the synergies between the country’s economy and environment and prospects for future progress in both domains. Finally it highlights the deep structural challenges to the organisation of Costa’s Rica’s economy, and it suggests some ‘quick wins’ that will propel Costa Rica towards long-term approaches to better align its economic and environmental performance.
This report is also available in Spanish, which can be downloaded here.
The role of fiscal instruments in supporting action on climate change is increasingly recognized. A number of climate related fiscal instruments have been adopted across the world including taxes or charges on fossil fuel energy, carbon pricing mechanisms, fossil fuel subsidy reforms, fiscal incentives and subsidies for renewable energy. Fiscal policy reforms play an important role in ensuring effective and efficient action on climate change. This briefing paper summarizes recent work carried out on the topic by the Green Fiscal Policy Network, and offers reflections from Network members on how fiscal policy reforms can support action on climate change.
This paper provides a regional, empirical analysis of policy portfolios that aim to contribute towards a ‘Green Energy Economy’ (GEE) transformation. Taking green economy policies and related indicators as the analytical framework, the study examines (i) the composition of policy portfolios promoting low-carbon energy technologies, (ii) short-term trends related to the GEE, (iii) long-term empirical observations of GEE-related factors, and (iv) whether, given these results, CO2 emission reduction targets can be met. The study focuses on the following regions: Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Non-OECD Europe and countries from the Former Soviet Union, Oceania, OECD Europe, and OECD North America. Findings reveal that low-carbon energy technology policies have spread rapidly since the 2000s. Economics incentives are widespread across all regions, highlighting the growing use of market-based policies. The short-term analysis shows that per capita income growth (and to a lesser extent population growth) are the main obstacles to transition towards a GEE transformation.
This synthesis article reviews China's efforts and effects concerning low-carbon green growth (LCGG) and explores the policy implications of reformulating the country's LCGG strategy. The article first reviews China's efforts in four major areas – carbon mitigation, market construction, fostering green industries, and managing the negative effects of LCGG – and then reviews China's LCGG effects with respect to the growth effect and the low-carbon effect. The results show that the increasingly stringent low-carbon policy has not diminished the country's economic growth as some had expected. Rather, the policy has fostered green industries and brought impressive quality improvements, including structural change and increased employment. Although the efforts and effects in China are impressive, the global emissions reduction is far from sufficient to achieve the global climate change target.
This report provides a new detailed quantitative assessment of the consequences of climate change on economic growth through to 2060 and beyond. It focuses on how climate change affects different drivers of growth, including labour productivity and capital supply, in different sectors across the world. The sectoral and regional analysis shows that while the impacts of climate change spread across all sectors and all regions, the largest negative consequences are projected to be found in the health and agricultural sectors, with damages especially strong in Africa and Asia.