The benefits of hydropower as a source of clean energy with low greenhouse gas emissions are in stark contrast with its negative local social and environmental impacts. This briefing paper discusses this contradiction and the rising importance of affordable clean energy from hydropower in emerging and developing economies. Since hydropower is back on the development agenda this momentum should be used to invest in more environmental and social friendly schemes.
This article explores the regional disputes on the shared river and the degree of cooperation that exists. Despite prevailing negative impacts – i.e., the changes in sedimentation and the river flow regimes – caused by upstream dam construction in Turkey and affecting downstream Georgia, the article finds that the creation of a regional electricity market seems to be opening up a new avenue for cooperation between Turkey and Georgia also on the so far unilaterally utilized river.
When compared to other regions, Asia has the highest rate of policy innovations that can help in the transition to a green economy. Even though fiscal instruments in-use are to some extent already altering aggregate demand of resources and economic activities, resource allocation, and distributive capacity of the economy, instrument such as “carbon tax” that has the real potential to contain rising emissions and save economies from getting locked into carbon-intensive pathways are yet to be adopted widely. Sporadic adoption of fiscal instruments is not going to be enough, if Asia as a region, is to transition to a green economy. In addition, there are substantial implementation barriers that need to be eased for wide-scale adoption and diffusion of green fiscal instruments.
This book identifies the drivers and success factors of green industrial policy, which seeks to reconcile the synergies and trade-offs which exist between economic and environmental goals. Greening the economy is a goal which will require enormous investment. As markets are currently failing to provide the required incentives for environmental sustainability, governments must intervene and provide ‘policy rents’ for investments in sustainability while withdrawing rents from polluting investments. In this they will face the risk of political capture by interest groups and difficult choices among technologies. Rent management is therefore the heart of green industrial policy and the focus of this book. On top of this, the country examples provided in this volume focus on the emerging powers, which will have an important influence on the future of our planet.
This paper explores innovation in wind energy in Denmark and Germany. It examines the key features and similarities of, and differences in each country’s technological and organizational innovation paths and sheds light on their main determinants. It finds that common features have roots in similar social and political priorities and decisions at the national level. The differences, on the other hand, tend to have roots in geographical conditions and company-level technology choices.
In the end, the paper briefly addresses the increasing global interconnectedness of wind technology markets and the role of emerging new players, such as China and India.
Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have experienced dramatic economic growth in the past decade, with six of the ten fastest growing economies in the world found in SSA between 2000 and 2010. Economic growth is critical to continued development and poverty reduction, but can have, as has already become visible in the region, significant environmental costs and can even hinder further long term economic growth and development, if environmentally unsustainable growth paths are continued. However greener growth is needed to allow SSA countries to continue to develop, while avoiding or reducing negative environmental impacts.
Energy efficiency has a plethora of benefits on the individual, organisational, and social levels. However, there is still a gap between knowledge and implementation. While market failure serves as an important barrier to energy efficiency uptake, so do the characteristics of human behaviour. Literature on human behaviour reveals many entry points for the inclusion of ‘behavioural insights’ in the design of energy efficiency programmes.
Drawing from case studies on small and large industry in Colombia, India, South Africa, and Uganda, this report aims to provide practitioners with illustrations of how insights into human behaviour can be effectively integrated into energy efficiency programmes. The incorporation of behavioural insights should consider four aspects: the cultural context of the target group, windows of opportunity for the intervention, drivers and motivations, and the overall fit of the intervention with the package of measures.
Taking the case of Morocco, this paper aims to explore the challenges to system-building initiatives for the development of the solar energy sector. Drawing on innovation systems literature, the author examine factors that contribute to the emergence of a solar energy sector and delve into how complex governance dynamics affect such developments in Morocco. Aside from low capabilities and knowledge on solar energy technologies, a key challenge to the development of an innovation system in Morocco is the lack of a strategic approach that not only engages all relevant stakeholders but also integrates diverse objectives. The role played by the state (and its supported institutions) in the society and its participation in the economy is likely to explain why these processes are slow to prevail.
The Green Action Plan (GAP), proposed by the European Commission in 2014, is aimed at helping SMEs turn environmental challenges into opportunities. It focuses on resource efficiency, green entrepreneurship and green skills, eco-innovation, greener value chains, and facilitating market access for SMEs. It also provides tools for the internationalisation of European SMEs, taking advantage of Europe's leadership in green technologies. The Plan complements other EU initiatives, such as the Green Employment Initiative, a Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, Circular Economy and European Industrial Renaissance, and is intended to create synergies between them, using the financing under existing programmes. The actions proposed are intended not only to benefit SMEs and the economy, but also to help address environmental challenges related to resource scarcity, waste management and climate change.