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Contributions from
the Column
Studies and reports
Migration can support development
Organised irresponsibility
Appropriate approaches to fighting climate change
Political crises and state borders
Fragmented negotiations
6/2004 |
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[ Renewable energy ]
Appropriate approaches to fighting climate change
Fighting climate change is a complex task, which requires different approaches in different countries. The two main strategies are betting on renewable energy technologies and on energy efficiency. Development co-operation should utilise both according to the local needs in the partner countries. This is the message of a recent paper by researchers from the Bonn-based German Development Institute (GDI).
Authors Imme Scholz and Mathias Krause stress that the term sustainability has three dimensions. Energy policy, therefore, needs to pay attention to long-term effects on the environment, on the economy and on poor social strata. In least developed countries, people typically suffer from lack of access to modern energy services. Wood and dung are burnt in unhealthy manner. More often than not, natural resources are being depleted. Consequently, the emphasis of development co-operation should be on providing basic services and reflect low technological capacities. This implies using small-scale applications and upgrading local practices.
The situation in the Newly Independent States (the former Soviet Union) is entirely different. While energy provision is generally operational here, it is normally inefficient and extremely expensive. Consequently, green house gas (GHG) emissions are excessive. At the same time, subsidies for fossil fuels are a heavy burden for national budgets. The GDI-paper suggests that development policies for such countries should focus on market-oriented reforms, skill training and improving the existing infrastructure. While it may be sensible to invest in renewable energy technologies, this will hardly prove a priority. After all, the massive economic slowdown these states have experienced since the collapse of the Soviet Union implies that industrial use of energy has dropped and hardly any new power capacity is needed.
This is not the case for emerging economies. Poor countries with high Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates are under extreme pressure to expand their infrastructure. High-tech renewable technologies from advanced countries should prove useful for this purpose. Improving the energy efficiency of existing power infrastructure is equally urgent. As high-growth and high-population nations are of particular climate relevance as their emissions are increasing rapidly, the GDI experts suggest that development ministries in advanced nations should make energy matters a priority in co-operation with these countries. This, however, can only be done if „industrialised countries take their pioneering role seriously, reduce their GHG emissions and fulfil their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol“, Scholz and Krause stress in their paper. (dem)
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