Overwhelming evidence indicates that climate change, caused in large part by human activities, is already adversely impacting all people, with the very real prospect of worse to come.
... See More + Nevertheless, a global treaty to curb carbon emissions remains elusive. In East Asia, all middle-income countries have set national targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and some even have targets for carbon reduction. This report focuses on recent experiences in applying public financing instruments and tries to draw the lessons to date: when and how to use the instruments, which instrument to select, and how to design and implement them. The wide range of financial instruments designed to support and catalyze clean energy investment over the last decade is truly remarkable. Such instruments include credit lines and risk guarantees designed to increase both the capacity and confidence of commercial banks for clean energy lending; dedicated funds and concessional financing mechanisms to kick-start new technologies; mezzanine and equity financing targeted at start-ups; small and medium enterprises and energy service companies; and various consumer financing instruments designed to lower the upfront costs of clean energy equipment. This report systematically reviews the successes and failures of innovative interventions and distills the lessons of applying them. This report is organized in following four parts: part one gives overview; part two focuses on financing energy efficiency; part three focuses on financing renewable energy; and part four focuses on clean energy financing case studies.
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Fast-growing cities in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region will define the region's energy future and its greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Rapid urbanization and growing standards of living offer a major opportunity to EAP cities to become the global engines of green growth by choosing energy efficient solutions to suit their infrastructure needs and by avoiding locking in energy-intensive infrastructure.
... See More + The underlying studies in three EAP pilot cities show a clear correlation between investments in energy efficient solutions in all major infrastructure sectors and economic growth by improving energy and GHG emissions efficiency, cities not only help the global environment, but they also support local economic development through productivity gains, reduced pollution, and more efficient use of resources. Thus, the Bank is well positioned to assist municipal governments in building institutions, creating policies, developing long-term green growth plans that will attract financial support and investments from both the private sector and the donor community, and linking efficiency and low carbon programs to international concessional financing and funding, as well as to the private sector investors who will play an important role in achieving green growth objectives. This paper is organized as follows: part one focuses on urban energy use and GHG emissions in EAP; part two presents sustainable urban energy and emissions planning in three pilot cities; and part three gives sustainable urban energy and emissions planning guidebook: a guide for cities in EAP.
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Forty percent of Indonesia's more than 60 million households continue to rely heavily on traditional biomass fuels for cooking. Household air pollution from solid fuel combustion is linked to some 165,000 premature deaths in Indonesia each year.
... See More + In rural Indonesia, biomass is renewably harvested and abundant and affordable to the poor. All commercially sold stoves are made by local artisan producers, and profit is the supply chain's major concern. Introducing new models will need to be linked to a higher profit margin and training in business development. Achieving universal access to clean cooking by 2030 will require developing a thriving clean biomass stove market. An integrated approach, using a results-based financing mechanism, is expected to overcome supply and demand side barriers and institutional constraints. This brief discusses the following issues: changing landscape of household cooking fuels; mitigating the health risks of biomass cooking; sustained demand for firewood as cooking fuel; limited biomass stove market and types; learning from successful clean cooking programs; key policy recommendations; results-based financing; scenario analysis results; and the road ahead.
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Indonesia's household cooking fuels have undergone a dramatic shift in recent years, owing primarily to the government's highly successful Kerosene-to- Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Conversion Program; yet the impact in poorer rural areas has been limited.
... See More + Switching to LPG, electricity, and other modern fuels would be the most effective way to achieve clean cooking solutions, but these fuels are expensive, requiring costly stoves and delivery infrastructure that are beyond reach for most rural households. By contrast, many types of biomass can be freely collected from the local environment or purchased for significantly less than other fuels. Thus, large-scale fuel switching in rural areas is unlikely to occur until rural economies become substantially more developed. This means that an estimated 40 percent of households will continue to rely on traditional biomass energy, especially fuel wood, to meet their daily cooking needs for years to come. This report is structured according to the directional organization of the study. Chapter two presents an overview of household cooking fuels in Indonesia, including policy changes and other factors that influence fuel choices. Chapter three examines an array of stove supply side issues, including market and production capacity, popular stove models, limitations of business models, key features of the supply chain, and attitudes toward new stoves. Chapter four identifies gaps in policies and institutional strengthening that future intervention programs will need to fill and reviews lessons from successful programs promoting clean cooking solutions that can be applied to those focused on clean biomass cooking. Finally, chapter five presents the recommended implementation strategy, including an innovative financing approach, and the next steps in helping Indonesia move toward universal access to clean cooking solutions by 2030.
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Indonesia's household cooking fuels have undergone a dramatic shift in recent years, owing primarily to the government's highly successful Kerosene-to- Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Conversion Program; yet the impact in poorer rural areas has been limited.
... See More + Switching to LPG, electricity, and other modern fuels would be the most effective way to achieve clean cooking solutions, but these fuels are expensive, requiring costly stoves and delivery infrastructure that are beyond reach for most rural households. By contrast, many types of biomass can be freely collected from the local environment or purchased for significantly less than other fuels. Thus, large-scale fuel switching in rural areas is unlikely to occur until rural economies become substantially more developed. This means that an estimated 40 percent of households will continue to rely on traditional biomass energy, especially fuel wood, to meet their daily cooking needs for years to come. This report is structured according to the directional organization of the study. Chapter two presents an overview of household cooking fuels in Indonesia, including policy changes and other factors that influence fuel choices. Chapter three examines an array of stove supply side issues, including market and production capacity, popular stove models, limitations of business models, key features of the supply chain, and attitudes toward new stoves. Chapter four identifies gaps in policies and institutional strengthening that future intervention programs will need to fill and reviews lessons from successful programs promoting clean cooking solutions that can be applied to those focused on clean biomass cooking. Finally, chapter five presents the recommended implementation strategy, including an innovative financing approach, and the next steps in helping Indonesia move toward universal access to clean cooking solutions by 2030.
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Results-Based Financing (RBF) is a concept comprising a range of public policy instruments, whereby incentives, rewards, or subsidies are linked to the verified delivery of pre-defined results.
... See More + RBF is often used to enhance access to and delivery of basic infrastructure and social services, such as water and sanitation, energy, and health care. In most cases, the funding entity typically a government, development agency, or other agent deals directly with the service provider. Some of the better known RBF approaches include output-based aid (OBA) (GPOBA 2011), conditional cash transfers, carbon finance, and advance market commitments (AMCs). Unlike traditional public procurement, which uses public resources to purchase the inputs and contract service providers to deliver them to users, the RBF approach uses private-sector resources to finance the inputs and service delivery and public resources to reimburse the service provider upon delivery of the pre-defined results.
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Results-Based Financing (RBF) is a concept comprising a range of public policy instruments, whereby incentives, rewards, or subsidies are linked to the verified delivery of pre-defined results.
... See More + RBF is often used to enhance access to and delivery of basic infrastructure and social services, such as water and sanitation, energy, and health care. In most cases, the funding entity typically a government, development agency, or other agent deals directly with the service provider. Some of the better known RBF approaches include output-based aid (OBA) (GPOBA 2011), conditional cash transfers, carbon finance, and advance market commitments (AMCs). Unlike traditional public procurement, which uses public resources to purchase the inputs and contract service providers to deliver them to users, the RBF approach uses private-sector resources to finance the inputs and service delivery and public resources to reimburse the service provider upon delivery of the pre-defined results.
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Results-Based Financing (RBF) is a concept comprising a range of public policy instruments, whereby incentives, rewards, or subsidies are linked to the verified delivery of pre-defined results.
... See More + RBF is often used to enhance access to and delivery of basic infrastructure and social services, such as water and sanitation, energy, and health care. In most cases, the funding entity typically a government, development agency, or other agent deals directly with the service provider. Some of the better known RBF approaches include output-based aid (OBA) (GPOBA 2011), conditional cash transfers, carbon finance, and advance market commitments (AMCs). Unlike traditional public procurement, which uses public resources to purchase the inputs and contract service providers to deliver them to users, the RBF approach uses private-sector resources to finance the inputs and service delivery and public resources to reimburse the service provider upon delivery of the pre-defined results.
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Approximately 40 percent of Indonesian households continue to rely on traditional biomass (mostly wood) for cooking. Most of these households are in rural areas and are likely to continue using traditional biomass in the near future.
... See More + Household burning of traditional biomass is a major health risk factor in Indonesia. The indoor air pollution caused by the use of traditional biomass is responsible for an estimated 45,000 premature deaths annually, with women and children particularly affected. In order to decrease indoor air pollution, Indonesia needs to build on its earlier experiences and scale up access to modern and cleaner methods of cooking. The World Bank is launching the Indonesia Clean Stove Initiative to help increase the access to clean and efficient stoves through capacity building, policy development, and the support of selected government action plans.
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More than half of China's population still relies on solid fuels (coal and biomass for cooking and heating. Most of these households are in rural areas and are likely to continue using solid fuels in the near future.
... See More + Household burning of solid fuels is a major health risk factor in China, estimated to lead to more than half million premature deaths annually with women and children particularly affected. China needs to build on its earlier successful stove programs and undertake more active interventions. The World Bank is launching the China clean stove initiative to help increase access to clean and efficient stoves through capacity building, policy development, and the support of selected government action plans.
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More than half of China's population still relies on solid fuels (coal and biomass for cooking and heating. Most of these households are in rural areas and are likely to continue using solid fuels in the near future.
... See More + Household burning of solid fuels is a major health risk factor in China, estimated to lead to more than half million premature deaths annually with women and children particularly affected. China needs to build on its earlier successful stove programs and undertake more active interventions. The World Bank is launching the China clean stove initiative to help increase access to clean and efficient stoves through capacity building, policy development, and the support of selected government action plans.
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The purpose of the current flagship report is to address energy access and related developmental issues in East Asia Pacific (EAP) that so far have received less attention compared to the macro energy issues of climate change and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
... See More + EAP countries have two steep paths to climb to achieve universal access to modern energy: electricity and modern cooking solutions. Approximately 170 million people, or 34 million households, in EAP countries do not have electricity connections in their homes. This number is equivalent to approximately 9 percent of the Region's total population, and 30 percent of the Region's population excluding China. Moreover, approximately 6 times that number, or over 1 billion people, still lack access to modern cooking solutions. In addition, EAP is exceeded by only Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia in the number of people who lack access to electricity. However, access to both electricity and modern cooking solutions is essential to address the enduring impacts of poverty and to move the poor onto a rising development trajectory. The link between access to modern energy and development is most clearly defined by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The MDGs were formulated to reduce global poverty while increasing education, empowering women, and improving child and maternal health. Although there is no direct reference to energy in the MDGs, the need for access to energy, particularly modern energy, to improve overall welfare is well recognized by the development community.
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The internal objective of this strategy note is to outline directions for the World Bank's engagement in climate change (CC) in the Philippines, integrated with the new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS).
... See More + The external objective is to raise awareness of the implications of climate change for the economy; to facilitate integration of CC actions into policies and programs, such as the medium-term Philippine development plan; and to support the government in articulating its own strategy for climate change. A sectoral overview of opportunities in mitigation and adaptation results in a long list of possible interventions in energy, transport, agriculture, forestry, solid waste, wastewater and groundwater management, and urban development. With so many options on the table, there is a need to establish criteria for strategic choice. The note suggests eight criteria for screening the current portfolio as well as new proposals: client buy-in, CAS alignment, and scale of impact, comparative advantage, cost efficiency, staff resources, financial resources, and risks. It ends by providing general guidance for the World Bank's future work on climate change.
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China is experiencing rapid and large scale urbanization, and the resulting local and global urban environmental challenges are unprecedented. The Chinese Government has fully recognized these challenges and is aiming to promote more sustainable urbanization in line with the objectives of the eleventh five year plan, which calls for 'building a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society'.
... See More + Various initiatives are being pursued to support this objective, both at the national and local levels. At the local level, cities have responded by developing 'eco-cities', which aim to promote a more sustainable urbanization model. More than one hundred eco-city initiatives have been launched in recent years. One such initiative is the Sino-Singapore Tianjin eco-city. The purpose of this report is to review the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC) project from a comprehensive perspective with a view to achieving the following principal objectives: (i) create a detailed knowledge base on the project; (ii) provide policy advice on key issues, especially those related to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project; (iii) estimate SSTEC's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction potential; and (iv) contextualize the project among the broader ecological urban development initiatives in China. Broadening the World Bank's engagement beyond the GEF was assessed as important given the project's complexity, and its potential to shed light on China's sustainable urban development challenges
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China is experiencing rapid and large scale urbanization, and the resulting local and global urban environmental challenges are unprecedented. The Chinese Government has fully recognized these challenges and is aiming to promote more sustainable urbanization in line with the objectives of the eleventh five year plan, which calls for 'building a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society'.
... See More + Various initiatives are being pursued to support this objective, both at the national and local levels. At the local level, cities have responded by developing 'eco-cities', which aim to promote a more sustainable urbanization model. More than one hundred eco-city initiatives have been launched in recent years. One such initiative is the Sino-Singapore Tianjin eco-city. The purpose of this report is to review the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC) project from a comprehensive perspective with a view to achieving the following principal objectives: (i) create a detailed knowledge base on the project; (ii) provide policy advice on key issues, especially those related to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project; (iii) estimate SSTEC's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction potential; and (iv) contextualize the project among the broader ecological urban development initiatives in China. Broadening the World Bank's engagement beyond the GEF was assessed as important given the project's complexity, and its potential to shed light on China's sustainable urban development challenges
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The main motivation for Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) governments to improve energy efficiency is to address pressing domestic concerns, such as urban air pollution, energy security, economic competitiveness, the fiscal cost of energy subsidies and the balance of payments.
... See More + However, improved energy efficiency is also seen as the most promising route for reducing the region's green house gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, as part of the study on energy efficiency in MENA, this report aims to describe and quantify the links between energy efficiency and GHG emissions as well as urban air pollution in MENA. More specifically, the objectives of the report is: (i) to create scenarios of emissions of GHG and selected urban air pollutants (specifically, particulate matter (PM)) under different assumptions of energy efficiency improvements; (ii) to identify the country/sectors where energy efficiency improvements are likely to have the greatest impact upon GHG and PM emissions; and (iii) to benchmark MENA against other regions in terms of energy intensity and GHG emissions.
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There is now a strong foundation of good practice emerging from past and ongoing renewable energy (RE) projects, whether supported by the WBG or others, making it possible to develop and implement future projects faster, at lower costs, and with greater confidence in their overall sustainability.
... See More + To further this process, the World Bank plans to develop an "Operational Guide to Design and Implement Renewable Energy," which will provide the necessary tools to assist Bank staff and member country personnel in improving the design and implementation of RE projects. This operational guide will help to significantly reduce project preparation cost and preparation time and increase project success. Developing the RE toolkit consists of two phases: phase I, a scoping study and need assessments, and phase II, developing the RE toolkit. This report summarizes the findings from phase I. It consists of the following four sections, which are the major activities undertaken under phase I : a) need assessment with the World Bank Group task managers; b) need assessment with RE industries and financial institutions; c) inventory research of previous work on toolkits related to rural energy and renewable energy; and d) development of a conceptual framework and a proposal for phase II.
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The objective of this review was to assess treatment of the energy sector, particularly in terms of how issues of scaling up access to energy and renewable energy related to poverty reduction, in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and World Bank Country Assistance Strategies (CASs).
... See More + It was prepared as part of the development of a "Road Map for Scaling up Access to Energy Services and Renewable Energy" being prepared by the World Bank's Energy Unit. While seeking to identify inclusion of energy issues overall, the review focused on energy access issues related to scale-up, including, but not limited to, modern energy services, traditional biomass, and renewable sources. 'Access' was considered in the context of developing country populations who lack access to adequate, affordable, and sustainable sources of energy linked in a meaningful way to their economic and social development needs and potential. The review concluded: 1) PRSPs and CASs give very limited attention to energy in general, and when mentioned, tend to focus on large infrastructure. Energy access issues are conspicuously absent.
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