The main objective of this report is to provide the new Government of Ghana with recommendations on the actions needed to improve the performance of Ghana's energy sector.
... See More + The report focuses on the power and petroleum sectors, taking account of the interdependence between the sectors, and providing recommendations for how they can, together, drive future economic growth. This report aims to highlight the centrality of fixing the problems in the power sector as a path to ensuring that Ghana's economic growth ambitions are not stymied by a lack of electricity. The problems and their solutions are well known; what has been lacking is decisive and timely decision making to break the tendency to adopt reactive measures that often come too late when proactive measures will have led to better outcomes. Demand for gas in the power sector is set to expand rapidly, as new thermal generation capacity is built to meet rapidly growing power demand. However, to ensure successful development of its gas sector, Ghana will need to address a number of important challenges. The paper is organized as follows: chapter one gives introduction; chapter two deals with electricity demand and supply; chapter three deals with resolving generation and transmission bottlenecks; chapter four gives reforms urgently needed in power distribution; chapter five focuses on natural gas sector; and chapter six focuses on upstream oil and gas sector.
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Reliable power supply is critical for Tajikistan's economy and poverty reduction goals. Without reliable, affordable electricity throughout the year, Tajikistan's businesses cannot invest, operate and create jobs; hospitals and schools cannot function fully or safely with frequent power cuts during winter; citizens suffer indoor air pollution from burning wood for heating and cooking.
... See More + Electricity also powers the country's two largest exports: aluminum and agricultural produce, which account for about 30 percent of Tajikistan's annual gross domestic product and almost 45 percent of export earnings. Currently, electricity is the cheapest available resource to heat homes so the residential and commercial sectors are highly dependent on electricity for heat as well as lighting and industrial processes. The Government is responsible for guiding programs that keep power supply apace with demand. The purpose of this study is to assist the Government in further defining ways to meet growing demand for electricity in Tajikistan, with a particular focus on the recurring winter shortages which amount to about 24 percent of winter demand. The study also examines the potential benefits of power exports, particularly during summers when hydropower plants spill energy. The study explores a range of alternatives to meet electricity demand as quickly as possible and develop a short term plan of action to alleviate the social and economic costs of winter shortages. The study focuses on multiple initiatives that can be started immediately and simultaneously, and will establish fundamental components of energy security for Tajikistan, namely: to moderate unsustainable demand growth, protect the current asset base, and remedy the thermal/hydro imbalance in the energy sector.
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Reliable power supply is critical for Tajikistan's economy and poverty reduction goals. Without reliable, affordable electricity throughout the year, Tajikistan's businesses cannot invest, operate and create jobs; hospitals and schools cannot function fully or safely with frequent power cuts during winter; citizens suffer indoor air pollution from burning wood for heating and cooking.
... See More + Electricity also powers the country's two largest exports: aluminum and agricultural produce, which account for about 30 percent of Tajikistan's annual gross domestic product and almost 45 percent of export earnings. Currently, electricity is the cheapest available resource to heat homes so the residential and commercial sectors are highly dependent on electricity for heat as well as lighting and industrial processes. The Government is responsible for guiding programs that keep power supply apace with demand. The purpose of this study is to assist the Government in further defining ways to meet growing demand for electricity in Tajikistan, with a particular focus on the recurring winter shortages which amount to about 24 percent of winter demand. The study also examines the potential benefits of power exports, particularly during summers when hydropower plants spill energy. The study explores a range of alternatives to meet electricity demand as quickly as possible and develop a short term plan of action to alleviate the social and economic costs of winter shortages. The study focuses on multiple initiatives that can be started immediately and simultaneously, and will establish fundamental components of energy security for Tajikistan, namely: to moderate unsustainable demand growth, protect the current asset base, and remedy the thermal/hydro imbalance in the energy sector.
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Expert statements indicate that annually approximately 20 billion dollars will be needed to prevent 90 percent deforestation in tropical countries.
... See More + Development practitioners are eager to see the benefits from REDD plus initiatives shared with local partners. Equally important to understanding how local partners might benefit are questions such as, who should derive benefits from REDD plus initiatives, and how to ensure these initiatives reach the affected households, individuals, communities, companies, and government units. Getting benefit-sharing rights is fundamental, as it will determine how REDD plus initiatives serve a broader development agenda and prevent them from centralizing decision making and enabling elite capture. This paper examines how to address this challenge by adopting a legal pluralism framework and discussing the potential role of legal instruments such as contracts. While the analysis focuses largely on REDD plus activities that involve land, forests, and carbon sequestration, many of the principles suggested are applicable in a broad sense to REDD plus projects dealing with energy and other matters. This paper explores the substantive legal issues and procedural options for identifying beneficiaries in such contexts and ways of working with them despite the legal uncertainty. It gives considerable attention to process, an approach reflecting the diversity of the situations on the ground. To explore these issues, the paper draws upon several relevant bodies of learning on forestry projects and programs, including the literatures on land, tree and forest tenure, legal pluralism, forest project design and implementation, the protection of indigenous peoples, and resettlement issues associated with development projects. The paper also explores how contracts or agreements could be used to work with the beneficiaries and clearly capture the different parties' rights and responsibilities. It examines experiences discussed in the literature, and reviews three good practice projects. Lessons are drawn from both those projects and earlier relevant experiences.
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India has 150 GW of renewable energy potential, about half in the form of small hydropower, biomass, and wind and half in solar, cogeneration, and waste-to-energy.
... See More + Developing renewable energy can help India increase its energy security, reduce the adverse impacts on the local environment, lower its carbon intensity, contribute to more balanced regional development, and realize its aspirations for leadership in high-technology industries. This diagnostic note draws on a detailed analysis conducted by a PricewaterhouseCoopers India consulting team in 2008-09 for the World Bank. The data are based on information on about 180 wind, biomass, and small hydropower projects in 20 states, as well as information from and norms of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). The study is intended to provoke discussions of the feasibility of renewable energy development in India. Why is renewable energy development relevant? How much development is economically feasible? What needs to be done to realize the potential? Each of these topics is addressed in a separate chapter, all of which suggest a few implementable measures that India can consider to tap its economically feasible unharnessed potential.
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The objective of the functional review of the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business Environment (MEC) is to analyze its current structure and operations, to provide recommendations so that the Ministry and the Government can improve the delivery of its key functions and respond effectively to the emerging challenges.
... See More + The focus of the Review was on the Ministry's energy and business environment functions. The coverage of the energy sector review goes beyond the Ministry, into electricity and gas market issues, governance of energy SOEs under MEC, the institutional capacity of the energy regulator ANRE, and the coordination with energy-related functions in other ministries. The coverage of the business environment review similarly goes beyond the Ministry and assesses institutional capacities across the Government - as responsibilities are scattered across the Romanian administration, it was necessary to expand the analysis in order to provide sound policy recommendations to improve the business environment as a key strategy for government action. The draft final report is organized into two main parts, MEC/energy sector and Business Environment.
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This report presents the partial results related to land use, land-use change and the forestry sector from a larger multisectoral low-carbon study for Brazil.
... See More + Since the 1992 Kyoto Accord, Brazil has been committed to reducing its carbon emissions. The overall aim of this study was to support Brazil's efforts to identify opportunities to reduce its emissions in ways that foster economic development. The primary objective was to provide the Brazilian government with the technical inputs needed to assess the potential and conditions for low-carbon development in key emitting sectors. To this end, the World Bank study adopted a programmatic approach in line with the Brazilian government's long-term development objectives. These are: to anticipate the future evolution of Brazil's emissions to establish a reference scenario; identify and quantify lower carbon-intensive options to mitigate emissions, as well as potential options for carbon uptake; assess the costs of these low-carbon options, identify barriers to their adoption, and explore measures to overcome them; and build a low-carbon emissions scenario that meets the same development expectations. The study also analyzed the macroeconomic effects of shifting from the reference scenario to the low-carbon one, and the financing required. reference-scenario results for these main areas show that deforestation remains the key driver of Brazil's future emissions through 2030. The study evaluated the mitigation and carbon uptake options, assessing all the relevant sub-sectors for each sector; determined the viability of the options investigated; and finally, constructed low-carbon scenarios for each sector to assist them lowering their greenhous gas (GHG) carbon emissions.
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Energy-Environment Review 69869 JAN 01, 2011
Soares Filho, Britaldo S.; Hissa, Leticia; Nassar, Andre; Harfuch, Leila; Ramalho Moreira, Marcelo Melo; Chiodi Bachion, Luciane; Barcellos Antoniazzi, Laura; Barioni, Luis G.; Martha Junior, Geraldo; Sainz, Roberto D.; Alves, Bruno J. R.; de Lima, Magda A.; Martins, Osvaldo; Castelo Branco, Magno; Toledo, Renato; Regis Lima Verde Leal, Manoel; Marques, Fabio; Ferreira, Rodrigo; Goulart, Luiz; Mendes, Thiago; de Gouvello, Christophe; Moreira, Adriana; Farinelli, Barbara; Meihuy Chang, Jennifer; Pinto, Rogerio; Hato, Julio; Pacca, Sergio; Ribeiro Freitas, Saulo; Longo, Karla Maria; Almeida de Siqueira, RicardoDisclosed
This report summarizes the results for the transportation sector from a larger study, the low carbon study for Brazil, developed by the World Bank as part of its initiative to support the integrated efforts of Brazil to reduce global and national greenhouse gases emissions, while promoting long-term development.
... See More + The study covers four key areas with potential low carbon options: 1) Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), including deforestation, 2) transport systems, 3) production and use of energy, particularly electricity, oil, gas and bio fuels, and 4) municipal waste, solids and liquids. This study aims to underpin Brazil's efforts to explore methods for reducing total emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) arising from all areas of human activity. More specifically, this study seeks to highlight low-carbon alternatives for Brazil´s transport sector. These alternatives could contribute positively to the world's climate, as well as benefit Brazil's socio-economic development. The technical inputs for evaluating potential carbon emissions reduction will be submitted to the Brazilian government to assist it in the design and deployment of joint planning strategies in key sectors, including transport. To ensure that the study targets the most important areas, it adopts an overarching approach. This means that it made full use of available specialist knowledge (thereby avoiding replication of effort) by undertaking a comprehensive survey of the literature and engaging in a wide-ranging consultation process with recognized Brazilian experts and government technical staff.
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This report is part 1 of a study on the development of a strategy for a policy on clean vehicles in Colombia. It contains a review of the regulatory, economic, persuasive and other instruments that have been applied in different countries with an end to promoting the development and incorporation of clean energy vehicles.
... See More + The introduction provides background on the importance of clean energy vehicles and the Clean Air Management Policy in Colombia. Part 2 introduces the clean energy initiatives for a variety of regions around the world: United States, European Union, Japan, and Latin America. Part 3 provides the framework for the introduction of clean energy vehicles into Colombia. Part 4 consists of Annexes.
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Although charcoal is the single most important energy source for millions of urban dwellers in Tanzania, being used by all tiers of society from laborers to politicians, it seems to be politically neglected and even unwanted, given that it is not considered as a possible mean to achieve long-term sustainable development, for example as a low-carbon growth option contributing to energy security, sustainable forest management, and poverty alleviation strategies.
... See More + The largely unregistered and unregulated production and use of charcoal give reason to serious environmental concerns that call for a comprehensive reform of the sector: with Tanzania's total annual charcoal consumption being estimated at 1 million tons, the annual supply of wood needed to meet this demand is about 30 million cubic meters. Systematic initiatives trying to halt forest degradation and to make the sector more environmentally and economically sustainable are missing or have remained largely ineffective. Building on the World Bank's recent policy note on potential reforms of the charcoal sector in Tanzania, this report aims to facilitate the policy dialogue around charcoal sector reforms by providing analytical information on the political economy of the charcoal sector and on the potential poverty and social impacts of a sustainability-oriented reform agenda. There is no comprehensive policy, strategy, or legal framework in Tanzania addressing the charcoal sector.
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This policy note was prepared in response to a request from the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) for World Bank assistance in developing legislative and institutional policies and strategies that will take advantage of the potential of the region's forest resources to contribute to poverty alleviation, food security, sustainable agriculture, economic growth, and to protection of forest-related environmental services such as climate, biodiversity, water, and wildlife resources.
... See More + The note is intended to: (a) take stock of the current situation on the ground, including identifying the legislative, institutional, governance, and policy reforms needed to create an enabling environment for both public and private-sector investment. This should help in contributing to improved understanding of the currently underutilized potential of Southern Sudan's forest resources; (b) analyze what has worked and what has not worked prior to and since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA); and (c) suggest priority solutions and actions towards revitalizing the forestry sector. Key policy issues addressed in this note include: 1) strengthening forest resource information and knowledge base; 2) developing a coherent legislative and policy framework, organizational structure, and capacity for the sector; 3) promoting participatory forest and woodland management; 4) enabling forest-based industries to thrive; 5) creating an enabling environment for attracting private-sector investment; 6) protecting and enhancing forest-related environmental services; 7) using technical approaches to conservation and sustainable management of forest resources; and 8) introducing predictable and sustainable long-term financing mechanisms.
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This report synthesis the findings for the waste sector of a broader study, the Brazil low carbon study, which was undertaken by the World Bank in its initiative to support Brazil's integrated effort towards reducing national and global emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) while promoting long term development.
... See More + The purpose of the present report is to assist in the preparation of public policy proposals regarding GHG emissions and the additional financial resources necessary. The main purpose of the scenarios is to provide an evaluation of the GHG emissions arising from the different approaches and methods for treating waste and to ensure that important environmental aspects are taken into account when key decisions are being made on the waste treatment technologies to be applied in Brazil. The World Bank and covers four key areas with large potential for low-carbon options: 1) Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF), including deforestation; 2) transport systems; 3) energy production and use, particularly electricity, oil and gas and bio-fuels; and 4) solid and liquid urban waste.
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This study aims to underpin Brazil's efforts to explore methods for reducing total emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) arising from all areas of human activity.
... See More + More specifically, this study seeks to highlight low-carbon alternatives for Brazil´s transport sector. These alternatives could contribute positively to the world's climate, as well as benefit Brazil's socio-economic development. The technical inputs for evaluating potential carbon emissions reduction will be submitted to the Brazilian government to assist it in the design and deployment of joint planning strategies in key sectors, including transport. To ensure that the study targets the most important areas, it adopts an overarching approach. CO2 results from the combustion of any material containing carbon, including fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas, which consist of long chains of hydrocarbons and are widely used for electricity generation and transport purposes. Industrial activities such as metallurgy, steel and cement manufacturing also produce large amounts of CO2. Changes in land use caused by forest fires during or after the process of deforestation are also responsible for CO2 emissions, since the loss of forest cover releases some of the carbon stored in the soil and dead vegetation. Brazil's contribution to global CO2 emissions is substantial due to forest burning, and halting biomass burning should certainly be a national priority. The results for the transport sector, calculated using the methodological approach and criteria outlined in the introductory paragraphs, are presented in this report as follows: chapter one is a general overview of the transport situation in Brazil, its evolution and impacts, highlighting specific issues related to GHGs; chapter two describes the methodology employed in the study; in chapters three and four analyzes possible strategies that could be considered for reducing GHGs in the transport sector; and finally, chapter five presents the main conclusions, suggesting possible policies and strategies for Brazil to pursue.
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This study points out that Brazil's commitment to combat climate change had already been started when the country hosted in June 1992 the Conference of the United Conference on Environment and Development, also known as Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
... See More + Being the world's largest tropical country, Brazil appears to be unique as the profile of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, Brazil used to be one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases through deforestation and probably would remain so, were it not for recent government approval of a series of measures to protect the forest. At the same time, it is likely that Brazil will suffer from significant adverse effects of climate change. Like many other countries, Brazil faces a double challenge, having to stimulate economic and social development and reduce GHG emissions. For this purpose, the World Bank study has adopted an approach of programmatic objectives that were aligned with the long-term Government of Brazil, in the following ways: (i) forecasting the future GHG emissions in Brazil, to establish a reference scenario; (ii) identifying and quantifying options that employ fewer carbon, to mitigate emissions as well as potential options to remove carbon, (iii) assessing the cost of these options with low carbon usage, identifying barriers to adoption and exploring measures. The urgent need to combat global climate change has been firmly established. An abundance of scientific evidence, including the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) and a recent review on the economics of climate change, led by Nicholas Stern (Stern 2007), emphasize the severe risks to human life, the middle environment and the global economy. It's hard to imagine an effective solution to stabilize GHG concentrations on the scale needed without Brazil playing a prominent role.
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Energy-Environment Review 69867 JAN 01, 2010
Nassar, Andre; Soares Filho,Britaldo; De Gouvello,ChristopheDisclosed
This study aims to underpin Brazil's efforts to explore methods for reducing total emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) arising from all areas of human activity.
... See More + More specifically, this study seeks to highlight low-carbon alternatives for Brazil´s transport sector. These alternatives could contribute positively to the world's climate, as well as benefit Brazil's socio-economic development. The technical inputs for evaluating potential carbon emissions reduction will be submitted to the Brazilian government to assist it in the design and deployment of joint planning strategies in key sectors, including transport. To ensure that the study targets the most important areas, it adopts an overarching approach. CO2 results from the combustion of any material containing carbon, including fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas, which consist of long chains of hydrocarbons and are widely used for electricity generation and transport purposes. Industrial activities such as metallurgy, steel and cement manufacturing also produce large amounts of CO2. Changes in land use caused by forest fires during or after the process of deforestation are also responsible for CO2 emissions, since the loss of forest cover releases some of the carbon stored in the soil and dead vegetation. Brazil's contribution to global CO2 emissions is substantial due to forest burning, and halting biomass burning should certainly be a national priority. The results for the transport sector, calculated using the methodological approach and criteria outlined in the introductory paragraphs, are presented in this report as follows: chapter one is a general overview of the transport situation in Brazil, its evolution and impacts, highlighting specific issues related to GHGs; chapter two describes the methodology employed in the study; in chapters three and four analyzes possible strategies that could be considered for reducing GHGs in the transport sector; and finally, chapter five presents the main conclusions, suggesting possible policies and strategies for Brazil to pursue.
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This report synthesis the findings for the waste sector of a broader study, the Brazil low carbon study, which was undertaken by the World Bank in its initiative to support Brazil's integrated effort towards reducing national and global emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) while promoting long term development.
... See More + The purpose of the present report is to assist in the preparation of public policy proposals regarding GHG emissions and the additional financial resources necessary. The main purpose of the scenarios is to provide an evaluation of the GHG emissions arising from the different approaches and methods for treating waste and to ensure that important environmental aspects are taken into account when key decisions are being made on the waste treatment technologies to be applied in Brazil. The World Bank and covers four key areas with large potential for low-carbon options: 1) Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF), including deforestation; 2) transport systems; 3) energy production and use, particularly electricity, oil and gas and bio-fuels; and 4) solid and liquid urban waste.
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This report addresses a pressing issue in Mexico's electricity sector the large and growing subsidies to residential consumers and their regressive incidence across different segments of the population.
... See More + It responds to requests from the Ministry of Energy to provide a preliminary assessment of alternatives to the current subsidy system, building on prior collaboration between the Government of Mexico and the World Bank on the distributional impact of public spending, the performance of conditional cash transfer programs and other poverty-targeted programs, and related work on pricing and subsidies for infrastructure services. This study was designed as the first phase of a multiphase program of collaborative analytical work. This first phase provides estimates of the distributional and fiscal performance of alternative subsidy targeting mechanisms to help inform discussion and deliberations on feasible goals and practical approaches over the medium term. A second phase will address transition paths, specific compensatory mechanisms, and decision processes for pursuing the options that the Mexican authorities deem most promising.
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Energy-Environment Review 47107 FEB 04, 2009
Komives, Kristin ; Johnson, Todd M. ; Halpern, Jonathan D. ; Luis, Jose Aburto ; Scott, John R.Disclosed
In July 2005, the leaders of the G8 countries, meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, launched a new dialogue on climate change, clean energy, and sustainable development involving 20 energy-intensive economies.
... See More + The overall goal of the investment framework is to catalyze investments from public and private sources to increase access to energy in developing countries and, thereby, to spur development, while using cleaner technologies that protect the environment. To achieve that goal, the Bank is exploring the potential value of new financial approaches to accelerate investment in clean, sustainable, cost-effective, and efficient energy. As its roadmap for accelerating investments that will bring modern and efficient energy services to people who need them most, the investment framework reaffirms the primacy of the United Nations framework convention on climate change, including the emphasis on 'common, but differentiated responsibilities' among rich and developing countries.
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