Each week, we review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted at the “indispensable” RFF Library Blog, curated by RFF Librarian Chris Clotworthy.
Clean Energy Services For All: Financing Universal Electrification
[Think Progress] Off-grid renewable energy is one of the cheapest, most effective ways to get electricity to the 1.3 billion people around the world who lack it, the Sierra Club argues in a new report. The report looked at how energy access can be delivered more cost-effectively to the people around the world that need it. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the world must invest $640 billion over 20 years to ensure global energy access, which is 300 to 500 percent higher than current energy access investments. But the Sierra Club argues that many essential energy services can be delivered more cheaply than the IEA estimates. According to the report, a $500 million investment in energy access will be needed over the next two to three years, and that investment will spur a clean energy services market for the poor valued at $12 billion annually... – via Sierra Club International Climate Program
Consequences of Climate Change Damages for Economic Growth: A Dynamic Quantitative Assessment
This report focuses on the effects of climate change impacts on economic growth. Simulations with the OECD’s dynamic global general equilibrium model ENV-Linkages assess the consequences of a selected number of climate change impacts in the various world regions at the macroeconomic and sectoral level. This is complemented with an assessment of very long-run implications, using the AD-RICE model. The analysis finds that the effect of climate change impacts on annual global GDP is projected to increase over time, leading to a global GDP loss of 0.7% to 2.5% by 2060 for the most likely equilibrium climate sensitivity range... – via OECD
Pathways to Deep Decarbonization
The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) is a collaborative initiative to understand and show how individual countries can transition to a low-carbon economy and how the world can meet the internationally agreed target of limiting the increase in global mean surface temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius (°C). Achieving the 2°C limit will require that global net emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) approach zero by the second half of the century. In turn, this will require a profound transformation of energy systems by mid-century through steep declines in carbon intensity in all sectors of the economy, a transition we call “deep decarbonization...” – via Columbia University’s Earth Institute for the United Nations and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations
Fracking “Good Neighbor Standards” from the American Petroleum Institute
[US News and World Report] …the oil and gas industry’s top lobbying group released a set of “best practices” Wednesday to help energy companies talk with communities about fracking in their neighborhoods. The measures, which are not mandatory and were approved by the American National Standards Institute, offer recommendations on how best to hold public meetings on safety, discuss job opportunities, build relationships with local landowners and ultimately “minimize interruption” to either the community or mining operations. They cover five phases of oil and gas extraction: “entry, exploration, development, operations and exit…” – via American Petroleum Institute
The Concept and Potential of Adaptation Markets
…the idea of using market mechanisms to facilitate adaptation to climate change is relatively new and unfamiliar, but there are many reasons why it deserves consideration. This issue brief explores these reasons, explains how adaptation markets could work, presents several design options, and considers next steps in the path toward implementation... – via Center for American Progress
