Search

The reliance on petroleum derivatives and the increasing trend of fuel consumption in the transport sector have brought attention to biofuels as a measure to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, enhance energy security and boost economic development. The incentive for utilizing biofuels is their potential to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared to fossil fuels. Biofuels are considered to be carbon-neutral, regarding the direct CO2 emissions associated with their combustion, on the grounds that the carbon dioxide absorbed by the plants through photosynthesis is equivalent to the CO2 released during their combustion. However, a part of the carbon of biofuels may have a fossil origin and therefore, it is responsible for "non-neutral" CO2 emissions. This was recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its guidelines for greenhouse gas inventories. Nevertheless, specific guidance of how to estimate fossil CO2 emissions per each type of biofuel, in order to facilitate the work of emission inventory compilers and practitioners, is neither available in the IPCC guidelines nor in the scientific literature. The purpose of this paper is to define a higher tier method to estimate the associated CO2 emissions with the fossil carbon content of biofuels, aiming to cover all possible biofuel types that are mainly used nowadays to replace diesel and gasoline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise in global food insecurity, pollution, and wildlife extinction caused by climate change, development policies are now tailored toward addressing this quagmire. However, the unresolved question is, are climate-related development finances effective in greening the environment in developing countries? In this milieu, this study assessed the effectiveness of climate-related development finances and renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions in Africa by applying the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique on data from 2000 to 2020 for 41 selected countries. The findings show that the overall climate-related development finances, adaptation-related development finances, and mitigation-related development finances have short-run carbon-enhancing and long-run carbon-reducing effects in Africa. Similarly, renewable energy consumption and the net inflows of foreign direct investment have short-run worsening and long-run carbon-abatement effects in Africa. In contrast, higher GDP per capita, urbanization, and higher energy intensity are effective in reducing CO2 emissions in Africa only in the short run, however, they exacerbate CO2 emissions in Africa over the long run. In this light, the study underscores the need to invest heavily in climate-related development projects, and green technology innovation and production in Africa. The results also suggest the need to upgrade the current energy structure in Africa to renewable energy sources for a greener, cleaner, and brighter Africa. However, these policy perspectives require enough funds for effective implementation. Hence, the study calls on the developed countries (the polluters) to support Africa with the required funds to pay off climate debt by 2030 and build climate-resilient practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The developing countries rely heavily on imports of capital goods to spur economic growth. When the economy grows, energy consumption rises, adversely impacting climate change. The low levels of renewable energy share in total energy consumption, developing nations confront a difficult task in achieving the SDGs targets related to an increase in renewable energy share and access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy. Finding solutions to increase renewable energy usage is critical. International trade is an unavoidable part of development, prompting us to consider the impact of imports on renewable energy usage. This study explores the effects of imports of capital goods from China, EU and USA on renewable energy consumption in developing countries by using panel data from 20 countries spanning 2000–2018. It is found that capital goods imported from China in developing countries negatively impact renewable energy consumption while imports from EU have a positive impact on renewable energy consumption. However, in the case of US it is found negative but insignificant. The role of economic, social, and political globalization is explored, and it is found that three types of globalization are positively and significantly linked with renewable energy consumption. Thus, this study recommends that trade policies complement domestic efforts toward increasing renewable energy production and consumption in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh—recently graduated to developing nation category from a least developed country with an emerging economy also is one of the severely affected countries by climate change—is heading towards a coal-intensive electricity generation mix contrary to global decarbonisation efforts. It is facing formidable challenges in achieving universal access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity, decarbonising the energy mix by 2030 to achieve the objective of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, despite a 285% increase of installed capacity between 2008–09 and 2020–21 and aiming at achieving 40 GW and 60 GW by 2030 and 2041 with planned expansions, respectively. This study reviewed Bangladesh's electricity sector developments—demand, generation, transmission, and distribution (T&D)—to identify progress in policies, drivers, and challenges behind the Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-intensive future direction. The rapid population and economic growth and shift towards industry-based economy drove the exponential growth in energy demand, eventually influencing the rapid generation capacity and T&D infrastructure development. However, Bangladesh has targeted transitioning from natural gas to coal dominating fuel mix due to the lower renewable potential, energy, and food security challenges, because of the anticipated substantial future electricity demand for becoming an Upper Middle and a High-income country by 2031 and 2041, respectively. We also recommended nuclear energy, (renewable) electricity import and floating solar plants to decarbonise the current trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, as China has become the factory of the world, China’s industrial sectors have become the country’s main source of energy consumption and emissions including CO2, SO2, NOx and soot. This article will use the non-radial directional dispersion function model (DDF) to explore ways to improve both the energy efficiency and the emission efficiency of China’s industrial sectors. Based on current research, this article proposes a new projected input for the treatment of industrial waste gas, and optimizes the projected input and output settings. The data analysis shows that there is room for improvement in China’s energy efficiency, and its regional imbalances have expanded. The Chinese government is urged to pay more attention to the improvement of energy efficiency in the central and western regions, and to provide more policy support. Simultaneously, the paper attemtps to establish measurement indexes to improve the efficiency of emission reduction. As a result, the authors suggest that increasing government expenditure can play a positive role in the overall improvement of emission reduction efficiency.

The present study investigates the long-run impact of financial development, energy consumption and economic growth on greenhouse gas emissions for India, in the presence of endogenous structural breaks, over the period 1971–2013. The autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing procedure (ARDL) and Hatemi-J threshold cointegration technique were used to test the variables for cointegration. ARDL bounds test did not confirm any cointegrating relationship between the variables. The threshold cointegration test establishes the presence of long-run impact of financial development, energy use and economic growth on greenhouse gas emissions in India. The results reveal that the long-run relationship between the variables has witnessed two regime shifts, in 1978 and 2002. The empirical evidence shows that financial sector development and energy consumption in India degrade the environment. Unlike previous studies, this paper finds no statistical evidence of a long-run relationship between economic growth and environmental deterioration. The study also challenges the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve in India.