Download Helen Roeth

ICTs and climate change mitigation in
the context of emerging economies
Presentation at ICTD 2010
Session 1206 “ICTs, Climate Change and Development”
London, 13 December 2010
Helen Roeth
[email protected]
Emerging Economies’
Climate Change Challenge
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Rapid development
Infrastructure investments
Increasing domestic consumption
Workshops of the world
Major increase in GHG emissions
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Poverty
Energy poverty
Limited access to public services
Lack of infrastructure
Catch-up growth needed
Need for low carbon growth
Per capita emissions 2000 > 2007
Developing countries
less than 0.5 t
India 1.1 t > 1.4 t
China 2.7 t > 4.9 t
South Africa 8.2 t > 8.8 t
Japan 9.5 t > 9.8 t
Developing countries account for 50
percent of global GHG emissions
By 2030 this figure is expected to rise to
65 percent
Australia 17.2 t > 17.9 t
USA 20 t > 18.9 t
Low carbon growth path
• Inequalities in GHG emission accounts mirror the
relationship between economic growth, industrial
development and access to modern energy services
• Need to expand provision of affordable energy and other
crucial public services to the world’s poor
• Need to reduce growth in greenhouse gas emissions
 Need for low carbon growth and for technological
‘leapfrogging’
Technologies are already available
… but suitable for emerging economies?
Carbon footprints
Developing countries
Developed countries
Key opportunity areas
• Low-cost energy efficient ICT
devices
• Energy generation and distribution
• Urban centres of consumption
• Land-use change and deforestation
• Production and international trade
of goods
 ICT-based solutions that reconcile
growth imperative with urgent
necessity to mitigate further growth
in greenhouse gas emissions
Energy generation and distribution
• The challenge
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Rapidly rising demand for energy
High carbon intensity of supply
High grid losses
Rising energy costs
Need for large investments
• Decarbonising energy supply & demand
– Reducing reliance on centralised generation
– Improving grid efficiency through active monitoring
– Support energy saving through smart meters
• Example of technologies and services
– Meters and energy accounting software for
monitoring energy consumption
– Protocols for grid-wide system interoperability to
support integration of renewable/distributed energy
Recommendations
• Clear opportunity for ICT-enabled climate change mitigation
in emerging economies
• Technology transfer
– Broader deployment of ICT in developing and emerging
economies
• Building innovative capacity
– Transform developing countries to become low-carbon
technology producers and innovators
– Foster competitiveness of local industries and create
new business opportunities
– Catalyse domestic capacity to adapt and develop
technologies and help diffuse innovations
Thank you!
Helen Roeth
[email protected]
Catching up or leading the way?
• North Delhi Power Limited
– Distributes electricity to five million people in the Delhi
metropolitan area
– Invested in smarter grid to reduce energy losses from
54 percent to less than 18 percent over the past 5 years
• Chery Automobile Co., China
– Partnering with the Danish ICT company Better Place
to co-develop prototype electrical vehicles and charging
stations
– China has set industrial policy with the objective of
becoming the largest EV developer and manufacturer in
the world
Enabling effect of ICT
• Dematerialisation
– Replacing physical goods, processes or travel with ‘virtual’ alternatives
– E.g. video-conferencing or e-commerce
• Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication
– Underlying enabler of a large share of GHG emission savings identified
through process optimization
– E.g. smart grids, smart logistics, smart buildings, or smart motor systems
• Systemic impacts
– Behavioural effects such as new habits and consumption patterns that
humans develop as a result of ICT use
– Consumers control or influence 60 percent of all GHG emissions (of which 35
percent are under direct consumer control through their own consumption and
use)
Production and international trade of goods
• Around one-quarter of the growth in
developing country emissions since
2000 was associated with
international trade
• China: 30 % of the growth in
emissions between 1990- 2002
attributable to the production and
international trade of exports
• Opportunities
– cross-border transportation and
logistics
– manufacturing in emerging
economies
SMART Grids: The Role of ICT
Source: GESI and The Climate Group, 2008