Energy Crops | Climate Change – Impacts of Global Warming
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts. Highlights of the projected impacts of climate change on the Latin America region based on the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC.
Freshwater: Changes in rainfall patterns and the disappearance of glaciers are expected to significantly affect water availability for drinking and cooking, agriculture and energy generation.
Food: In drier areas, climate change is expected to lead to salinisation and desertification of agricultural land. Productivity of some important crops is projected to decrease. Livestock productivity is expected to decline. These have clear implications for food security. In temperate zones soybean yields are projected to increase.
Ecology and biodiversity: By mid-century, increases in temperature and associated decreases in soil water are projected to lead to gradual replacement of tropical forest by savanna in eastern Amazonia. Semi-arid vegetation will tend to be replaced by arid-land vegetation. There is a risk of significant biodiversity loss through species extinction in many areas of tropical Latin America.
Marine life and fisheries: Sea-level rise is projected to cause increased risk of flooding in low-lying areas. Increases in sea surface temperature due to climate change are projected to have adverse effects on Mesoamerican coral reefs, and cause shifts in the location of south-east Pacific fish stocks.
UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Dec./2015): Recognizing that climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet and thus requires the widest possible cooperation by all countries, and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, with a view to accelerating the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions, Also recognizing that deep reductions in global emissions will be required in order to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention and emphasizing the need for urgency in addressing climate change, Acknowledging that climate change is a common concern of humankind, Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights, the right to health, the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity.
Emphasizing with serious concern the urgent need to address the significant gap between the aggregate effect of Parties’ mitigation pledges in terms of global annual emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 and aggregate emission pathways consistent with holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels;
Also emphasizing that enhanced pre‐2020 ambition can lay a solid foundation for enhanced post‐2020 ambition;
Stressing the urgency of accelerating the implementation of the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol in order to enhance pre-2020 ambition;
Recognizing the urgent need to enhance the provision of finance, technology and capacity-building support by developed country Parties, in a predictable manner, to enable enhanced pre-2020 action by developing country Parties;
Emphasizing the enduring benefits of ambitious and early action, including major reductions in the cost of future mitigation and adaptation efforts;
Acknowledging the need to promote universal access to sustainable energy in developing countries, in particular in Africa, through the enhanced deployment of renewable energy;
Agreeing to uphold and promote regional and international cooperation in order to mobilize stronger and more ambitious climate action by all Parties and non-Party stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, financial institutions, cities and other subnational authorities, local communities and indigenous peoples.
Energy Crops | Climate Change – Impacts of Global Warming – Opportunities
National and multilateral banks that support the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plays an important role in leading the region on a green growth path through financing and innovative technologies. From 2011 to 2014, ADB approved over USD 13 billion in climate financing, with USD 12.6 billion in loans, grants, guarantees and equity investments and USD 438 million in technical assistance. Its own resources equalled USD 11.2 billion, while external resources contributed a little over USD 2.0 billion. Through mechanisms such as the Climate Investment Funds, multilateral development banks have mobilized USD 6.5 billion for climate action in developing countries, with USD 2.5 billion earmarked for Asia and the Pacific.
The African Development Bank promotes climate-resilient and low-carbon development within African countries. Its Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) puts in place activities designed to achieve climate-related objectives and mobilize resources at scale. The bank has made a commitment to invest USD 9.6 billion between 2011 and 2015 to finance its CCAP activities. Having made investments of USD 5.2 billion between 2011 and 2013, it is on target to meet, if not surpass, that commitment, with an increasing number of climate-smart investments.
The Banco de Desarollo de America Latina (CAF) provides financing support for energy efficiency (EE) to urban communities in the region as well as integrated technical assistance support. Specifically, CAF works with governments on formulating policies, strengthening institutions and building capacity. The support enables sovereign borrowers to overcome barriers, including a lack of finance guarantees and credit rating, poor governance, weak institutions, low technical capacity and a lack of information. Examples of projects include pre-feasibility studies to introduce deep seawater air conditioning systems in coastal areas (<http://www.caf.com/>).
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) under the Sustainable Energy Initiative supports EE- and climate-related activities through: technical assistance (energy audits, feasibility studies, project implementation, etc.); incentives and grants; market rate and concessional financing; and enabling policies and regulations. Thus far, EBRD has invested EUR 950 million in EE or buildings since 2006 and intermediated the financing of 83,000 buildings through 107 local finance institutions in 20 countries (<http://www.ebrd.com/home>).
The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF) was established in 2009 by the European Investment Bank (EIB) with initial funding from the European Union and the Governments of Germany and Norway. GEEREF provides funding for privately managed renewable energy (RE) and EE funds at the regional and global levels. Through this effort, the fund’s country teams invest in commercially sustainable projects supported by public–private partnerships with domestic and international public and private financiers. EIB provides support to attract private capital by reviewing and providing input to the fund’s strategies, including legal input, technical assistance to the country teams and fund managers, and fundraising. (<http://geeref.com/>)
The Inter-American Development Bank has two programmes that are of particular relevance to EE in urban environments: (1) the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative, which works with cities on integrated approaches to environmental sustainability, climate change mitigation and adaptation, fiscal sustainability and good governance; and (2) the Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Strategic Area, which works with cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (<http://www.iadb.org/>)
The Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) development bank is a German bank that provides grants, loans and technical assistance to developing countries to support the procurement of EE, RE and energy access projects. KfW also offers credit lines for investment in EE by local financing institutions in buildings and other EE projects (<https://www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de/International-financing/KfWDevelopment-Bank/Topics/Energy/>)
The World Bank supports clean energy development around the world through various programmes and initiatives. Key efforts include Readiness for Investment in Sustainable Energy, which sets out RE investment climate indicators to compare countries globally. As another notable example, the World Bank supports scaled-up finance and risk mitigation for RE projects, such as political risk insurance guarantees through the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (<http://www.worldbank.org/>)
International organizations, initiatives & focusing on crosscutting actions in the energy sector:
The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), through a global forum, brings together countries and institutions to support effective clean energy policy development and share good practices and lessons learned based on experience (<http://www.cleanenergyministerial.org/>);
The Clean Energy Solutions Center is an initiative of CEM, supporting renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) policy design and development around the world. It provides a no-cost ‘ask an expert’ service to support effective policymaking, as well as policy training, webinars, briefs and analysis (<https://cleanenergysolutions.org/>);
CEM also facilitates the International Smart Grid Assistance Network, which provides a forum for countries and institutions to share lessons learned and good practices related to smart technologies and measures (<http://www.iea-isgan.org/>);
The International Energy Agency (IEA) works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its member countries and beyond. Through the Renewable Energy Division at the Secretariat and the Implementing Agreements on RE technologies (IEA-Photovoltaics power system programme, IEA-Wind, IEA-Bioenergy, etc.) and policies (IEA-Renewable energy technology deployment), it supports the further development of RE technologies, markets and policies and the dissemination of experience and expertise (<http://www.iea.org/>);
The Low Carbon Finance Group, Chatham House, bringing together private and public finance leaders from around the world, supports policymakers in catalysing investment (debt, equity and various funding mechanisms) in RE and other low-carbon projects and initiatives (<www.chathamhouse.org>);
The Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership brings together over 120 countries and institutions to share lessons learned and good practices in order to catalyse low-emission, climate-resilient development. Regional platforms in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean are pursuing several clean energy activities and the Energy Working Group has developed various resources and tools to support low-carbon planning for the energy sector (<http://ledsgp.org/sector/energy>);
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), through collaboration with various institutions and initiatives, supports clean energy development around the world. In addition to direct project support, REEEP has developed several tools, resources and databases to support RE and energy efficiency (EE) policy design and implementation (<http://www.reeep.org/>);
United Nations initiative Sustainable Energy for All, through a global network of public and private institutions, has three key goals: providing universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in EE; and doubling the share of RE in the global energy mix. The initiative supports flagship programmes to advance EE and country-level and high-impact actions. The main EE initiatives are coordinated under the so-called Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform (<http://www.se4all.org/>).
China and so far USA agreed and endorsed the Paris Agreement during the G-20 meeting in 09/2016
Source: United Nations – UNFCCC Studies & Reports – Dec. 2015