Co-benefits of climate change mitigation

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Co-benefits of climate change mitigation;
active lifestyle, benefits to wildlife and the natural environment,
economic development and employment, air quality,
energy access, urban resilience and decarbonisation

Co-benefits of climate change mitigation as defined in the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are the positive benefits related to the reduction of greenhouse gases.[1] Examples of such climate mitigation policies include improved energy efficiency of plants, renewable energy uptake and fuel switching which might enable a range of co-benefits such as air-pollution impacts, technological innovation, energy-supply security through increased energy diversity, reduced fuel cost and employment possibilities.[1]

Co-benefits in policy-making[]

Co-benefits of GHG mitigation can be an important decision criteria in analyses carried out by policy-makers, but they are often neglected, and often the co-benefits are not quantified, monetised or even identified by businesses and decision-makers. Appropriate consideration of co-benefits can greatly influence policy decisions concerning the timing and level of mitigation action, and there can be significant advantages to the national economy and technical innovation.[1] Co-benefits increasingly emerged on the stage of international, political debates. The IPCC first mentioned the role of co-benefits in 2001, followed by its fourth and fifth assessment cycle stressing improved working environment, reduced waste, health benefits and reduced capital expenditures.[2] In the early 2000s the OECD was further fostering its efforts in promoting ancillary benefits.[3] During the past decade, co-benefits have been discussed by several other international organisations: The International Energy Agency (IEA) spelled out the “multiple benefits approach” of energy efficiency while the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) operationalised the list of co-benefits of the renewable energy sector.[4][5] Meanwhile, the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement acknowledges mitigation co-benefits from Parties’ action plans.[6] Co-benefits have been integrated in official national policy documents such as India's National Action Plan on Climate Change or the updated Vietnamese National Determined Contributions.[7][8]

[9] Co-benefits in research[]

Positive secondary effects that occur from climate mitigation and adaptation measures have been mentioned in research since the 1990s.[10][11] The term co-benefits refers to „simultaneously meeting several interests or objectives resulting from a political intervention, private sector investment or a mix thereof. Opportunistic co-benefits appear as auxiliary or side effect while focusing on a central objective or interest. Strategic co-benefits result from a deliberate effort to seizing several opportunities (e.g., economic, business, social, environmental) with a single purposeful intervention.“[12] Co-benefits, also often referred to as ancillary benefits, have been addressed in scientific literature and were firstly dominated by studies that describe how lower GHG emissions lead to better air quality and consequently impact human health positively.[13][14] The scope of co-benefits research expanded to its economic, social, ecological and political implications. From an economic perspective, co-benefits can enhance increased employment through carbon tax revenues and the implementation of renewable energy.[15][16] A higher share of renewables can additionally lead to more energy security.[17] Socioeconomic co-benefits have been analysed such as energy access in rural areas and improved rural livelihoods.[18][19] Despite climate protection, mitigation policies can foster additional ecological trade-offs such as improved soil conservation, fertility, biodiversity and wildlife habitat.[20][21] Further, mitigation policies bear opportunities for capacity building, participation and forest governance for local communities.[19]

Different research groups currently examine the impacts of co-benefits of climate change mitigation. One of these projects is the COBENEFITS project of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany. The COBENEFITS project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag. The project is conducted in close collaboration with government ministries, agencies, research institutions, and think tanks as political partners and knowledge partners in the target countries. These four target countries are India, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam. The project team, thereby, cooperates with national authorities and knowledge partners to develop key insights that enable them to mobilise these co-benefits in their countries and accelerate domestic processes aimed at achieving their international climate protection commitments.

Main co-benefits[]

Active lifestyle[]

Main article: Active living

Biking reduces greenhouse gas emissions[22] while reducing the effects of a sedentary lifestyle at the same time[23] According to PLoS Medicine: "obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, which are in part related to physical inactivity, may be reduced by a switch to low-carbon transport—including walking and cycling."[24]

Clean air[]

Climate change mitigation policies can lead to lower emissions of co-emitted air pollutants, for instance by shifting away from fossil fuel combustion. In addition, gases such as black carbon and methane contribute both to global warming and to air pollution, such that their mitigation can bring benefits in terms of limiting global temperature increases as well as improving air quality.[25] Implementation of the climate pledges made in the run-up to the Paris Agreement could therefore have significant benefits for human health by improving air quality.[26] The replacement of coal-based energy with renewables can lower the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution. A higher share of renewable energy and consequently less coal-related respiratory diseases can decrease health costs.[27]

Employment and economic development[]

Co-benefits can positively impact employment, industrial development, states’ energy independence and energy self-consumption. The deployment of renewable energies can foster job opportunities. Depending on the country and deployment scenario, replacing coal power plants with renewable energy can more than double the number of jobs per average MW capacity.[28] Investments in renewable energies, especially in solar- and wind energy, can boost the value of production.[29] Countries which rely on energy imports can enhance their energy independence and ensure supply security by deploying renewables. National energy generation from renewables lowers the demand for fossil fuel imports which scales up annual economic saving.[30] Households and businesses can additionally benefit from investments in renewable energy. The deployment of rooftop solar and PV-self-consumption creates incentives for low-income households and can support annual savings for the residential sector.[31]

Energy access[]

Positive secondary effects from mitigation strategies also occur on the socioeconomic dimension. The full electrification of remote areas through a centralised power grid remains often impeded by black outs. Rural areas which are not fully electrified can benefit from the deployment of renewable energies. Solar-powered mini-grids can remain economically viable, cost-competitive and reduce the number of power cuts. Energy reliability has additional social implications: stable electricity improves the quality of education.[32]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c IPCC. "Co-benefits of climate change mitigation". Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change. IPCC. Archived from the original on 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  2. ^ Metz, Bert (2001). Climate change 2001 : mitigation : contribution of Working Group III to the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80769-7. OCLC 46640845.
  3. ^ Ancillary Benefits and Costs of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation. 2000-10-25. doi:10.1787/9789264188129-en. ISBN 9789264185425.
  4. ^ IRENA (2016). "Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring the Economics".
  5. ^ IEA (2015). "Capturing the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency".
  6. ^ UNFCCC (2015). "Adoption of the Paris Agreement".
  7. ^ Government of India (2009). "National Action Plan on Climate Change" (PDF).
  8. ^ Government of Vietnam (2020). "Updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)" (PDF).
  9. ^ Thambiran, Tirusha; Diab, Roseanne D. (May 2011). "Air pollution and climate change co-benefit opportunities in the road transportation sector in Durban, South Africa". Atmospheric Environment. 45 (16): 2683–2689. Bibcode:2011AtmEn..45.2683T. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.02.059. ISSN 1352-2310.
  10. ^ Ayres, Robert U.; Walter, Jörg (1991). "The greenhouse effect: Damages, costs and abatement". Environmental & Resource Economics. 1 (3): 237–270. doi:10.1007/bf00367920. ISSN 0924-6460. S2CID 41324083.
  11. ^ =Pearce, David William (1992). The secondary benefits of greenhouse gas control. Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment. OCLC 232159680.
  12. ^ Helgenberger, Sebastian; Jänicke, Martin; Gürtler, Konrad (2019-10-25), "Co-benefits of Climate Change Mitigation", Climate Action, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 327–339, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-95885-9_93, ISBN 978-3-319-95884-2, S2CID 242913643, retrieved 2021-03-09
  13. ^ Burtraw, Dallas; Krupnick, Alan; Palmer, Karen; Paul, Anthony; Toman, Michael; Bloyd, Cary (May 2003). "Ancillary benefits of reduced air pollution in the US from moderate greenhouse gas mitigation policies in the electricity sector". Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 45 (3): 650–673. doi:10.1016/s0095-0696(02)00022-0. ISSN 0095-0696.
  14. ^ "Cobenefits".
  15. ^ Yamazaki, Akio (May 2017). "Jobs and climate policy: Evidence from British Columbia's revenue-neutral carbon tax". Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 83: 197–216. doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2017.03.003. ISSN 0095-0696. S2CID 157293760.
  16. ^ Cai, Wenjia; Wang, Can; Chen, Jining; Wang, Siqiang (October 2011). "Green economy and green jobs: Myth or reality? The case of China's power generation sector". Energy. 36 (10): 5994–6003. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2011.08.016. ISSN 0360-5442.
  17. ^ Mondal, Md. Alam Hossain; Denich, Manfred; Vlek, Paul L.G. (December 2010). "The future choice of technologies and co-benefits of CO2 emission reduction in Bangladesh power sector". Energy. 35 (12): 4902–4909. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2010.08.037. ISSN 0360-5442.
  18. ^ IASS/TERI (2019). "Secure and reliable electricity access with renewable energy mini-grids in rural India. Assessing the co-benefits of decarbonising the power sector" (PDF).
  19. ^ a b Chhatre, Ashwini; Lakhanpal, Shikha; Larson, Anne M; Nelson, Fred; Ojha, Hemant; Rao, Jagdeesh (December 2012). "Social safeguards and co-benefits in REDD+: a review of the adjacent possible". Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 4 (6): 654–660. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2012.08.006. ISSN 1877-3435.
  20. ^ Dumanski, Julian (August 2004). "Carbon Sequestration, Soil Conservation, and the Kyoto Protocol: Summary of Implications". Climatic Change. 65 (3): 255–261. doi:10.1023/b:clim.0000038210.66057.61. ISSN 0165-0009. S2CID 154440872.
  21. ^ Plantinga, Andrew J.; Wu, JunJie (February 2003). "Co-Benefits from Carbon Sequestration in Forests: Evaluating Reductions in Agricultural Externalities from an Afforestation Policy in Wisconsin". Land Economics. 79 (1): 74–85. doi:10.2307/3147106. ISSN 0023-7639. JSTOR 3147106. S2CID 154296319.
  22. ^ Blondel, Benoît; Mispelon, Chloé; Ferguson, Julian (November 2011). Cycle more Often 2 cool down the planet ! (PDF). European Cyclists’ Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  23. ^ "Cycling - health benefits". Better Health Channel. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  24. ^ A. Patz, Jonathan; C. Thomson, Madeleine (31 July 2018). "Climate change and health: Moving from theory to practice". PLOS Medicine. 15 (7): e1002628. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002628. PMC 6067696. PMID 30063707.
  25. ^ Anenberg, Susan C.; Schwartz, Joel; et al. (1 June 2012). "Global Air Quality and Health Co-benefits of Mitigating Near-Term Climate Change through Methane and Black Carbon Emission Controls". Environmental Health Perspectives. 120 (6): 831–839. doi:10.1289/ehp.1104301. PMC 3385429. PMID 22418651.
  26. ^ Vandyck, Toon; Keramidas, Kimon; et al. (22 November 2018). "Air quality co-benefits for human health and agriculture counterbalance costs to meet Paris Agreement pledges". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 4939. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.4939V. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06885-9. PMC 6250710. PMID 30467311.
  27. ^ IASS/CSIR (2019a). "Improving health and reducing costs through renewable energy in South Africa. Assessing the co-benefits of decarbonising the power sector" (PDF).
  28. ^ IASS/Green ID (2019). "Future skills and job creation through renewable energy in Vietnam. Assessing the co-benefits of decarbonising the power sector" (PDF).
  29. ^ IASS/IPC (2019). "Industrial development, trade opportunities and innovation with renewable energy in Turkey. Assessing the co-benefits of decarbonising the power sector" (PDF).
  30. ^ IASS/IPC (2020). "Securing Turkey's energy supply and balancing the current account deficit through renewable energy. Assessing the co-benefits of decarbonising the power sector" (PDF).
  31. ^ IASS/CSIR (2019b). "Consumer savings through solar PV self-consumption in South Africa. Assessing the co-benefits of decarbonising the power sector" (PDF).
  32. ^ IASS/TERI (2019). "Secure and reliable electricity access with renewable energy mini-grids in rural India. Assessing the co-benefits of decarbonising the power sector" (PDF).

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