ENERGY AND THE CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainable Development
and Energy
Sustainable Development (SD)
Definition
Different world views
Concepts
History
Why Energy and SD?

Sustainable Development
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"
Brundtland Commission
“Our common future” 1987

Different world views - The Cowboy Economy
Circular flow between firms and consumers
Seemingly perpetual – sustainable?
Success measured by the amount of stuff moving through
Reckless, romantic, not realistic

Different world views - The Spaceship Economy
Expanding system boundaries
Limited reservoir of materials on earth
Economy uses inputs from the environment and emits waste
Must limit throughput
Limits to growth? – Applies to energy? How?

Planetary boundaries
Providing a safe operating space for humanity!
Rockstrom et al. 2009. Science

Group of researchers defined nine planetary boundaries – in which humanity could operate safely.
Interactions between them
Quantify seven (excl: chemical pollution, aerosol loading):
Climate change
Ocean acidification
Stratospheric ozone
Biogeochemical nitrogen and phosphorous
Global freshwater use
Land system change
Loss of biodiversity

350 ppm
>80% preind. Argonite conc.
<5% reduction from
preind. Levels (290 DU)
<25% total natural
N2 fixation
<4000 km3/yr
<10 E/MS/Y
<15% of global
Ice free surface to cropland

The real world - only one earth!
There is no Planet B

Sustainable Development
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"
Brundtland Commission
“Our common future” 1987

Three Dimensions of SD
Social
Economic
Environmental
The challenge: Balancing economic development with social and environmental objectives
Agenda 21 - and Local Agenda 21

Different World Views

Different World Views

The three dimensions
Mohan Munasinghe – three dimensions
Economic: Maximize income while maintaining a constant or increasing stock of capital
Ecological: Maintaining resilience and robustness of biological and physical systems
Socio-cultural: Maintaining the stability of social and cultural systems
Triple bottom line

Economic dimension
Jonathan Harris Tufts U
An economically sustainable system must be able to produce goods and services on a continuing basis, to maintain manageable size of government and external debt and to avoid sectoral imbalances (maintain diversity).

Environmental dimension
Jonathan Harris Tufts U
A stable resource base, do not overwhelm the waste assimilative ability of the environment nor the regenerative services of the environment, deplete non-renewables only to the extent we invest in renewable substitutes.

Social Dimension
Jonathan Harris Tufts U
Achieve distributional equity, adequate provision of social services including health and education, gender equity and political accountability and participation

To keep in mind
Difficult to assess what exactly is sustainable – or when exactly we are sustainable
Can identify when we are moving towards or away from sustainability
Can move away from SD in one dimension towards SD in others
End of the rainbow analogy

Weak vs Strong sustainability
Weak sustainability; man made and natural capital substitutable. Sum must be non-declining. Positive movement overall
Implications? Tradeoffs allowed
Strong sustainability; man made and natural capital with limited substitutability, each stock must be non-declining separately. Positive movement in all D.
Implications? No tradeoffs

Different World Views

Natural Capital – Energy Resources
Two types:
Renewable or active capital
Providing extractable renewable resources, and provide services without being extracted (ex. Waste assimilation).
Nonrenewable or passive capital
Inactive (passive). Provide no services until extracted. Ex. Fossil fuels
Perpetual resources - only provide flow services and have no stock counterpart

The SD principle – meant to deliver
Economic growth and equity; not leaving any region behind
Conserving natural resources and the environment; for us and future generations
Social development; Ensure rich fabric of social and cultural diversity, ensure rights of workers, empowerment and at the same time ensure jobs, education, food, health care, energy etc.

The Issue
How to balance economic development with social and environmental objectives? - How to plan for SD? What is the role of energy?
Always needs to be context driven
Location (geography, state of development), resource endowments, size of population, structure of economy, governance etc.

History of SD
1. The Beginning
1962; “Silent spring” – Rachel Carson
1967 Environment defense fund pursues legal options to protect environment
1968 Paul Ehrlich “The population bomb”
1968 Club of Rome

History
The Beginning
UN GA authorizes the Human Environment conference in Stockholm
1969 NEPA formed – EPA established
1970 - 71 Natural Resources Defense Council formed, earth day, Greenpeace established
1972 Club of Rome report published “Limits to Growth”

First Conference – first milestone
1972 Stockholm, United Nations Conference on Human Environment
First international recognition of environmental problems and the link between human behavior and environmental issues
Focus on environment vs development
Concept Sustainable development argued as the solution to this dilemma
Led to creation of UNEP

First Conference 1972
Conference themes
the interdependence of human beings and the natural environment;
the links between economic and social development and environmental protection; and
the need for a global vision and common principles.

The Road to Rio
2. Towards Rio
1972 Oil Crisis
Evidence mounts for increasing scarcity
1980 World Conservation strategy released (IUCN)
Towards Sustainable development
Poverty, population pressure, inequity, trade
1983 World Commission on Environment and Development formed
Gro Harlem Brundtland (chair)

World Commission on Environment and Development
Mandate to work for 3 years to:
To propose long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development to the year 2000 and beyond;
To recommend ways in which concern for the environment may be translated into greater co-operation among developing countries and between countries at different stages of economic and social development
To consider ways and means by which the international community can deal more effectively with environmental concerns, in the light of the other recommendations in its report;
To help to define shared perceptions of long-term environmental issues

2. The Road to Rio
1984 Worldwatch publishes the first State of the World Report
1985 Antarctic ozone hole confirmed
1985 Villach Austria, climate change predicted
1986 IUCN Conference on Environment and Development
1987 Our Common Future Published
Prompts the Earth Summit in Rio

Our Common Future – second Milestone
Argue for a new era of economic growth, growth that is forceful, and at the same time environmentally and socially sustainable.
Three dimensions of SD
Environment
Economics
Social
Not clear on specifics

The Earth Summit – third milestone
1992, The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
Rio 1992
178 nations
2400 NGO´s
17000 participants
Unparalleled emphasis and interest in the environment – and how to achieve balanced solutions

The Earth Summit
Outcomes
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
Agenda 21
Convention on Biological Diversity
Forest Principles
Framework Convention on Climate Change
Establishing the CSD – began operating in 1993

Rio Declaration – Key highlights
Humans at the center
States have the right to use their own resources as they see fit
Must integrate the environment into development plans
Should facilitate increased public participation
States should enact environmental legislation and should cooperate where needed
Should actively discourage or prevent relocation of activities or substances harmful to the environment or human health
Apply the Precautionary approach
Internalize environmental costs and use economic instruments
EIA should be undertaken for proposed activities
Peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible

Agenda 21
A comprehensive blueprint of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the UN, governments, and major groups in every area in which humans influence the environment.
The task is to balance economic development with social and environmental objectives
21?
40 Chapters, 4 sections, 100 programme areas
Non-binding

Local Agenda 21
Agenda 21 involves action at international, national, regional and local levels.
Some national and state governments have legislated or advised that local authorities take steps to implement the plan locally (Chapter 28)
Such programmes are often known as 'Local Agenda 21' or 'LA21'.

History – After Rio
3. After Rio
1993 First meeting of the CSD
1995 World Summit for Social development
1996 The Summit of the Americas on SD
1997 UN GA review of the Earth Summit progress
2000 UN Millennium Summit – declaration of the Millennium Goals
2001 EU sustainable development strategy
2002 Rio plus 10 – Johannesburg
2012 Rio plus 20 - Rio

Millennium Declaration
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) form a blueprint agreed to by all the world´s countries and all the world´s leading development institutions.
The goals….

The Millennium Goals
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Achieve gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria
Ensure environmental sustainability
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs
reverse loss of environmental resources
Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water
Develop a global partnership for sustainability

Rio plus 10. Johannesburg; 4rth milestone
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
2002 Johannesburg
Established to assess progress on implementation of the results of the Rio summit – in particular Agenda 21.
The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit 2002) affirmed UN commitment to 'full implementation' of Agenda 21, alongside achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and other international agreements.
Non-binding
No new conventions

Johannesburg
Focus:
Social pillar of SD
Fight poverty
Mutually enhancing poverty and environmental degradation is one of the factors preventing SD
Address equitable access to resources
Debt relief programs
Increasing ODA

The three dimensions
The three conferences defined the three dimensions
Stockholm (Environment)
Rio (Economics)
Johannesburg (Social)

Energy and SD

Focus on Energy - Why?
Energy plays a key role in all three dimensions of Sustainable Development:
A principal motor of macroeconomic growth
Energy “causing” GDP and vice versa
A source of environmental stress (all types – but in different quantities!)
Climate change, acid rain, smog, subsidence etc.
A prerequisite for meeting basic human needs
HDI closely linked to access to high quality energy
=> A vital component of SD

Energy and Economic Prosperity
Require energy for everything! Laws of thermodynamics
Energy fuels the economy - access to cheap fossil energy fuels economic growth – cycle turns faster
Economic growth equals throughput through the economy (GDP) – bi-causal relationships
Source, Common and Stagl

Energy as a limiting factor – Expected increase!

Energy Use by Type – an issue?
World
OECD

How much is left? – A problem for economic growth and development?

Energy Use and Human Welfare
Social Dimension
As high quality energy use increases, human welfare (HDI) increases
Literacy
Schooling
Infant mortality
Income per capita
Source: WEA Update

Sub-indicators for HDI

Energy and Poverty
Poverty: Lack of access to basic human needs such as food, shelter, fuel, clothing, safe water, sanitation etc.
Inability to achieve a minimum standard of what is needed for material well-being
Energy services crucial input to primary development challenges
Supports provisioning of basic human needs
Issues: Lack of access, lack of availability

Energy ladder
Source: WEA Update

Energy and women
Four factors:
Resource base
Biomass
Must be collected
Health and safety impacts
Education
Household work
Primarily women – health impacts
Energy/climate policy
Energy resources not available to all
CDM projects clustered
Position of women
Impact not a sufficient concern

Energy use and the environment
Impact from extraction and use
Impact:
Global
Regional
Local: Community
Household
Source, Common and Stagl

Energy use and the environment - Global
GHG emissions from energy extraction and use
Fossil fuels
Biomass
Hydropower
Geothermal

GHG emissions per GWH

Regional impacts
Sox, Nox =>Acid rain
Fossil fuels
Geothermal
Impact:
Vegetation, aquatic life, soil chemistry, man-made structures

Community scale
Impact associated both with mining and extraction as well as use
Fossil fuels:
Mining: Subsidence, acid leakage, water pollution, methane leaks
Extraction: oil spills
Use: urban air pollution – smog, thermal
VOC´s, ozone, PM, NOx, SOx

Community scale
Nuclear:
Radiation, thermal
Wind:
Noise, birds, shadow effect, space
Geothermal:
Noise, emissions: H2S, volatile mercury, CO2, Effluent: thermal pollution, heavy metals, subsidence, water table impact

Community scale
Hydropower:
Reservoirs: GHG, lost land, impact downstream (erosion, lack of silt), biodiversity
Biomass:
Water, GHG, smog, space
Solar:
Space

Household scale
Energy ladder
Biomass related – home cooking fire
Impact:
Harvesting
Combustion
Incomplete combustion
CO, PM, Benzene, Butadiene, Formaldehyde
Impact on GHG

Fossil fuels versus alternatives
Differences between energy types?
Anything important with respect to the environmental impact?

Focus on Energy - Why?
Energy plays a key role in all three dimensions of Sustainable Development:
A principal motor of macroeconomic growth
Energy “causing” GDP and vice versa
A source of environmental stress (all types – but in different quantities!)
Climate change, acid rain, smog, subsidence etc.
A prerequisite for meeting basic human needs
HDI closely linked to access to high quality energy
=> A vital component of SD

Back to the Triangle
Energy is central to all three dimensions of SD!
Source: IAEA 2001

Sustainable Energy Development
The development of sustainable energy systems has ‘emerged as one of the priority issues in the move towards global sustainability’ (Malkina-Pykh et al. 2002)