SE4Jobs Toolbox - Co-benefits

SE4Jobs Toolbox – Laying the foundations for a sustainable development

• Overview
• Assessment
• Actors
• Policies & Measures
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Existing Capacities

Co-benefits

Trade-offs

Tools PRODUSE EQuIP CADRE Interactive RE Toolkit AILEG HELIO ELMA

What is the issue of co-benefits about? [Expand] Expanding RE and improving EE can lead to numerous co-benefits, which can (more than) justify the high upfront investments. For example, co-benefits include: Contribution to local employment and development: Creation of jobs, including for skilled and unskilled workers; contribution to empowerment of women, young people, minorities; contribution to building technological capacity and local value through investments in RE/EE and cooperation on international technology transfers; etc. Improved energy safety and security: Reduced need for fuel imports; electrification of remote areas, potentially at lower costs compared to fossil fuels; etc. Financial and macro-economic impacts: Fostering new markets and new sources of income for public entities and private households that (over)compensate for losses in the conventional energy sector; etc. Environmental and health impacts: Reduced local air pollution in urban areas; reduced greenhouse gas emissions; increased resilience and reduced impacts of climate change, such as heat stress, water scarcity or malnutrition; etc. Providing evidence for these co-benefits can strengthen their legitimacy and boost support or reduce opposition. They should therefore be taken into account from the outset, alongside the main motivations in energy policy for investing in RE and EE. Why is the issue of co-benefits important for the expansion of RE and EE? [Expand] Strategies and policy measures that advance RE and EE compete with other policy goals over (more or less) scarce resources. Quite often, superficial assessments of the various technologies underestimate the benefits of a reduced dependency on fossil fuel energy, all the more so as externalities are generally not taken into account in the energy price. A better awareness of what co-benefits exist, and how they can be ‘harvested’ and distributed, can substantially increase support for RE and EE policies and investments. They are therefore vital for any large-scale and truly sustainable transition towards a new, low-carbon energy mix. What are key questions for addressing the issue of co-benefits? [Expand] Identifying the co-benefits of RE/EE can support your efforts in at least two key ways: by broadening your support base among societal stakeholders and by showing that the co-benefits for society outweigh the initial investment costs. Therefore, you have to (a) correctly identify the key concerns of the most relevant actors in your policy context and ensure that your respective roll-out strategies address them, (b) assess how they are likely to react to your proposals and whether they may turn into supporters or not, and (c) collect and communicate conclusive evidence substantiating the various positive (or negative) consequences of investments in RE/EE in the short and longer term. Thus, key questions to consider are: Who are the stakeholders within government (e.g. ministries and agencies) and outside government (e.g. business, industries, scientific community and NGOs) that may be positively (or negatively) affected by the expansion of RE/EE, and that are therefore likely to be supporters (or opponents) that should be won over (or side-lined)? This is commonly referred to as „stakeholder mapping“. Which kinds of co-benefits can be expected from RE and EE in the short and longer term, how do they relate to and interact with the concerns of the groups mentioned above, and what kinds of reactions is this likely to elicit? Areas in which to consider possible co-benefits are: Local employment and development: To which extent will these technologies act as a driver of growth and create new sources of income for local populations? How many (direct, indirect, induced) jobs could be created; for whom (e.g. youth, women or men); for which level of qualification (skilled / unskilled) and for what duration (short / long term)? How much added value would be created from the expansion of RE/EE, and how would this affect economic productivity? To which extent would these new opportunities help to reduce the overall resource and carbon-intensity of an economy and stimulate the evolution of more sound, sustainable modes of production and consumption? What role will these new economic opportunities play in supporting a better alignment of the economy as a whole with the increasingly low-carbon economy of the 21st Century? Improved energy safety and security: To what degree can RE and EE lower dependence on fossil fuels and enhance the resilience of an energy system? Do RE provide a useful approach to electrifying remote areas (or other marginal groups) that lack access to modern energy services? Can decentralized RE lower the costs of providing power to such non-electrified communities (compared to fossil fuels)? Financial and macro-economic impacts: How do RE and EE impact external and internal financial flows? How do they affect the trade balance and spending power of a country? Do they open up new avenues for domestic investments and create new jobs and sources of income for public entities and private households that (over)compensate for losses in the conventional energy sector? Environmental and health impacts: How much can RE and EE contribute to lowering air pollution and health hazards? To what extent can RE and EE investments lower climate change related impacts, such as heat stress, water scarcity or malnutrition? How can the assessment of co-benefits be addressed? [Expand] [Text] Background studies [Expand] [Text]

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Reference

This article is part of the RE-ACTIVATE project. RE-ACTIVATE “Promoting Employment through Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in the MENA Region” is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).