SE4Jobs Toolbox - Co-benefits

SE4Jobs Toolbox – Laying the foundations for a sustainable development

• Overview
• Assessment
• Actors
• Policies & Measures
• Strategic Planning

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 assessment of co-benefits? [Expand] [Text] 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).