Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
7/10/2015
Cooperation between developed and developing countries in low-carbon research and development will help countries ease the burden of investment and avoid lock-in to high-carbon infrastructure, according to a report released this week by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, an international initiative commissioned by Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Norway, South Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom. “The Commission recommends that emerging and developed country governments work together, and with the private sector and developing countries, in strategic partnerships to accelerate research, development and demonstration (RD&D) in low-carbon technology areas critical to post-2030 growth and emissions reduction. This includes innovation in agriculture; in longer-term solutions such as bioenergy and carbon capture, utilisation and storage; and in ways to avoid lock-in of carbon-intensive infrastructure (buildings, electricity networks, transport systems). There is also a critical need for cooperation to target or adapt innovations to developing-country needs,” according to the report.
Among several recommendations made in the report, the commission points to a need to develop carbon capture and storage as paramount in keeping the costs of climate mitigation efforts reasonable. “Studies suggest that a major delay in [CCS’s] availability could increase total discounted mitigation costs by 138 to 2100.261 [percent]. The [International Energy Agency] projects that CCUS could provide 13 [percent] of the cumulative energy emissions required for a 2°C scenarios by 2050,” according to the report. The report also notes that the International Energy Agency has estimated that to meet to 2°C scenario, investment in low-carbon technologies, including carbon, capture utilization and storage, will need to be an average of $520 billion per year between 2014 and 2035.
The report makes several suggestions to incentivize investment in low-carbon research and development, including ending fossil fuel subsidies and adopting a carbon price. These actions would work to disincentive the use of unabated fossil fuels. The Commission also recommends that, “to bring down the costs of financing clean energy and catalyse private investment, multilateral and national development banks scale up their collaboration with governments and the private sector, and their own capital commitments, with the aim of reaching a global total of at least US$1 trillion of investment per year in low-carbon power supply and (non-transport) energy efficiency by 2030,” according to the report.
