CC0006 Sustainability: Society, Economy and Environment

Week 7

Energy and Climate Change (I)

Background, Technologies and Policy Instruments
Presented by Dr Swati Sharma, School of Social Sciences (Economics)

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 The World population is Rising Rapidly,
the Economy is Growing Too

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 The world wealth is highly unequal​

GDP per capita, PPP

(constant 2017
international $)

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 Close Interlinkage Between the
Economy and the Environment

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 Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Present global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are about 180 times higher than in 1850.
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 Atmospheric CO2 Concentration

The concentration of atmospheric CO2 is increasing at an unprecedented rate.

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 The Greenhouse
effect is a natural
process that makes
life possible on the
planet earth—the
problem is
artificially ramping
up the greenhouse
effect.

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 Effects of Global Warming
Global Warming
Global Warming ⇒ Climate Change

𝚺𝚺CO2 ⇒ Temperature Increases ⇒ Negative Effects

• Increased frequency • Extreme weather
and intensity of hot
• Food production
extremes
• Water supply
• Marine heatwaves
• Human health
• Heavy precipitation
• Reductions in Arctic
sea ice and snow
cover

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 Effects of Global Warming
Climate-fuelled disasters killed 475,000 people
between 2000 and 2019
More than $2.50 trillion of financial losses

Eckstein, D., Künzel, V. & Schäfer, L. (2021). Global climate risk index 2021. Germanwatch e.V. https://www.germanwatch.org/en/cri

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 Effects of Global Warming

Top ten countries: Reported deaths

Number of natural disasters reported (2000–2019)

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 Global Greenhouse Gases Emissions
• IPCC scientific evidence shows that CO2 has contributed more than any other
driver to climate change between 1750 and 2011.
Fluorinated Gases
2% Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
6%

Concentration
CO2: 100 to 1000 years
Methane (CH4)
16%
Lifetime CH4: More than a decade
N2O: More than a century
Global warming Fluorinated gases: Up to thousands of years
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
76%
potential

Global emissions of the major Greenhouse gases

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 Global Greenhouse Gases Emissions
Burning of fossil fuels for
road, rail, air, and marine
transportation

Burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal,

natural gas, and oil, etc.) for
Global emissions and electricity and heat generation
economic sectors
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 An estimated 771 million people do not have access to electricity.
95% of them live in Africa and Asia.
World Energy Outlook 2020

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 10 percent of the world's population
(around 734 million people) live in extreme
poverty.

About 690 million people globally are

undernourished, about 14 million children
under the age of five suffer from severe
acute malnutrition.
Estimates from the United Nations and other sources

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 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
• Sustainable development aims for a world in which World
economy
⁃ economic growth is widespread,
⁃ extreme poverty is eradicated,
⁃ community is strengthened through relevant policies that
promote social trust and equal opportunities for Sustainable
everyone, and Development

⁃ the environment is protected from human-induced Earth’s

Global
degradation. physical
society
environment

PEOPLE • PLANET • PROSPERITY

“Sustainable development is development that meets

the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our common future. United Nations Digital Library, https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/139811?ln=en

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 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
PEOPLE • PLANET • PROSPERITY

SDG 1: End extreme poverty SDG 11: Make cities and human
settlement sustainable—
decarbonisation and sustainability
SDG 7: Ensure access to
affordable, sustainable and
modern energy—end energy SDG 13: Take urgent action
poverty to combat climate change

SDG 8: Decent work and

economic growth for all
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 What is Energy Poverty?
2010
1.2 billion people
without access to
electricity
Energy poverty: “The lack of
access to sustainable modern
energy services and products”

2020
Image source: Newsclick.in

771 million people

without access to
electricity

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 The Night Sky

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 THERE IS NO MAGIC KEY
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 Possible Actions to Tackle
Climate Change
Action #1: Emissions mitigation
and adaptation

Advanced technologies, clean

energy, and behaviour change is
the first step towards
decarbonisation of the economy

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 Action #1: Emissions Mitigation and Adaptation
Climate Innovation
change
Efficient emission mitigation is the solution. actions

What kind of policy instruments or measures

can be used to cut (CO2)emissions
Efficient
emission Adaptation
efficiently?
mitigation

Carbon capture and

sequestration
Resilience towards
Energy- Low carbon
climate change
efficiency transition
Phasing out inefficient
consequences
coal power plants

New technologies: Fuel shift from

Clean energy
Super critical, blue fossil fuels to
hydrogen generation electricity
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 Clean Sources of Energy
1 Solar thermal: Wave Energy
1 Onshore wind:
Direct heating of water or air Land-based wind farms

Tidal Energy 2 Offshore wind:

2 Concentrated solar thermal: Wind farms in the bodies of water
Concentrated solar energy to
generate heat then electricity
Geothermal
3 Hybrid system: Solar + wind

3 Solar photovoltaics (PV):

Generate electricity using Biomass
photovoltaics panels 1 Run-of-river hydropower

Nuclear ? 2 Storage hydropower systems

4 Passive solar heating:
Naturally heat the buildings
Hydrogen 3 Pumped storage
fuel hydropower systems
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 Benefits and Pitfalls of Renewable Energy
Multi-fold benefits Constraints

Natural resource availability and

It will never run out.
intermittence

Reduces emissions → saves the

environment Storage issues

Overall, it saves you money. Higher upfront cost

Potential to add green jobs, local

Space intensive: Lots of land area is
employment, and electricity access to
required
remote locations

Mostly immune to market fluctuations,

stable energy prices, less dependence on Social acceptability
imported energy

PEOPLE • PLANET • PROSPERITY

Customised implementation plans and
investment in R & D might help us…
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 Energy Efficiency
• Greater output per unit of energy input
Energy conversion Useful energy
Energy
method or device output
input

• Use of technologies, systems or methods that require less energy for performing
the same task function, thus eliminating energy waste
Energy efficient technologies Reducing GHG emissions
Win-Win-Win

Saving of enormous amount of energy in Energy- Reducing demand for

heating, cooling, and ventilation of buildings; efficiency energy imports
electrical appliances, transport, and several
other applications
Lowering cost (household
level and economy wide)
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 Energy Efficiency
• Potential for energy-efficiency improvement in almost every sector of the economy

Zero energy
Efficient energy
buildings: Increased
generation and Efficient vehicles
energy efficiency +
distribution
renewable energy

Behaviour change: Use less Long-distance freight

energy, adopt energy-efficient transport, maritime and
appliances, cut wastage shipping

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 Global Installed Capacity of Renewable Energy

The share of renewables in

global electricity generation was
29% in 2020—a 2-percent
increase from 2019. (IEA, 2021)

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 Energy-Efficiency Improvement
Shows weather normalised figures

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 Possible Actions to Tackle
Climate Change
Action #2: Policies

Policy instruments may help to

accelerate the adoption of clean
energy and the overall
decarbonisation of the economy

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 In the Next Lecture…
Food for thought:

• How can you play a part in this fight

Policy Instruments against climate change?
Next week

Economics of Climate • Singapore’s plan to tackle climate change:

Change Is something missing? Can something
more be added to it? Is it just perfect?
Politics of Climate Change • Would the adoption of climate change
measures cause unemployment?
Global Cooperation • While addressing climate change, how can
Singapore ensure social inclusivity, equal
opportunities, and economic growth for all?

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© 2021 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. All Rights Reserved.