Environment and Climate Change

This publication focuses on aspects of sustainability and the intersectorality of renewable energy deployment (synergies and trade-offs) with the aim of providing policy-makers with a conceptual framework to navigate them. More effective consideration of these aspects in policy-making can help maximize the benefits to society and the environment of the wide deployment renewable energy and at the same time reduce any associated negative impacts. In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development this approach can help achieve multiple SDGs simultaneously while reducing multi-sectoral competition for natural resources which are increasingly under pressure due to increasing demands climate change and widespread environmental degradation.

Strategic policy choices will not deliver on sustainable energy deployment without the active engagement of those actors who deal directly with project development on the ground. Such individuals in practical terms hold the key to realizing projects that are sustainable socially environmentally “nexus-proofed” and highly beneficial for local communities. Their task is to translate all these qualities into project plans that are technically feasible and financially sustainable. While this task is undeniably complex it is important to recognize that sustainability issues (particularly those related to the environment) are of increasing concern across the entire spectrum of society. Accordingly there is greater momentum towards investments projects and partnerships that explicitly seek to promote sustainability improve efficiency or resource use and increase innovation. In the case of renewable energy this trend can generate projects the benefits of which go far beyond the production of low-carbon electricity and that can easily qualify for impact financing. At the same time sustainable renewable energy planning (linking to the previous tracks) enables the identification of projects that avoid environmental social and economic conflicts. These are projects are less risky and consequently less costly.

Renewable energy potential is a resource that needs to be exploited to promote social well-being. In spite of the fact that by definition renewable resources are naturally replenished sub-optimal exploitation of these resources not only implies failure to capitalize on the benefits but also additional costs (e.g. opportunity costs associated with not utilizing a resource not utilizing it to its maximum potential or not utilizing it at the most appropriate time). In other words decision-making regarding the exploitation of this potential is limited by the sectoral costs and benefits.

The need to consider nexus sectors in renewable energy planning was first highlighted in a 2015 report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) entitled Renewable Energy in the Water Energy and Food Nexus. The report explored various synergies and trade-offs between renewable energy water and food production calling for the development of a practical assessment tool to identify quantify and assess the impact of energy policy choices in the energy-water-food-ecosystems nexus and conceptualizing the incorporation of sustainability concerns into renewable energy deployment. In the same year the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) published a methodology for assessing nexus issues in transboundary basins the first applications of which highlighted the important role of renewable energy.

This publication draws on the Renewable Energy “Hard Talks” carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2018) and in Serbia (2019) as well as from the Water-Food-Energy-Ecosystem “Nexus Assessments” carried out in the Western Balkans (2016-19) under the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. The active participation in these multistakeholder dialogues of policy-makers experts and civil society from the energy water environment agriculture and forestry sectors was instrumental in the conceptualization of the toolkit proposed in this report.

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted the economic and political background against which climate and trade policy have been discussed for decades particularly with respect to questions of climate finance subsidies and border carbon adjustments. As governments respond to both the Covid-19 and climate crises a comprehensive green recovery has the potential to reshape industries in ways that market forces alone would not. This publication thus explores the ways in which a green recovery is changing our perceptions about climate change trade and more generally sustainable development. It addresses the problems and prospects of achieving carbon neutrality the rise of the “low-touch” economy the security of resources in supply chains and the role of trade in creating new markets and improving access to climate friendly goods services and technologies. Finally it offers recommendations for a positive agenda on trade and climate to help rebuild support for international economic cooperation at a time when the legitimacy of global economic governance is increasingly in question.

The Glossary for Transport Statistics was published for the first time in 1994 with the purpose of assisting member countries during the collection of data on transport made by the UNECE the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT which became the International Transport Forum in 2006) and Eurostat through the Common Questionnaire.

A thematic map depicts the variation of one or sometimes several (see Section 3.7) geographic phenomena mapping location and attribute information together. Meeting the SDGs requires thematic mapping of indicator data. Thematic maps enable geographic imagination and spatial thinking and often represent abstract or statistical concepts that cannot be observed directly.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is one of the five United Nations regional commissions administered by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It was established in 1947 with the mandate to help rebuild post-war Europe develop economic activity and strengthen economic relations among European countries and between Europe and the rest of the world. During the Cold War UNECE served as a unique forum for economic dialogue and cooperation between East and West. Despite the complexity of this period significant achievements were made with consensus reached on numerous harmonization and standardization agreements.