Renewable energy, climate change and carbon funding
Practical Action
Example: A typical 200 kW mini hydro electric scheme
would produce 28 GWh over its 25 year lifetime and
approximately 140 tonnes of CO2 . For the same amount of
energy an oil fired power station would produce 20,500
tonnes of CO2 .
Electricity
Production
Sources
Coal
Oil
Tonnes CO2
/ GWh12
851 to
1362
Renewable energy at the forefront of climate
change mitigation
Gas
Geothermal
Wind Turbines
733
367 to 561
57.0
The table above demonstrates that there is a significant
benefit from renewable energy in terms of reducing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy production.
Photovoltaic
Small Hydro
Large Hydro
9.0
59-71
5
Emissions from renewable energy can be several orders of
magnitude lower that the emissions from conventional fossil
Biomass fuel
32.0
14.0
fuel power. In addition, there is significant climate
change benefit for energy efficiency project, such as
improved cook stoves or higher efficiency industrial
processes. In many cases renewable energy and energy
Note: the CO2 emissions for the renewable
energy technologies are calculated by dividing
the carbon emissions over the project life cycle
(raw materials inputs, construction and running)
efficiency projects have a double benefit of addressing
both a development benefit (such as electrifying an
isolated community) and climate change benefit.
by the energy produced over the lifetime of the
technology. The emissions shown for the fossil
fuels are from the power station only.
Because of the climate change benefits of renewable energy, many national governments provide
grants or preferential condition for development of some renewable technologies.
The Carbon Market
The Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC has set binding targets for signatory industrialised countries to
reduce their carbon emissions by 2012. A post 2012 climate change agreement is currently
under negotiation. These targets have ensured that many industrialised countries have made
significant reductions in the emissions from their own energy sectors. However, it is often less
costly for a developed country to pay for emissions reduction in a less developed country, rather
than reduce emission at home. This has led to the development of a global ‘carbon market’.
Similarly, many private sector companies have been forced by consumer pressure to assess the
carbon emissions from their own corporate activities. Increasingly companies are reporting their
carbon emissions along side financial information, and in a number of cases they are offsetting
their carbon by paying for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. This has created a
private offset carbon market.
There is some controversy that the offset market means that industrialised countries or high
emitting private sector companies can ‘pay’ for carbon emission reduction, rather than taking
action at home to avoid GHG emissions. However, the market system does provide funds for
developing countries to move towards lower carbon technologies.
There is a move towards setting a quality standard for carbon offset projects, which would ensure
that the carbon market supports long-term moves towards a lower carbon energy sector, and that
offset projects also offer a sustainable development benefit. The ‘Gold Standard Foundation’ is at
the forefront of setting quality standard.
The cost of saving carbon emissions
Both the carbon market of the Kyoto protocol and voluntary off-setting (see next page for details),
have given a price for a tonne of carbon.
1 Fossil fuel emissions from: World Bank source
2 Renewable emissions from: Estimates from ETSU,
1 Fossil fuel emissions from: World Bank source
2 Renewable emissions from: Estimates from ETSU,
2