Energy and Development - A Modelling Approach

Summary

Energy plays a major role in several sustainability issues, such as climate change, depletion of resources and indoor and local air pollution. Historically, global energy use has been dominated by energy consumption in industrialised countries. However, this is changing as energy consumption in developing countries increased from 26% in total global energy use in 1975 to 46% in 2005. Despite the increasing importance of developing countries for global energy use, energy poverty remains an important issue. Two billion people have no or unreliable access to modern energy forms, while recently increasing energy prices have put pressure on the affordability of energy for the poor that have access to modern fuels. In contrast to the situation in industrialised countries, where energy related sustainability problems refer to impacts of energy use (e.g. pollution or depletion), here, energy use is crucial to fulfil basic needs and increase welfare. In recent years, it is increasingly recognised that global climate policy can only be effective if it connects to the policy agenda of developing countries.