Yearbook_2011_new_3 24/5/11 11:20 Page 51 Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development The Power of Climate Climate change and energy poverty in Africa Teodoro Sanchez Energy Technology and Policy Advisor Practical Action Teodoro Sanchez is the technology and Policy Adviser for Energy at Practical Action. He is a mechanical engineer with 20 years’ experience with the charity in Peru and Britain. Teodoro has held previous roles with The World Bank, UNDP and EU. Practical Action is an international development charity with a difference, working together with some of the world’s poorest women, men and children, helping to alleviate poverty in the developing world through the innovative use of technology. Practical Action’s particular strength is its ‘simple’ approach: finding out what people are doing and helping them to do it better. This enables poor communities to build on their own knowledge and skills to produce sustainable and practical solutions: driving their own development. nergy is a basic need. Access to the right energy fuels and services provide opportunities for development and improving wellbeing. One fourth of humanity has no access to electricity and nearly half of the world’s population cook with solid biomass using inefficient technologies, keeping them trapped in poverty with little or no chance to escape from it. This paper shows that the quantity of energy required by the poor to fulfil their needs is generally very small. In Sub-Saharan Africa, most countries with less access to modern energy services are not on-track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It also shows that universal access to modern energy services in Africa and particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa would contribute negligible amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, independent of the sources used to provide access (fossil fuels or renewables), and therefore argues that in Sub-Saharan Africa, the full mix of energy technologies should be considered and used based on their economic performance rather than on environmental consideration. We will also examine a short case study to show how the voluntary sector of carbon trading is contributing to mitigation of greenhouse gases as well as benefiting the poor in Sudan. E Energy - a human need Energy is critical for human development. It allows people to access a range of basic services, including drinking water, health, education, transport, communication and other essential services. In its Energy and Sustainable Development Overview, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) states “None of the Millennium Development Goals can be met without major improvement in the quality and quantity of energy services in developing countries.”1 The UN also recognises that eight years after the Johannesburg Summit when the MDGs were validated, the poorest countries are off-track regarding achievement of the MDGs. And from the existing information, most of those that are off-track have invested less in energy access for the poor. There are 1.44 million people around the world in developing countries without access to electricity and more than 2.5 million are forced to cook and heat their homes with solid biomass, most of the time using inefficient and polluting technologies. Despite the huge global investment forecast for the energy sector of about $26 trillion for the coming two decades, of which about one third is expected to be invested in developing countries – even optimistic forecasts estimate that about 1.4 billion people will still remain without access to electricity by 2030. Presently, a large proportion of the world’s population is confronted with absolute energy poverty. The situation in Sub-Saharan Africa regarding energy access and achievement of the MDGs is of particular concern. Of 30 SubSaharan African countries, only 14 are on course to reduce the number of people living with hunger by at least 25% by 2015.2 In 2008, the average electrification rate in SubSaharan African countries was only 28.5% and in rural areas was less than 12%- this figure is smaller still when South Africa is excluded. According to the World Bank, 56% of total energy use in Sub-Saharan Africa comes from traditional biomass. If one ranks countries of the world, the top 20 biomass dependant are all African countries, with the exception of Nepal (fourth in the list), Haiti (eleventh) and Myanmar (twelfth)3. In this region there has been no progress on energy access during the last decade. In fact, while globally the number of people without access to electricity was reduced by 160 million between 2005 and 2009, in Sub-Saharan Africa this number has increased from 526 million in 20044 to 585 million in 2009. Energy needs and energy consumption of the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa The energy needs linked to meet the MDGs are related to cooking, space heating, and lighting; and small amounts of motive energy to use appliances or equipment to access improved services of health, education and communications as well as income generation activities. The quantity of energy required to meet all the MDGs for an individual or group depends on a range of factors; the physical environment where they live (people living in warm regions will require little or no space heating compared to those living cold regions); the type of activities that the poor engage in to make a living Africa Energy Yearbook 2011 51 Yearbook_2011_new_3 24/5/11 11:20 Page 52 Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development The Power of Climatey (farming, fishing, business, etc); the physical capital that they possess, for example subsistence farmers may require energy only for cooking and lighting while farmers with more land may see opportunities for adding value to their harvest by transforming their products to sale at a better price in the markets. The priorities that each individual or groups put on its needs are in most cases associated with social or cultural issues. represents only 0.43% of the total electricity consumed worldwide (16,378 Billion kWh8)- however comparing this with the total consumption in Africa the requirement is significant (12.8%). Similarly, the requirements of modern fuels for cooking (assuming that 90% of the population that presently cook with solid biomass switch to LPG); will be 29.4 million tons of LPG, which is about 13% of the total consumption of LPG worldwide (In 2006 the total consumption of LPG worldwide was 223 million tons)9 having to buy a few kg of charcoal or wood on a daily basis (see case study). Case Study After the discovery of oil in Sudan, the Sudanese government implemented a number of policies and subsidies to encourage the increased use of LPG in the household sector, in both rural and urban areas15. Nevertheless, in most of Sudan the uptake of LPG as fuel for cooking has been slow, particularly in rural and urban poor areas. In Al Fasher, Practical Action found that poor families kept using biomass and charcoal for cooking because they could not afford to purchase LPG cookers and canisters, despite the fact that there was a commercial supply of LPG, and that cooking with charcoal and biomass was about three times the cost of cooking with LPG. In 2007 Practical Action started the implementation of a project with the objective of promoting the use of LPG among poor families in rural and peri-urban areas of Al Fasher. The aim of the project was to facilitate the switch of 10,000 families from biomass to LPG for cooking. The main activities of the project were: 1) To develop and implement a micro credit scheme to enable the poor families to purchase an LPG cooking set (The LPG set comprises of a stove, a filled gas bottle, and a Kisra (local sorghum chapatti); 2) To raise awareness among the population about the benefits and costs of the use of LPG, ensure the gas supply through agreements with LPG providers; 3) To provide training and information to the different stakeholders regarding safety and standards for the use of LPG; 4) to engage commercial LPG suppliers on the delivery of LPG .So far more than 6000 families are using LPG and Practical Action is optimistic in meeting all of its targets by the end of the project (November 2012). This project is funded by Carbon Clear, a Voluntary Carbon broker based in London, Carbon Clear and Practical Action are presently in the process of certification of the project by Gold Standard. Most rural inhabitants cook with costless biomass resources such as agricultural residues, dung and wood (Excluding the cost of the time taken to collect it). However, in some cases, the poorest and those that are landless have to make greater effort to collect cooking fuels because of the longer distances to access community forests. The shortage of wood fuels for the poor can also end up affecting the quantity and/or quality of food eaten. It is often the case that, the poorer the family is, the A micro-hydro project by Practical Action in Zimbabwe During the last two decades there have been several studies to determine the energy consumption of the poor in order to have a clearer idea of what it would take to provide energy for all, and the policy and financing requirements to make that possible. Most literature references, surveys, case studies, impact assessments, etc (see Kaufman et al., 2000; World Bank, 2001; ESMAP5, University of Cape Town6) agree that the amount of energy required/consumed by the poor is small; the electricity consumption of families in rural villages or in peri-urban settlements ranges from about 10kWh/month to 50 kWh/month, and its growth is very small with time, partly because the opportunities to engage in productive or transformative activities are limited. Regarding cooking fuels, literature shows that the amount of clean cooking fuel required to displace these solid fuels is modest and is estimated to be about 35 kg of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) per person per year.7 From the above figures, the present electricity requirement to provide this service to the 585 million without electricity in Sub-Saharan African countries amounts to 70.2 billion kWh per year- this Affordability and unequal opportunities on energy access In developing countries, the percentage of the family budget spent on the purchase of low quality energy fuels for lighting and cooking is generally higher than that spent by people with access to electricity and liquid and gas fuels. The most common strategy used by the poor to cope with their energy needs is to find the cheapest option; however that strategy does not always work for all; for example in many cases people living in peri-urban areas cannot buy subsidised LPG simply because they do not have money to pay the upfront cost of the cookers (or cylinders in the case of LPG) and consequently have to cook with charcoal or wood fuel, paying more to do the same. A study carried out by Practical Action in Al Fasher, Darfur, in Sudan revealed that people kept cooking with wood and charcoal despite the fact that the cost was three times higher than LPG, simply because they could not afford to purchase gas cookers and cylinders, instead 52 Africa Energy Yearbook 2011 Yearbook_2011_new_3 24/5/11 11:20 Page 53 Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development The Power of Climate Case study - Promotion of LPG for cooking in Al Fasher, Darfur, Sudan14 smaller the agricultural land that they own and consequently the less access to cooking fuels it has. Therefore the poorest families generally have to invest more time to collect fuels for cooking, or they have to reduce the number of meals during the day. People with access to electricity are more likely to use it for lighting, but in many cases costs or unsuitable billing may be the main constraint. For example, when a grid is extended into poor peri-urban or rural areas, in many cases households are disconnected soon after because people cannot afford to pay a regular monthly bill, simply because they have no regular monthly income. Those without access to electricity use a range of energy sources for lighting, kerosene, wax candles, dry and wet batteries, all of these resources are generally used through inefficient technologies, therefore people end up expending a significant proportion of the family budget. A World Bank survey10 on fuel switching in eight countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America confirms that there are differences in fuel consumption in urban and rural areas. It shows that, while solid fuels are used in much lower proportions in urban areas than in rural areas and that the use of solid fuels in urban areas declines as family income increases, in rural areas solid fuels are widely used even within the top expenditure brackets. The study also shows that urban people expend a larger share of their budget on cooking fuels- it accounts for about 5% of a household budget as an average for all users. But it also shows that those using biomass expend a higher share of their budget on cooking fuels (about 10% to 15%). The different percentages are influenced by differences in accessibility; in large towns and cities the supplies of liquid and gas fuels are more reliable and costs are cheaper than in small isolated towns. The study concludes that for ‘large groups of households particularly in rural areas of low-income countries, biomass fuels are the most likely fuel for cooking for the foreseeable future’. Climate change and appropriate energy options for the poor The threat of climate change to humankind and to the planet as a whole has gradually become more evident and there is a clear and frightening link between energy and climate change. According to the World Energy Assessment Overview 2004 Update (Johansson and Goldenberg, 2004), 82% of anthropogenic carbon emissions come from energy-related activities and the other 18% derive from activities that include agriculture, deforestation, savannah burning, forest burning, agricultural residues and other uncontrolled burning. The UN has recently proposed an international objective on energy access for all“Ensure Universal Access to Modern Energy Services by 2030”.11 The UN also considers that access to modern energy services must be reliable and affordable, sustainable and, where feasible, from low-greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting energy sources. The aim of providing universal access should be to create improved conditions for economic growth, contribute to attaining the MDGs, and enable the poorest of the poor to escape poverty. An important emerging issue is the reluctance, or low level of support, from many policy makers, international aid agencies and environmentalists, to consider the full range of energy options to meet the energy needs of the poor on the grounds of the need for reducing GHG into the atmosphere. In some cases this may end up forcing the use of uncompetitive options for particular realities, for example pumping underground water either for drinking or farming in some cases may be cheaper using small diesel engines rather than renewable energy systems. In Africa and especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, the full energy mix should be considered for poor communities with a different emphasis according to location and opportunities. For urban inhabitants, grid extension for electricity supply and liquid and gas fuels for cooking are often the most appropriate solutions, although in many cases, biomass for cooking in smaller towns may still be required. For rural inhabitants, the most appropriate option may be a combination of grid for those living close to the transmission lines, with decentralized renewable energy options (including solar PV, micro-hydro and small wind) for off-grid electricity supply; for cooking biomass is likely to remain the main fuel option for the majority, though more efficient and cleaner cooking devices may be used. Emissions of carbon dioxide in Africa represent only a small fraction12, 3.6%, of the total CO2 emissions per year worldwide, yet 14% of the population of the world lives in this continent. However, the share of the CO2 emissions among African countries is very unequal. Regionally, emissions (both per capita and in total) are at their highest in North African countries and in South Africa; Libya, the Seychelles and South Africa are on the same emissions level of countries listed lowest within the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (i.e. over 7 CO2 tons per person per year), while 2/3 of Sub-Saharan African countries emit less that 0.5 CO2 tons per person per year. Furthermore, the poor, without access to modern energies, have not shared in the benefits of wealth created from the intensive use of energy in the last century, yet remain the most affected by the impacts of climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore it is important to clarify the issue Africa Energy Yearbook 2011 53 Yearbook_2011_new_3 24/5/11 11:20 Page 54 Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development • Energy • Environment • Development The Power of Climatey of climate change and energy access for the poor, who may need fossil fuels for their development – just as the developed world needed them. In fact, several estimates show that the provision of access to electricity and modern fuels to all will increase emissions marginally (less than 1% of the current emissions)13. If we consider that the poor in the Sub-Saharan Africa use the same intensity as the poor in the rest of the world, the total carbon emissions to provide modern fuels and electricity to all in the Sub-Saharan Africa would increase present emissions by about 0.4% of the global total . modern energy services is decreasing, in SubSaharan Africa it is increasing. Urgent action is needed to reverse the situation. Pro-poor policies, financing and better partnerships of all sectors are what is needed. In Africa, and especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, the full energy mix should be considered for poor communities with a differ- to policy debate as well as raising awareness in Europe and lobbying the EC for more support to Sub-Saharan African countries to tackle energy needs for the poor (see the project: Energy Access for the poor in the Sub-Saharan Africa to meet the MDGs, funded by the EC). References 1. www.undp.org/energy/ 2. www.uneca.org/mdgs/goal1.asp 3. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ INDATASTA/641999551178226923002/1 326741/FINALPressReleaseLGDB2007. pdf 4. www.iea.org/work/2004/eswg/05_weo. pdf 5.http://www.esmap.org/esmap/sites/esma p.org/files/ESMAP_PeruNationalSurvey _Web_0.pdf 6.www.afrepren.org/project/gnesd/esdsi/e c.pdf 7.www.iiiee.lu.se/publication.nsf/c05cf705 a5648c8c1256b4a004a5a9f/6848cd20 ca737308c1256f1f00423ac2/$FILE/Gol demberg%20et%20al.pdf 8. www.eia.doe.gov/iea/elec.html 9. www.worldlpgas.com/page_attachments/0000/0330/Petroleum_ Economist 10.www.esmap.org/esmap/sites/esmap.or g/files/Report_FuelUseMulticountryStud y_05.pdf http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/tanzania/press_corner/all_news/n ews/2010/20101207_01_en.htm 11. www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/climatechange/shared/Documents/AGECC%2 0summary%20report%5B1%5D.pdf 12.http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/emissions_of_carbon_dioxide_in_africa_an d_selected_oecd_countries 13.www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/we o2010/weo2010_poverty.pdf 14.www.carbonclear.com/static/Hedon_Su dan_article.pdf 15. www.carboun.com/sustainable-development/sustainable-design/the-stateof-energy-conservation-policies-in-mid dle-east-buildings/ The moral responsibility of rich countries Anthropogenic CO2 emissions are primarily the responsibility of rich countries; their increase Renewable projects can be a lifeline for the poorest has been based on the communities in Africa development of more technologies and more intensive use of ent emphasis according to location and fossil fuels to power them. The range of opportunities; grid and non-grid solutions technologies developed and their use has for electricity supply; liquid and gas fuels, gone beyond the technologies associated as well as biomass for cooking. Renewable with basic development to include energy technologies should be welcomed production, transformation, transport, but their choice should be based on social communications, improvement in living and economic grounds rather than solely standards, comfort and recreation, and even on environmental considerations. sophisticated weapons of mass destruction. Financing energy access for the poor in All of these technologies have meant an Sub-Saharan African Countries and espeincrease in energy consumption per capita cially for those living in small and isolated in developed countries. This energy villages is a big challenge. It requires the consumption has gone beyond a intervention of all stakeholders; the govcontribution to prosperity, but has also been ernments need to design pro-poor policies expended on pleasure and comfort, whilst and strategies on energy; the international poor countries have had opportunities aid need to increase the amount of funds neither for development nor for pleasure or for energy access for the poor and the pricomfort. Therefore the developed world has vate sector needs to adopt a more social a moral debt to the poor, and now it is time approach and reduce its profit margins. to help them leave the trap of underdevelopment by providing access to Practical Action energy for at least basic needs. Practical Action is currently implementConclusions ing a range of projects related to energy access for the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa. Energy poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa is a The charity works in the development and big concern; whilst in other parts of the world dissemination of appropriate technologies the number of inhabitants without access to and enabling the poor to bring their voice 54 Africa Energy Yearbook 2011
