Page - (000040) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

threeWorld Bank evaluations provide indirect support for the paradox and some hopeful signs ofwhere the paradoxmaybe solved. First and foremost, the evaluations identify energy efficiency as a crucial pathway towards climate action that potentially funds itself.5Well guided efforts toward energy efficiency tend to have economic returns that dwarf those ofmost other development projects, while at the same time resulting in lower greenhouse gasemissions.Especially thesecondevaluation(WorldBank2010,p.32) identifies severalpromisingavenues:efficient lighting thatoffersveryhigheconomicreturns and significant emission reductions; reducing losses in the transmission anddistri- bution of energy; large-scale efforts in energy efficiencymay reduce the need for powerplants (WorldBank2010,p.xv).The2010evaluationwasoneof thefirst to provide evaluative evidence that energy subsidies are “expensive, damage the climate andbenefit the rich” (WorldBank2010, p. 119). These findings in theWorld Bank/IEG evaluations (most notably the second evaluation)were further supported by evaluative evidence from theAsianDevel- opment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the GEF. Inabriefingnote theEvaluationCooperationGroupof themultilateralbanks noted strong evidence from independent evaluations that6: • Energy efficiency investments are highly cost-effective; • Fossil fuel subsidies discourage energy efficiency; • Thefinancial sector canbepersuaded toprovide energy efficiency loans; • Genuine demonstration projects can transformmarkets; • Biases against energy efficiencyprojects canbeovercome. However, presenting this evidence to the climate change negotiators could to someextent be characterized as “preaching to the converted” and the evidence for these points still needs to sway governments to reduce fossil fuel subsidies and promote energy efficiency. The Inter-AmericanDevelopmentBank’s2014evaluationof its climatechange strategy notes that the IDB has seen its largest contribution to greenhouse gas emission reductions from its support for renewable energy investments (mainly hydropower–IDB2014,p.34), rather thanenergyefficiencyinwhichtheBankhas not been as active. The 2014 evaluation aligns the IDB with the earlier ECG briefing note in suggesting that “improvements in energy efficiency have perhaps the greatest potential impact in reducingGHGemissions at the lowest costs”, for which energy subsidies “remain a key barrier” (IDB2014, p. x). A second sector that turned out to be highly relevant for climate change was transportation: bus 5IEG [2016].Four myths about climate change. Webtext accompanying the publication of the three Climate Change and theWorld Bank Group reports. http://ieg.worldbankgroup.org/topic/ climate-change, accessedMay92016. 6ECG(2011).Overcomingbarriers to energy efficiency:newevidence from independent evalua- tion. S.l., Evaluation Cooperation Group. [Briefing note, November 23, 2011.] This note was presented to the 17thConference of the Parties (COP17) of theUNFrameworkConvention for ClimateChange, held from28November to9December 2011 inDurban, SouthAfrica. 2 ActiononClimateChange:WhatDoes ItMean andWhereDoes ItLeadTo? 19