Page - (000189) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

of theminimumlevels (minimumenergyconsumption,dailyamountofcleanwater percapitaetc.)andthecorrespondingGHGemissions levelcanbechallenging, this is the case for the housing sectorwith the indoor temperature. According to IPCC’s latest report,5 in2010,buildingsaccounted for19%of the GHGemissions. This same report highlighted the need for scaling up low-energy demandhousingsystems inLDCs.Low-energybuildingsaimtoachieveminimum service levelwithout relyingonenergy-intensive equipment forheatingor cooling to avoid a locking in carbon-intensive buildings for several decades. In order to supportclimatechangepolicies, theevaluationofhousingprojects inLDCsshould integrate this potential carbon-locking and therefore assess the impact of low-energy housing systems using the suppressed demand. But the minimum level for indoor temperature is difficult to estimate as it is highly context specific. Globally, theminimum indoor temperature recommended by theWHO is 18 C with up to 20–21 C formore vulnerable groups, such as older people and young children.6 Achieving sustainable development in the housing sector of cold regions like Afghanistan requires important improvement of the indoor temperature while mitigatingtheemissionsof thebusiness-as-usual technologiesandpractices.There- fore theevaluationof theclimatechange impactofprojects in thehousingsectorof cold regions should also account for the avoided emissions of the intervention compare to the business-as-usual development pathway in addition of the actual emission reduction. This study presents an application of the suppressed demand approach for the housing sector in a difficult context through the case studyof the Passive Solar Houses project inAfghanistan. This case study presents the impor- tanceofaccounting for theavoidedemissionswhenminimumservice level arenot reacheddue to incomesbarriersbut also themethodological challengesof estimat- ing the emissions to reach the same level of service usingbaseline technologies. 10.2 Approach AlloverAfghanistan,wintersaresevereandaccess tosufficient fuel isachallenge. Most of the households rely on biomass fuels likewood, sawdust or cowdung or mineral coal for heating. In Kabul, energy expenses represent roughly 20% of households’ annual expenses with 6% only for heating. These fuel expenses are 5O.Luconet al., “Buildings,” inClimateChange2014:MitigationofClimateChange.Contribu- tion of Working Gourp III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (United Kingdom, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 671–738, https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapter9.pdf. 6WHO,“Health Impact ofLowIndoorTemperatures” (Copenhagen:WouldHealthOrganization –RegionalOffice forEurope, 1985), http://www.theclaymoreproject.com/uploads/associate/365/ file/Health%20Documents/WHO%20-%20health%20impact%20of%20low%20indoor%20tem peratures%20%28WHO,%201985%29.pdf. 10 IntegratingAvoidedEmissions inClimateChangeEvaluationPolicies for. . . 173