Page - 21 - in options, Volume summer 2015

21summer 2015 + optionswww.iiasa.ac.at “One can use coal but use cleaner and more efficient systems than we have today, and that’s a big issue which needs to be tackled,” says the IIASA researcher. Along with her colleague  Rao, Pachauri argues that wherever renewables are competitive then it’s best to use them “because we want to move away from a fossil-based society eventually.” The poverty–climate nexus When the United Nations Climate Change Conference reconvenes in Paris in late 2015 it will provide what many observers believe is the last chance to gain some semblance of global consensus for a binding and universal agreement on climate. IIASA’s researchers are striving to ensure that the decision makers who will meet at Le  Bourget bring with them an informed view of the difference between ending poverty and entering affluence. “So that one can understand better how different types of consumption affect climate change,” says Rao. As well as feeding into the long-running debate between developed and developing nations over emissions reductions, this  new IIASA project will help countries grappling with both climate change and poverty issues. As an example, energy security could be improved by the right policy mix. “A lot of developing countries import oil, and that has a big  impact on their budgets; therefore you are being more self-reliant and resilient by depending on your own energy sources, be they renewable or whatever,” says Pachauri. As global energy policy priorities shift toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously providing greater energy access, it will be the interaction between those two policies that IIASA research will help to inform. KS Further info Pachauri S (2014). Household electricity access a trivial contributor to CO2 emissions growth in India. Nature Climate Change 4:1073–1076 [doi:10.1038/nclimate2414]. Narasimha D. Rao nrao@iiasa.ac.at § Shonali Pachauri pachauri@iiasa.ac.at “Of course we want to endorse renewable based electricity generation wherever that’s possible but  in all circumstances that’s not the least‑cost solution." —Shonali Pachauri