Page - 11 - in options, Volume winter 2019

© Adam Islaam | IIASA and Pavlo Syvak | Dreamstime “We found that while progress with electrification between 2014 and 2018 varied across nations, disparities were even more pronounced at a sub-national provincial level,” she explains. The detailed dataset revealed issues that would have been hidden in coarser, country- level data, potentially allowing policymakers to take steps to solve a problem that until recently, they may not have even been able to identify. “A big challenge with a lot of planning that's happening right now, is the fact that people have a very limited understanding of what demand is and how it is changing over time,” says Pachauri. LOCAL SOLUTIONS FOR ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY IIASA researchers are also applying their research to find practical solutions that can be put into practice in specific places. For example, the Hindu Kush Himalaya — a majestic region of high mountains that reaches into eight countries, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan — is one of the many areas on the planet that is especially burdened by energy poverty. Four hundred million people there still lack access to basic electricity, and 80% of the rural population cook their meals over fires. IIASA researcher Pallav Purohit — who grew up there — wondered why, in a region rich with water and potential hydropower resources, energy access remains such a challenge. In a recent analysis with scientists from seven other countries, Purohit analyzed the energy outlook of the Hindu Kush Himalayas from a broad perspective, including supply and demand, policies, institutions, opportunities, and potential transformational pathways for sustainable energy. They found that a narrow focus on one piece of the puzzle may have limited progress more broadly. “Existing national policy frameworks primarily focus on electrification for household lighting, with limited attention paid to energy for clean cooking and heating, while productive energy use promotion has remained a neglected area in historical development practice. As a result, there has been limited progress in access to energy for clean cooking compared to the progress in electricity access in all the Himalaya countries,” says Purohit. Pachauri points to a similar challenge in other developing countries, where development finance has focused on small off-grid solar panels that can provide enough energy to, for instance, charge a cell phone, but not enough to run an air conditioner or heat a stove. “We need to think more long-term, about building infrastructure that will provide people with the energy they need to have decent living conditions,” she says. While the challenges remain daunting, IIASA researchers see reason for optimism. “As long as you're thinking of climate policy as removed from development policy from development objectives, you're never going to achieve what you want — they have to go hand in hand,” says Pachauri. “Compared to ten years ago, however, the issues of equity and justice, poverty eradication, development, and how those link to climate are now center stage. I think that's really thanks to a lot of the work that we have done here at IIASA.” Further info: Dhakal S, Srivastava L, Sharma B, Palit D, Mainali B, Nepal R, Purohit P, Goswami A, et al. (2019). Meeting Future Energy Needs in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. In: The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment. pp. 167-207 Cham, Switzerland: Springer. [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15666] Falchetta G, Pachauri S, Parkinson S, & Byers E (2019). A high-resolution gridded dataset to assess electrification in sub- Saharan Africa. Scientific Data 6 (1): art. 110. [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15982] Mastrucci A, Byers E, Pachauri S, & Rao N (2019). Improving the SDG energy poverty targets: residential cooling needs in the Global South. Energy and Buildings 186: 405-415. [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15739] van Ruijven B, De Cian E, & Sue Wing I (2019). Amplification of future energy demand growth due to climate change. Nature Communications 10 (1) [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15966] Shonali Pachauri: pachauri@iiasa.ac.at Alessio Mastrucci: mastrucc@iiasa.ac.at Pallav Purohit: purohit@iiasa.ac.at By Katherine Leitzell 11Optionswww.iiasa.ac.at Winter 2019/20