Page - 6 - in options, Volume winter 2020

News in brief Climate change affects populations worldwide and can drive migration. According to a recent study, factors such as global temperature changes, increased rainfall variability, and natural hazards play a key role in prompting people to relocate. Environmental migration is most pronounced in middle-income and agricultural countries and weaker in low-income countries where populations often lack the resources needed for the migration process. The study, led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and to which IIASA and researchers from several other institutions contributed, identified geographical regions that may be particularly prone to population movements in the future. “Our research suggests that populations in Latin America and the Caribbean, several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Western, Southern, and Southeast Asia are particularly at risk,” explains coauthor and Deputy IIASA World Population Program Director, Raya Muttarak. The researchers emphasize there is no proven blueprint for environmental migration – it depends on economic and sociopolitical factors – and that the narrative of climate refugees pushing towards Europe or the US may be too simplistic. There is compelling evidence that environmental changes in vulnerable countries predominantly led to internal migration or migration to other low-and middle-income countries rather than cross-border migration to high-income countries. Given the rising global average temperatures, the researchers believe a better understanding of how climate change influences migration indirectly through affecting socioeconomic drivers of migration alongside geographical and population heterogeneity is key for evidence-based research. How climate change is driving migration Raya Muttarak: muttarak@iiasa.ac.at Further info: pure.iiasa.ac.at/16708 The absence of affordable, reliable, and sustainable electric services, or energy poverty, has obstructed close to 800 million people, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, from maintaining a decent life. Universal access to such energy services is encapsulated in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7. IIASA researchers have developed a novel measurement framework to track energy poverty and help achieve SDG 7. This alternative framework focuses on evaluating energy services through appliance ownership, and the reliability and affordability of electric services in homes rather than electricity consumption, which poorly reflects these. “Our main objective in this research was to try to design a better but simple framework for measuring energy poverty, and apply this to data from Ethiopia, India, and Rwanda to test how well it captures energy poverty in comparison to other multidimensional frameworks such as the World Bank’s Multi-Tier Framework (MTF),” explains IIASA researcher Shonali Pachauri. Despite advances the MTF has made on simple access indicators, it has made assessing energy poverty more complicated. Tracking energy poverty using this novel framework is simpler and better at capturing the diversity in service conditions among the poor. Accurate tracking of energy poverty is the first step to eradicating it. By applying this metric to other nations, the new framework can be further refined to better track SDG 7. It can also help decision makers identify the most vulnerable and direct policies to energy suppliers and households to improve access for all. Energy access for all Shonali Pachauri: pachauri@iiasa.ac.at Further info: pure.iiasa.ac.at/16583 By Greg Davies-Jones By Shorouk Elkobros 6 Options www.iiasa.ac.atWinter 2020