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FINDING PATHWAYS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA TO ACHIEVE THE SDGS, WE NEED BETTER DATA In partnership with the Belmont Forum, a new project will develop novel tools and capacities to understand and manage interconnections between the Sustainable Development Goals and explore bottom- up sustainable development pathways for the African countries. Transformation pathways will take into account African local socioeconomic context, capacities, and priorities to facilitate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. www.iiasa.ac.at/news/21-Africa The global campaign, Data for Change, demonstrates how more and better data and statistics are an accelerator for sustainable development. The campaign aims to present how high-quality statistics are leading to life- changing policies and advancing progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This was illustrated in a successful data driven campaign aimed at cleaning Ghana’s coasts. www.iiasa.ac.at/news/21-CS4SDG News in brief Finding the BEST way to store renewable energy on islands The road towards a carbon neutral future is paved with renewable energy. The drawback of relying on clean energy sources, however, is that the energy supply doesn’t always meet our demands – the sun doesn’t always shine when we need electricity. Batteries are the most common way to store renewable energy, but the associated high costs and environmental damage prompted scientists to look for different solutions. IIASA researcher Julian Hunt and colleagues devised an innovative energy storage system, called Buoyancy Energy Storage Technology (BEST) that relies on hydrogen gas compression. In this system, a large square of high-density polyethylene pipes containing hydrogen is lowered to the seafloor using an electric motor, compressing the gas. When the tubes are allowed to rise driven by buoyancy, the motor turns into a generator and produces electricity. “While the investment cost of energy storage with batteries today is around US$ 150/kWh, the cost of BEST is just US$ 50 to US$ 100 per kWh,” says Hunt. “Given that the cost of installed capacity for batteries is smaller than in BEST systems (US$ 4 to US$ 8 million per kilowatt), battery and BEST systems could be operated in conjunction to provide energy storage for a coastal city or for an offshore wind power plant.” As an added benefit, BEST systems also provide a solution for compressing hydrogen at a cost 30 times lower than traditional hydrogen compressors. Hunt envisions the transportation of the compressed hydrogen through deep underwater pipelines connecting continents or by towing deep underwater vessels with compressed hydrogen and ballast by a ship on the surface. “Such deep pipelines and vessels combined with BEST systems have the potential to become the backbone that sustains the future hydrogen economy,” Hunt concludes. Further info: pure.iiasa.ac.at/17238 | www.iiasa.ac.at/news/21-energystorage Julian Hunt: hunt@iiasa.ac.at By Fanni Daniella Szakal CLIMATE AND THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 World maps show that COVID-19 is less prevalent in countries closer to the equator. Joining an international collaboration, IIASA researchers found that a one-degree increase in absolute latitude is associated with a 4.3% increase in cases per million inhabitants as of 9 January 2021. COVID-19 cases are expected to decline during summer months, implying that higher average temperatures support public health measures containing SARS-CoV-2 without, however, replacing them. pure.iiasa.ac.at/17190 Figure: World potential of BEST with (a) air and (b) hydrogen as the storage medium. The greater the depth, the higher the BEST potential. 3Optionswww.iiasa.ac.at Winter 2021