Resource information
This report describes efforts by the
ClimateWorks Foundation and the World Bank to quantify the
multiple economic, social, and environmental benefits
associated with policies and projects to reduce emissions in
select sectors and regions. The report has three objectives:
1) to develop a holistic, adaptable framework to capture and
measure the multiple benefits of reducing emissions of
several pollutants; 2) to demonstrate how local and national
policymakers, members of the international development
community, and others can use this framework to design and
analyze policies and projects; and 3) to contribute a
compelling rationale for effectively combining climate
action with sustainable development and green growth
worldwide. By using a systems approach to analyze policies
and projects, this work illustrates ways to capitalize on
synergies between efforts to reduce emissions and spur
development, minimize costs, and maximize societal benefits.
This report uses several case studies to demonstrate how to
apply the analytical framework. Three simulated case
studies analyzed the effects of key sector policies to
determine the benefits realized in the United States, China,
the European Union, India, Mexico, and Brazil. The sector
policies include regulations, taxes, and incentives to
stimulate a shift to clean transport, improved industrial
energy efficiency, and more energy efficient buildings and
appliances. Also presented are results of four simulated
case studies that analyzed several sub-national development
projects, scaled up to the national level, to determine the
additional benefits over the life of each project, generally
20 years. By applying the framework to analyze both types of
interventions, this report demonstrates the efficacy of this
approach for national and local policymakers, international
finance organizations, and others. These case studies show
that climate change mitigation and air quality protection
can be integral to effective development efforts and can
provide a net economic benefit. Quantifying the benefits of
climate action can facilitate support from constituencies
interested in public health and food and energy security; it
can also advance the international discussion of effective
ways to address climate change while pursuing green growth.
In this report, the chapter 1 provides background
information on the pollutants covered in this report and
identifies opportunities to achieve both local socioeconomic
and global climate objectives by reducing emissions. It also
introduces new modeling tools that enable broader economic
analysis of emissions-reduction programs. Chapter 2 explains
how these tools can be combined to develop an effective
framework to analyze policies and projects. Chapter 3
demonstrates the framework, using several policy- and
project-based case studies to estimate the multiple benefits
of emissions reductions from a regional or national level.
Finally, Chapter 4 explores the challenges to
operationalizing the framework and presents conclusions from
the study.
