The Urban Co-benefits approach:

Methods and tools

Christopher Doll

Research Fellow

United Nations University

Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability

Seminar on Low Carbon City Development

Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization

Mida Resort City, Bangkok, 30 March 2015

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Outline

• Introduction

• Urban development with co-benefits

– How much (quantification)

– ASI framework and transport tool

• Energy tool

• Waste tool

– How come (dimensions of decision

making)

• Further considerations

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About me..

• Born in London, UK..

– BSc. Geography & Mathematics

– MSc. Remote Sensing

– PhD. Remote Sensing

• Earth Institute @ Columbia U., New York City

• IIASA, Austria

• Research Interests

– Applications of geospatial technologies to

sustainable development

– Climate change and biodiversity in cities

– Urbanization processes

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The UNU and its Institutes

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UNU-CRIS

[regional integration]

UNU-EHS

[environment & human security]

UNU-FLORES

[material fluxes & resources]

UNU-IAS

[advanced study for

sustainability]

UNU-IIAOC

[alliance of civilizations]

UNU-IIGH

[global health]

UNU-IIST

[software technology]

UNU-INRA

[Africa's natural resources]

UNU-INWEH

[water, environment, health]

UNU-MERIT

[society, economy, innovation]

UNU-WIDER

[development economics]

The Urban Sustainability Nexus: Challenges - Approaches - Outputs

Urbanisation

Processes

Local Government

Solutions

Sustainability

Stresses

Our approach

- Systems thinking

- Interdisciplinary

- Linking local and

global processes

Our focus

- Cities and climate change

- Cities and biodiversity

- Urban health

Our outputs

- Peer-reviewed research

- Practical tools

- Collaboration with

international partners

& networks

Cities and Sustainable

Development

• Cities just 3-4% of the area, but concentrate

more than 50% of the world population

• The economic activities located in cities account

for 55% - 85% GNP. More than 70% of

greenhouse gas emissions..

• Cities are centers of education, knowledge and

innovation both technological and institutional

that can make the transition to a greener

economy and better governance within and

beyond the cities.

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Only 8% live in clean air, 37 % (3/4 billion people) live

outside minimum WHO target

8 Doll, 2009; IPCC WGIII, Fig 12.23

Urban Climate Co-Benefits

• Urban climate co-benefits are the

contribution of one city to the reduction of

global environmental degradation and

achievement of local sustainable

development goals at the same time.

Aligning global & local environment

concerns with development

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The vicious cycle of waste

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The virtuous cycle of waste

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Urban Development with co-benefits

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Urban development with co-benefits

approach

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• The Co-benefits approach is a means of achieving

multiple outcomes with one policy initiative

• Here, it refers to policies which simultaneously address

global and local environmental problems; GHG and air

pollution reductions

• Particularly pertinent

for developing

countries

• Case study approach

to evaluate:

• How much?

• How come?

• Develop support tools

Why co-benefits?

• Post Kyoto-CDM, Increasing focus on Nationally Appropriate

Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and ‘thematic windows’ such as

transport

• Recent Rio+20 conference theme Green Economy and the

Institutional Framework for sustainable development

(governance)

• Focus on cities because they are the most environmental

policies have to be locally implemented

• Most people live in cities, opportunities for innovation

• Level of government closest to citizens

• Possible Urban Sustainable Development Goal (Sept.2015)

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Urban development with co-benefits

approach

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• The Co-benefits approach is a means of achieving

multiple outcomes with one policy initiative

• Here, it refers to policies which simultaneously address

global and local environmental problems; GHG and air

pollution reductions

• Particularly pertinent

for developing

countries

• Case study approach

to evaluate:

• How much?

• How come?

• Develop support tools

The tools

• Excel based: Transport; Energy; Waste,

Governance (for transport)

• Designed to evaluate co-benefits of

interventions into respective sectors for first

order policy screening

• Four basic steps to the tools:

– Input data

– Examine initial baseline/results

– Apply changes to the sector (Avoid, Shift,

Improve)

– Calculate co-benefits

• GHG emissions

• Local Air pollution, fuel saving etc

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ASI framework

(Avoid, shift, improve)

• Initially developed in the transport sector, it frames

policy choices into the following categories which

aim to improve local/global pollution

• AVOID

– Doing less of the activity in question (E.g. Alter

total waste generation and/or waste composition)

• SHIFT

– Do the current activity in a different way (e.g.

solar panels rather than fossil fuels)

• IMPROVE

– Improve the efficiency of the activities (change

technology of existing methods) 18

ASI example: Transport

why does mode share matter?

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Avoid motorised

transport Improve car technology Shift car users to buses

Policy scenario sheet

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Transport Activity (A)

Fuel Efficiency (I)

Fuel share (F) below

Mode Share (S)

Data requirements

• For each tool a set of basic information for

each sector will need to be established

• This provides a baseline upon which to

calculate emissions reductions

• Tools are somewhat flexible to the scale of

the what is being considered (e.g. certain

transport fleets or areas of the city)

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Common elements

• Bottom up assessments of GHG emissions and air

pollution in each sector based on local information

– Transport

• Fleet size, activity (distance), occupancy, fuel

efficiencies & fuel

– Energy

• Dwelling size distribution, economic sectors,

power plant sources

– Waste

• Waste generation, technologies waste

composition

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Avoid, shift, improve

• ASI framework is applied to the tools in each sector

– Transport

• Travel activity (fleet size & distance)

• Mode share

• Fuel efficiency

• Fuel Type

– Energy

• Dwelling sizes

• Building management

• Energy sources (local generation)

– Waste

• Waste generation, waste composition

• Waste processing method (compost, incineration..)

• Technology used within a processing method

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Energy tool

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Basic City profile data:

City climate and structure

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Data for commercial and service

sectors

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Sources of city power supply

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Policy Intervention (1):

Structural change in the city

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Policy Intervention (2):

Alternative Energy measures

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Policy Intervention (3):

Energy efficiency devices

Features of energy tool

• Allows for assessment

of costs and payback

time of low carbon

technologies

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Waste tool

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Solid waste management tool

• Life cycle assessment approach which

considers:

– Volume and composition of waste

– transportation of waste

– processing of the waste

– benefits from recycling

• Can specify in general according to

population or by processing technique if

data available

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Features of waste management

tool

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Input Data

• Total Solid Waste

• Fuel /Electricity Consumption for Operational Activities

• Fraction of Solid Waste in Each Technology

Composting

Anaerobic Digestion

Landfilling

Open- Dumping

Transportation

• Composition of Solid Waste to Landfill

• Default Values (e.g. CO2 Emission Factor, CH4 Emission Factor, …)

Calculations

– 2.1 Composting and Anaerobic Digestion

• Operation GHG Emission

• Process GHG Emission

• GHG Mitigation by Using Compost in Agriculture

• GHG Mitigation by Removing waste from Landfill

– 2.2 Landfilling and Open-Dumping

• Operation GHG Emission

• CH4 Generation

Results

• Quantification of GHG Emission Total Potential from an Integrated Waste

Management System

Data requirements - waste

• Basic information on total waste generation,

composition and processing technology

• Can define waste composition by process

(allows to track waste separation)

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Data input

A,S,I of waste

• Avoid

– Alter total waste generation and/or waste composition

• Shift

– Shift compositions of waste to other processing technologies

• Improve

– Alter the technological specifications of waste processing technologies (e.g. methane recovery), also changes to waste transportation.

Results summary

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Co-benefits

• Transport

– GHG emissions

– Air pollution

– Fuel demand

• Energy

– GHG emissions

– Air pollution

– Energy balance

– Cost-benefit analysis

• Waste

– GHG emissions

– Air pollution

– Lechate production (landfill)

– Electricity/heat generation potential

39

Urban development with co-benefits

approach

40

• The Co-benefits approach is a means of achieving

multiple outcomes with one policy initiative

• Here, it refers to policies which simultaneously address

global and local environmental problems; GHG and air

pollution reductions

• Particularly pertinent

for developing

countries

• Case study approach

to evaluate:

• How much?

• How come?

• Develop support tools

Governance indicators

• Developed currently for the transport sector to aid

decision making about what changes to make in the

tool

• Self assessment of context indicators to determine

capacities and most implementable projects

– Cultural/Lifestyle

– Legal

– Orgainisational

– Coordination

– Political

• The key question is what is your ability to change

one variable relative to another?

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Flexible framework for extension

to other sectors

• Context

– Ranks relative importance of 11 factors

upon which AHP is used to determine

priorities

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Specific

Policies

(e.g.

transport)

Governance Tool structure

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General Governance Specific

Policies

(e.g.

transport)

Governance indicators

• Developed currently for the transport sector to aid

decision making about what changes to make in the

tool

• Self assessment of context indicators to determine

capacities and most implementable projects

– Cultural/Lifestyle

– Legal

– Orgainisational

– Coordination

– Political

• The key question is what is your ability to change

one variable relative to another?

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Prioritizing conditions

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(partial screenshot)

Ranked policy measures

Link to the tool

Two modes of usage

If no policies under consideration:

• Assess context

– Determine governance abilities (AHP)

• Determine most implementable options

• Determine coherent policy package

• Set parameter sensitivity of change for transport tool

If policies are in mind:

• Determine policy coherence of policies

• Assess context (AHP)

• Identify key governance areas of high risk

• Work out how to strengthen critical areas of governance

Assessing capacities

• Simple way of looking at assessing a range

of low-carbon policies

• From an objective view, a city has a certain

capacity in these factors

• Helps generate different perspectives

• Look at sensitivities, get a feel for the policy

landscape

• One element of the multi-criteria approach

to be evaluated with other co-benefits such

as health, or cost

– Or.., as an aid to implementation

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OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROMOTING URBAN CO-

BENEFITS

• Discussions of Co-benefits has emerged in several organizations: Opportunities in the Policy Arena

• Short Term- Straight forward initiatives using simple technologies

E.g., waste management, 3R.

• Medium Term: require larger investments and the projects can have a high institutional complexity, and consequently high risks and transaction costs

E.g., transportation, and industry and energy sector.

• Long Term – Areas with slow changing paths and involving a larger set of integrated initiatives and standards

E.g.,: building and land-use sectors, consumption

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Case Study Analysis:

Solid Waste Management, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

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Figure 10 - Correlation between among of CBSWM group and volume of disposal solid waste into the landfill in Yogyakarta city

The growth of CBSWM in last 7 years shows

correlation to waste generation and disposal into

landfill. Figure 4 shows there is a decreasing of

solid waste about 28 % from 2008 until 2010.

System innovation for co-benefits

• Examples cited here occur in different

domains (technology, policy, society)

• And at different scales

– Spatial, system, temporal

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Climate Change and Cities

• Mitigation and Adaptation

– Sectoral issues (energy, transportation)

– Physical issues (buildings)

– Land use issues (urban form, heat islands)

– Regional issues (effects on economy of the

region)

– Green Agenda issues (consumption)

Co

mp

lexi

ty i

ncr

ease

Cities and the Green Economy

• Greening of city sectors

• The challenges

– Decision-making related

– Implementation capacity

• Green economy initiatives

need to address both

efficiency and demand to

avoid Jevon’s paradox

– Resource efficiency +

reduction of ecological

footprint

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Conclusion

• Co-benefits are a way of looking at the impacts

of low carbon technologies in terms of local

environmental pollution

• Co-benefit tools have been developed in waste,

energy and transport to quantify the effect of

emissions reductions

• Decision making tools for each sector provide a

link on what factors in the city administration

may be important for implementation

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https://tools.ias.unu.edu

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Guidebooks for Evaluation tools

and Governance tools

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Thank you

Christopher Doll

doll@unu.edu

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