This report provides a summary of key financing and support opportunities — excluding multilateral and domestic sources — available to Climate Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in Africa and other underrepresented regions. Funding sources covered include the KfW Carbon Fund, World Bank group carbon funds and initiatives, the carbon facility of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the African Biofuels and Renewable Energy Fund (ABREF), and the Africa Carbon Asset Development Initiative (ACAD).

This report argues that more sustainable use of forestry resources can help reduce poverty and hunger, mitigate the impacts of climate change, and create more sustainable sources of bio-products and bio-energy. It was released at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), where many of these challenges were discussed.

The report highlights that 350 million of the world's poorest people depend on forests for survival, and that investing in wood-based enterprises creates jobs and improves livelihoods. It argues that when sourced sustainably, wood products can store carbon and be easily recycled, and highlights that sustainable forestry offers a renewable, alternative source of energy.  It says that more resources need to be invested in creating small and medium forest-based enterprises that benefit local communities.

The report concludes that promoting a sustainable forest-based industry can both improve local economies and meet sustainability goals. But this will require policies, programmes and incentives.

This report, which is part of the UN Foresight Initiative, describes the 21 most pressing emerging global environmental issues — those recognised as very important to well-being by the scientific community, but are not yet receiving enough attention from the policymakers. These cover a range of themes, from food security to biodiversity, energy and technology.

One of the most important cross-cutting issues identified in the report is the need to rethink international environmental governance. Other areas in need of improvement include the science–policy interface, and coping with incremental damage to the environment.

Improving food security in light of changing climate is also high on the list of priorities, with the report suggesting a need for more comprehensive early warning systems, support for smallholder farmers, efforts to reduce food waste and increasing agricultural efficiency. Other issues highlighted include managing the impacts of glacial retreat; improving ocean governance; accelerating the implementation of renewable energy systems; and considering the environmental implications of nuclear reactor decommissioning.

This report analyses the links between energy access, income and livelihoods. It examines the definition of energy access, and reintroduces — and updates — the concept of 'total energy access' as a progressive framework to measure how people use energy in a healthy and productive way.

It states that agriculture is one of the sectors hardest hit by unreliable supplies of electricity, and argues that, for smallholder farmers, more use of modern energy services at various steps along the value chain can contribute to increasing incomes.

The authors conclude that energy access cannot guarantee improved livelihoods without reliability, quality, and cost-effectiveness of energy supplies — combined with access to markets, networks, and sufficient demand. Their analysis also suggests that making the transition from traditional to modern energy supplies holds new opportunities to earn a living from supplying energy.

Reaching poor people with modern energy carries social, economic and environmental benefits, and stakeholders — national governments, donors, utilities, businesses and civil society, community groups, and individual consumers — have a crucial role to play in creating universal energy access.

This paper provides guidance for policymakers working on identifying low-carbon technologies, and discusses why they should put innovation at the centre of any green growth strategy. The authors argue that the need for innovation in the low-carbon power sector is critical in terms of preventing climate change and promoting development.

The paper explains the innovation process in the low-carbon power sector, and highlights participants and rules in the innovation process. It introduces the 'innovation ecosystems' approach — designed to capture the complexity of innovation processes — and to identify the services innovators need. The final section lays out a step-by-step process for identifying and making the most of opportunities in this sector. The authors conclude that innovation is key to using technology effectively and solving global problems requires everyone to live up to their potential as innovators.

This paper aims to identify key components of effective renewable energy policy in developing countries. It draws from published research and case studies in 12 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to provide recommendations on how countries can maximise international support for the development and deployment of renewable energies.

The authors argue that the global energy system needs to change, and that developing countries are at the forefront of this challenge because they are expected to contribute 80 per cent of the world's capacity for new electricity generation over the next two decades. The authors conclude that donors should move beyond funding individual projects to support nationwide initiatives for renewable energy.

The report looks at what developing countries are already doing to deploy renewable energy; gives an overview of key principles of renewable energy policy; discusses lessons learned from existing initiatives; and identifies areas where international support could help.

This paper, published by the UK-based Institute of Development Studies, examines how disaster risks associated with climate change might impact electricity generation and energy planning — which is an emerging research and development agenda. The authors argue that energy researchers and policymakers have overlooked how changing disaster risks could affect electrical power production.

The report assesses the vulnerability of nuclear power as well as several other options for energy generation — including oil, natural gas, hydropower and bioenergy — and identifies the implications for energy policy and planning. It lists recommendations as to how policymakers could take into account the link between disaster risk management and low-carbon development to improve the capacity of developing countries to build resilience. Suggestions include completing environmental impact assessments when siting new power plants, establishing better links between energy, climate, and disaster policymakers, and planning climate change adaption strategies for electricity production.

This report, from the US-based Worldwatch Institute, provides qualitative and quantitative information about nuclear power plants in operation; under construction; and those being planned worldwide. It also includes an overview of reactions to the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan.

The authors analyse the economic performance of past and present nuclear projects, and compare them with other leading renewable energy sources. A country by country rundown of nuclear power projects can be found in the annex of the report.

Key findings suggest that nuclear power can no longer keep pace with the development of other renewable power sources. The report states that the nuclear industry had been in decline even before the Fukushima disaster because not enough new reactors are becoming operational, while existing reactors are aging rapidly. The authors believe that the disaster at Fukushima is likely to accelerate this downward trend.

This paper aims to identify key components of effective renewable energy policy in developing countries. It draws from published research and case studies in 12 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to provide recommendations on how countries can maximise international support for the development and deployment of renewable energies.

The authors argue that the global energy system needs to change, and that developing countries are at the forefront of this challenge because they are expected to contribute 80 per cent of the world's capacity for new electricity generation over the next two decades. The authors conclude that donors should move beyond funding individual projects to support nationwide initiatives for renewable energy.

The report looks at what developing countries are already doing to deploy renewable energy; gives an overview of key principles of renewable energy policy; discusses lessons learned from existing initiatives; and identifies areas where international support could help.

This report provides information on the development of the solar energy sector in Asia and the Pacific, including investment opportunities and challenges. It also gives an overview of how the Asia Solar Energy Initiative (ASEI), set up by the Asia Development Bank, aims to facilitate the development and deployment of 3,000 megawatts of solar power generation projects in the region by 2013.

Challenges outlined in the report include limited energy distribution technology that can help transmit power to populated areas; the high costs of solar energy development and lack of access to long-term financing; weak institutional capacity; and limited knowledge sharing.

The report concludes that the ASEI can drive down costs, act as a catalyst for solar innovation and serve as a model for other regions that hold similar solar energy potential, such as northern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. It highlights the Asia Accelerated Solar Energy Development Fund, a financing mechanism set up specifically to support the preparation of solar power projects in Asian countries.

This series of factsheets publishes information on clean development mechanism (CDM) activities for Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, the Philippines and Thailand. CDM projects involve the use of clean technologies such as solar panels to generate emission reduction credits that can be counted towards meeting targets of the Kyoto Protocol.

The factsheets provide an overview of CDM project developments in Asia. They offer country-specific information, including domestic greenhouse gas emissions and useful references. They also outline national legislations, processes and criteria required for project approval. Some of the factsheets list examples of approved projects and contact details of the relevant authorities. The Indonesia report is available in Indonesian and the booklet is available in Japanese.

This project outlines deployment models and decision support tools for supplying energy, including solar, to rural areas in developing countries. It showcases practical examples of rural energy supply from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including the use of solar home systems in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, among others. The project also lists experts in rural energy supply across different regions of the developing world.

This interactive map provides information on policies, targets, shares, capacity, production and scenarios for renewable energy by technology and country or region. Information on the state of both solar photovoltaics and solar thermal is available, as well as wind power, geothermal energy, hydropower and biomass.

This special report, published in The Broker magazine, provides a collection of articles on solar energy. It includes an article on how solar thermal and solar photovoltaic technologies work, a report on solar energy in developing countries, and a case study of solar energy in India — from market trends to rural electrification programmes.

This annual report from the UN Environment Programme highlights investment trends in renewable energy, including solar technologies. It finds that new investment in renewables continues to rise — despite the global financial crisis — as a result of a growing focus on climate change, energy insecurity, fossil fuel depletion and new technologies. In 2008, the solar sector received US$33.5 billion of new investment — a rise of 49 per cent from 2007.

This report examines how renewable energy can help developing countries boost economic development and alleviate poverty. It highlights the benefits of using renewable energy technologies — from increasing access to electricity to creating jobs — and outlines the hurdles to scaling up production, including the lack of subsidies and government support. The report suggests several actions for policymakers, including creating supportive policies, promoting private investment, nurturing micro-enterprise, and building projects around local needs.

This report, published by Greenpeace, highlights global trends and developments in solar photovoltaics (PV). It includes background information on how PV technologies work and an overview of global PV markets, including predictions for market growth to 2030. Applications of PV technology for grid-connected and off-grid energy are presented and the benefits, cost and competitiveness of these are discussed.

The report makes several policy recommendations, including adopting support schemes, removing fossil-fuel subsidies and implementing legally enforced mechanisms to accelerate PV development.

This report, written by Cédric Philibert of the International Energy Agency, provides an overview of solar thermal technologies and examines the economic, technical and institutional barriers to diffusing these. Examples of barriers include high investment costs, lack of trained engineers and lack of awareness among policymakers and the public.

The author suggests several policies to overcome these — for example, by supporting research and development, encouraging professional training, establishing subsidies for solar thermal technologies, reducing import tariffs and carbon trading.

This article, written by scientists in Niger and the United States, assesses the suitability of solar-powered irrigation for improving food security in rural regions of West Africa. The authors describe an irrigation system that combines drip irrigation with a photovoltaic solar-powered water pump, and test its efficacy and impact through household surveys and field data. They find that solar-powered drip irrigation is cost-effective and significantly boosts household incomes and nutritional intake.