Winds of Change: Expanding Renewable Energies in Developing Countries
Hans-Erik Edsand, UNU-MERIT
The world is facing unprecedented sustainability challenges with an increasing world population and rapidly rising material and per capita energy consumption. A fossil fuel-dominated consumption of energy has contributed to a 35% increase of global net greenhouse gas emissions in just two decades (1990-2010) (46 billion metric tons of CO2e), leading to an increase of between 0.5 ºC and 1.3 ºC of the global mean surface temperature over the period between 1951 and 2010.
This thesis addresses one of the major challenges to combat climate change, namely that of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. It does so through an analysis of the blocking and driving mechanisms of technological transitions towards renewable energy technologies (RETs), and by placing a specific focus on the adoption of RETs in developing countries, using Colombia as an example. The thesis shows that by explicitly and systematically including additional socio-economic and political factors to complement the Technological Innovation System (TIS) approach, comprehensiveness is improved, revealing additional avenues for medium and long-term polices that could help expand RETs adoption in developing countries.
Venue: Room 1.169, Minderbroedersberg 4-6, Maastricht
Date: 19 December 2017
Time: 13:30 - 15:00 CET
