Key National and Regional Findings
- The United States submitted its INDC to the UNFCCC on March 31, 2015. The heart of that submission is an undertaking on the part of the U.S. “to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 26%-28% below its 2005 level in 2025 and to make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28%.” The U.S. expects to implement its INDC using existing legislative authority. We used the Global Change Assessment Model to examine the U.S. contribution including the U.S. Clean Power Plan. We found that successful achievement of the U.S. INDC would accelerate transition to low and non-emitting technologies, particularly in power generation and enhance more efficient end-use energy technology deployment. Significant uncertainty remains with this analysis to the year 2025, and the present suite of measures currently in place may need to be enhanced in the future for the U.S. to attain its goal.
[note “We found that successful achievement of the U.S. INDC would accelerate transition to low and non-emitting technologies, particularly in power generation and enhance more efficient end-use energy technology deployment.” Leon Clarke, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)]
- The analysis of Japan’s INDC shows that its implementation will require a significant restructuring of the energy system. Reducing energy consumption through energy efficiency progress means that Japan will have to further push the technology frontier for efficient equipment. Moreover, the huge growth in renewables announced by the INDC should drive global markets—but also poses a challenge given the geographical constraints in Japan. Such evolutions of the energy system bring about one major benefit, namely the reduction of energy imports; however, as it emerges from the Fukushima crisis, energy security and affordability will continue to be key issues for Japan.
[note “Beyond their national implications, the global success of Japan’s INDCs will rely on international cooperation around technological innovation and a clear process to revise and strengthen INDCs in the Paris Agreement.” Mikiko Kainuma, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES)]
- The analysis of the European Union’s INDC shows that a significant transformation of the EU energy system is required in order to achieve the 2030 target. Continuous improvements in energy intensity (at higher rates than historical trends) provide a large part of the emissions reduction effort, especially in the transport and buildings sectors, which are rather inflexible in substitutions away from fossil fuels in the short term. The analysis also depicts that the decarbonisation of the electricity production sector (mainly through large-scale deployment of renewables) in combination with substitution of fossil fuels by electricity in stationary applications is a cost-efficient strategy towards effective implementation of INDC. The transformation of the EU energy system poses significant challenges due to increase investment requirements directed towards energy efficiency improvements, accelerated deployment of renewables and the replacement of ageing energy infrastructure.
[note “The transition towards a low-carbon economy is challenging but yet quite feasible if the policies in place redirect funds towards clean energy investments.” Leonidas Paroussos, Energy-Economy-Environment Modelling Laboratory (E3M Lab)]
- India’s INDC puts forward an ambitious renewable energy target of achieving about 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030. Specific targets include 175 GW generation capacity by 2022, including 100 GW solar from existing 4 GW solar. This would be the most ambitious renewable energy program anywhere in the world. There are also various programs for improving the specific energy consumption of large energy consuming plants, including 144 coal-based power plants. There is also a strong thrust for clean coal based power generation. There are also strong programs on appliance standards and labels, reducing transmission and distribution losses, and enhancing forest cover by another half million hectares along with planting trees along 140,000 km national highways. The overarching target is for 33-35% reduction of emission intensity of the Indian GDP over 2005-2030. India has called for international support for technology transfer and finances to help meet these ambitious targets. It is also noted that the per capita emissions of the Indian people are projected to remain below the global averages until 2030. The huge growth in renewables announced by the INDC should drive global markets including for technology innovation and deployment.
[note “Beyond its national implications, the global success of India’s ambitious INDC will rely on international cooperation on technology transfer and financial support.” Amit Garg, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA)]
- Brazil has one of the cleanest energy systems and a low-carbon energy mix based on hydropower for electricity (around 70-80% of electricity generation over recent years) and a strong penetration of biofuels. There has been a significant rise in wind generation recently and new auctions for solar power generation. But recent studies indicate that, in the absence of mitigation efforts, the current Brazilian energy mix will continue on a trend of increasing carbon intensity. The depletion of the hydropower potential outside the Amazon region, and the vulnerability of existing hydro capacity to climate change means that other sources would take on increasing roles in meeting baseload demand, with results showing coal to be the least cost solution. The Brazilian INDC covers Land Use, Land Use Change and Foresty (LULUCF), Agriculture, and Energy sectors: it establishes absolute emissions targets of 1.3 GtCO2eq by 2025 and of 1.2 GtCO2eq by 2030, corresponding to reductions of 37% and 43%, respectively, compared to 2.1 GtCO2eq in 2005, and leading to per capita emissions of 6.2 tCO2eq in 2025 and of 5.4 tCO2eq in 2030.
[note „Our analysis suggests that Brazilian INDC requires full implementation of ambitious measures against deforestation and to reduce emissions in the agriculture sector, and can help to avoid a growing climate footprint of Brazil’s energy sector under a business as usual scenario. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that some additional measures could be possible without significant extra costs in the energy sector.” Roberto Schaeffer, Center for Energy and Environmental Economics (COPPE)]
- China submitted its INDC to the UNFCCC on the 30th of June 2015. China’s INDC includes an intention to peak CO2 emissions around 2030 and making best efforts to peak early, to reduce the carbon intensity of GDP by 60% to 65% from 2005 levels by 2030, to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20% by 2030, and to increase the forest stock volume by around 4.5 billion cubic metres from 2005 levels by 2030. China’s INDC is framed in terms of CO2, however the discussion text implies action on other gases. China’s INDC also includes a comprehensive list of actions. Three China national modeling teams (Tsinghua University, NCSC/RUC, and ERI) assessed China’s INDC based on their own models.
[note “We found that China’s INDC shows an acceleration of decarbonisation, particularly decarbonisation in energy sector and efficiency improvement in end-use sectors. This decarbonisation path is consistent with the possible scenario range with more than 50% probability of achieving 2°C goal from IPCC AR5 scenario database, if substantial and ambitious reductions are pursued after 2030 based on technologies that must be adequately prepared in advance.” ]
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