Irvan Pulungan Country Director ICLEI Indonesia http://urbanleds.iclei.org/index.php?id=186 Phone: +62 813 87 623426
Research Note A Renewable Revolution: The Emergence of Urban Low Emission Development Strategies: Indonesia Pathway to Achieving Global Emission Reduction Commitment
Abstract Low Emission Development is a growing interest that emerges across the globe as one comprehensive respond to the climate change threats.1 Yet to pursue the low emissions development, national level emission reduction target is still in question, while a rapid city-scale low emission development initiative is growing. Governments, multilateral development organizations, and non-governmental organizations are responding to city-led efforts to implement their low emissions development policies through an array of city-specific programs and projects. Most of these international programs operate independently, with collaboration among implementing agencies occurring on the margins at the national level. While these initial efforts are laudable and have yielded valuable knowledge and progress, the opportunity to leverage these activities for greater impact is still ripe. Greater national coordination could ensure greater coverage of low emissions development activities; enhance the scale as well as its predictability of funds.
1. Introduction Low-carbon, low-emission, or even carbon-neutral cities will be the signposts to sustainability. As we already known, cities account for 70- 80% of global carbon dioxide emissions. The development path of emerging economies’ growing urban areas in the next 30-50 years is vital in attaining global emissions targets designed to limit the global temperature increase to 2°C, and on the ability of cities to provide a sustainable and quality environment for the well-being of their citizens. Success will depend on a fundamental transformation in our development model. We need to demonstrate that shifting urban development to a low emission path can offer both a better urban livelihood to billions of people and yield immediate, direct, cost–effective and scalable greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Low emission development strategies, or LEDS, offer a vehicle in making this transformation. The importance is that they effectively integrated economic development plans with low-emission and/or climate-resilient economic growth. Unless climate and development policy are created and implemented in a coherent 1
Brown, M.A and Southworth F., 2008. Mitigating Climate Change Trough Green Building and Smart Growth. Environment and Planning A, 40(3), pp. 653-675.
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Irvan Pulungan Country Director ICLEI Indonesia http://urbanleds.iclei.org/index.php?id=186 Phone: +62 813 87 623426
way, we will only be re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. To create a coherent, development-based strategy, which identifies the cities, emissions’ footprint, identifies and prioritizes actions, and moves to implementation through fully costing solutions in different sectors while seeking investments to bring them to fruition.
2. The specific purpose of this research is to: Provide contextual information on the status of Urban-LEDS in international, national, and local processes; Ensure the Urban-LEDS initiative landscape is recognized, that is applicable and which key steps’ and lessons learnt’ can be taken into account in supporting national level emission reduction target; Inform both the conceptual development and implementation of Urban-LEDS, where appropriate.
3. Methodologies This research will use a comparative case study methodology 2. The objective of the research is to understand how Urban-LEDS have been generated in city-scale level by studying cases that were actually implemented in cities in Indonesia and India in order to identify opportunities to generate Urban-LEDS intentionally in many other contexts. Through its focus on how the local initiative supported national initiative and at the broader level contribute to global emission reduction target, the research designed to develop a more comprehensive approach in examining the multiple, often competing, policy environments in which urban management was implemented in specific sectors. This report examines the research that involved the collection of quantitative and qualitative information in the countries in which the case studies were done. The field research will be done between April 2014 and September 2014 through a series of in-depth literature research and focus group discussion in the cities that the UrbanLEDS initiative is being implemented. The research will assess policy drivers and implementation processes of one intervention that led a game-changing situation in one case in one specific city. In order to do that, we need to understand how the intervention was able to move the existing condition from A to B.
4. Key questions a) How are Urban-LEDS being defined? 2
Ragin, C and Backer H.S eds., 1992. What is the case?: Exploring the foundation of social inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Irvan Pulungan Country Director ICLEI Indonesia http://urbanleds.iclei.org/index.php?id=186 Phone: +62 813 87 623426
b) What programs exist to promote Urban-LEDS at the national and local level? Which international organizations are operating in this space? c) What are the key common steps identified in developing an Urban-LEDS? d) What lessons have been learnt at the national and local level for successful Urban-LEDS design? e) To what extent are local actors included in national LEDS processes?
5. Key hypothesis of relevant existing LEDS project: Many experiences of the national level LEDS processes simply reflect learning that has been garnered from years of action at the local level. Nevertheless, a number of key messages should inform Urban-LEDS and methodology development:
Which possible environmental Urban-LEDS has already happened? (Qualitative information describing the links between the project and its contribution on emission reduction target) What was the magnitude and range of program benefits? (Quantification of as many co- benefits as possible, through secondary data, estimates) How the particular intervention was implemented? (Different actors and actions, challenges and obstacles, and how the action was able to overcome those) Why was it implemented? (Political, economic, social reasons it was implemented) To what extend national policies and program influence the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of Urban-LEDS implementation.
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