uncertainty for many redevelopment schemes and thus many current residents live with precarious tenure situations. With a history of housing developments targeting poor residents has tended to lead to gentrification processes favouring new, middle class residents, linking services such as clean energy to tenure rights could be a possible inroad to strengthen tenure rights.
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Approaches to clean energy provision at national (policy) level
To accelerate the transition to clean energy, solutions need anchoring in national policies and regulations. In the three case studies, there are existing entry points to strengthen the policy environment and governance systems towards this end. However, when competing with established systems relying on fossil fuels in oil both in producing countries like Syria and in countries carrying out petroleum explorations like Lebanon, a clean energy transition requires modelling and business case development that is reflective of the financial interests in oil production, and the costs of building out new energy solutions compared to e.g., fuel import. Acknowledging the importance of creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment for urban recovery more broadly, and clean energy transition specifically, interventions at the national level will seek to support ministries and departments responsible for energy. This to develop and strengthen policies and regulations, and to trigger necessary changes within key institutions, considering both national priorities and the needs at local levels.
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Incorporate sustainable energy access for displaced people into international, national, and local agency agendas. Humanitarian agencies should incorporate energy considerations into core programming for each stage of a humanitarian response. Encourage and, where possible, incorporate new technology and innovation through legislation and incentives. For example, redox/vanadium flow batteries have emerged on the market for largerscale, long-term energy storage. This is expected to revolutionise the energy storage market by providing hundreds of megawatts hours at grid scale and lasting over 20 years without loss in storage capacity. While still at an infant stage and thus expensive and unviable, it is expected that cost will reduce 50-70 per cent by 2025. Smart microgrids powered by demand-response systems also hold large potential impact. By reducing peak load and need for larger grid infrastructure, smart microgrids can optimise energy derived from solar and wind in combination with smart meters. Consider the afterlife and whole value-chain for clean energy appliances. Work towards safe disposal of used batteries from solar PV, and improved conditions for informal waste workers who are collection and recycling appliances.
In the below, consideration to guide interventions in urban crises settings at the national level is presented. Here, interventions will generally target the central government.
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Considerations and principles to guide interventions at national level
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Move towards a finance-oriented market using effective finance mechanisms, including financing of small-scale investments. Consider systems for subsidies and tariffs and explore innovative funding models, and legislation on innovative finance and crypto crowdfunding with digital assets. This could include blockchain as way to fund renewable energy. Apply stress test mechanisms to allocate risks between public- and private-sector actors. Strengthen connection between national and local levels to promote evidence-based solutions that responds to and informs specific policy and regulatory environment in a given context. Scale up solutions by promoting an enabling environment and governance structure for cross-fertilisation and replication.
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