Using the recovery to accelerate climate action in the residential sector

COM/ENV/EPOC/IEA/SLT(2020)4/REV2  45

island effects and sprawled development from lower densities (Güneralp et al., 2017[125]; Lee and Lee, 2014[127]; Wamsler, Brink and Rivera, 2013[128]; Jones and Kammen, 2014[129]). These urban forms, in turn, have enormous repercussions for transport emissions and the potential options for mitigation in the sector (OECD, 2019[8]). The built environment (i.e., the neighbourhoods and cities in which a dwelling is embedded) is critical for well-being, since it enables people to live, work, and carry out daily activities in safety, security and comfort – or threatens these if degraded or has poor functionality. This aspect has been reinforced by cities’ experience with COVID and green spaces will increasingly be needed to help regulate microclimates with increasing urban density as well as to provide safe breathing space for citizens. The rest of this section examines a range of recovery measures related to surface transport and the residential sector against the three stylised recovery pathways set out in section 2. The analysis in this section is qualitative and therefore indicative of what the implications for emissions and well-being could be (similar to section 3 on surface transport). More detailed quantitative analysis taking into account the specific context would be required for policy evaluation in specific contexts.

Using the recovery to accelerate climate action in the residential sector

During the “lockdown” in 69 developing and developed countries35 at the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, people spent vast amounts of times inside their homes and many are continuing to do so during the second wave. This led to higher energy usage in the residential sector during the first lockdowns (IEA, 2020[130]). In the last week of March and first week of April, residential electricity demand was 40% higher across certain European economies than in the same weeks in 2019 (IEA, 2020[130]). This trend persisted well into the summer of 2020 (Liu et al., 2020[131]). Similar dynamics were observed outside Europe, for example, residential energy demand grew in Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore substantially during lockdown (but this did not offset the decreased commercial demand during the lockdown period) (Lowder, Lee and Leisch, 2020[132]). Millions continue to spend the majority of their time in their homes. Expert opinion suggests that 25-30% of the global workforce will continue to work from home multiple days of week until the end of 2021 (Global Workplace Analytics, 2020[133]). The ability to do this, however, depends on whether the work is manual, requires face-to-face interaction, the use of Internet Communication Technologies, and internet connectivity at-home (Hatayama, Viollaz and Winkler, 2020[134]). For example, the types of employment in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Turkey have low amenability to work from home, compared to those with the highest like - Norway, Finland, Belgium, and Netherlands - according to a recent analysis at the World Bank (Hatayama, Viollaz and Winkler, 2020[134]). This extra time spent at home heightens the need for quality dwellings in both developing and developed countries, especially given the second waves occurring globally. There are many aspects of an ideal high quality dwelling. These include sufficient living space (e.g., floor area, number of rooms); adequate services inside with temperature regulation, adequate light, high indoor air quality, satisfactory ventilation, and clean cooking fuels; along with proximity to quality neighbourhoods (e.g., green spaces, location efficient housing with access to services and opportunities). The quality of dwellings varies across the globe. In the developing world, 860 million still lack access to electricity (IEA, 2020[124]), 4.2 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services (United Nations, 2020[135]), and 2.6 billion have no access to clean cooking solutions (IEA, 2020[124]). Close to 1.02 billion people lack access to cooling and are unable to

35 Countries with national lockdowns between March and June 2020 include: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bermuda, Bolivia, Botswana, Colombia, Republic of Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Honduras, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.