and monitoring for nationally appropriate mitigation actions in support of the UNFCCC.95 Compliance and regulations for energy efficiency can be challenging to achieve because they often do not lead to new market opportunities as quickly as, for instance, renewable policies. UNDP has helped build co-financing of $542 million against total project/programme costs of $520 million. This co-finance for energy efficiency was primarily from the public sector and typically provides 89 percent of total costs,96 with donor funding in one programme driving the higher overall result. Similar to the renewable energy work, a number of projects work with municipal or provincial stakeholders. Working with multiple subnational partners (e.g., in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Sri Lanka) capitalizes on the ability of UNDP to work in complex institutional environments that may be too risky for others. In other cases (e.g., Low-Carbon City project, Thailand), UNDP has focused on second-level cities, where risks and the need for demonstration are higher. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the UNDP role in managing stakeholder interests was sufficiently important for it to lead the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency evaluation of the Green Economic Development phase II project to conclude: “This project represents a good example of how UNDP project should be – creating depth over time through strengthened trust and alliances with all relevant stakeholders. UNDP has really become an agent of lasting change in the area of energy efficiency in the country.”
BOX 3. Transformational shifts through UNDP support: Improving the energy efficiency of lighting and other building appliances, Egypt This project had a transformational effect on energy consumption in Egypt, saving 2GW and $2 billion in generation costs. UNDP started with a large GEF energy-efficiency project for 2000-2010 that had limited impact because high electricity subsidies undermined the incentives for energy efficiency. Subsequently, a crippling electricity shortage and tariff increases provided strong incentives and political backing for improving energy efficiency. The project used established energy-efficiency interventions to raise awareness and pilot, provide grant finance for piloting and working with government to support the introduction of energy standards and monitoring. Due to delays in starting the project, the efficient lighting technology changed from CFL (compact fluorescent) to LED (light-emitting diode) but adaptive management coped with this. Each component was successful but the innovative decision to allow private companies access to 25 percent grant financing for pilots was important as these convinced businesses such as supermarkets, hotels and banks to make the initial investment. Cooperating businesses found that the switch to LEDs led to a massive, unexpected reduction in demand for air conditioning, reducing electricity consumption in some cases by 40 percent. The grant financing and energy savings enabled payback periods of 12 months on average, and there was rapid private sector uptake. The public information component was also very successful, with a media campaign using Facebook and the Cairo Metro and an energy-efficiency competition with prizes. The focus on LEDs at the outset – “low hanging fruit” – was important to build momentum for subsequent energy-efficiency regulation. UNDP played an important role in project design and management but also as a trusted government partner, with the ability to work with a wide range of public and private stakeholders.
95 96
Three out of eighteen project evaluations. Based on the median of co-finance to total project costs.
Chapter 4. FINDINGS
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