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Estimating the investments needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is key to mobilising the financial resources to achieve them. Despite an increasing body of research to estimate the capital and operational costs towards achieving various related SDG targets individually and collectively, an overview of the total estimated investment needs at the global scale has not been conducted since the adoption of SDGs in 2015. This study provides such an overview. Estimates for investment needs are found for nine goals: SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 4 (quality education), SGD 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG7 (access to energy), SDG 9 (infrastructure), SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 14 (life below water), and SDG 15 (life on land). The reviewed studies vary significantly in terms of applied methodology, the assumed targets that need to be achieved, and presented estimates, but overall they indicate significantly higher investment needs to achieve all covered SDGs than previous estimates suggest. For most SDGs, annual investment needs are in the order of hundreds of billion USD annually, and for SDG6 and SDG13 estimates of a trillion or more are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the factors that hinder the development of a green bond market in Brazil. Based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Brazilian capital markets, this study found that there are two sets of challenges. The first comprises structural barriers that curb the development of the local bond market and attraction of foreign investments, such as an unstable macroeconomic environment and inadequate legal protection for investors. The second comprises specific obstacles to the development of a green bond market, such as lower than expected risk-adjusted returns of low-carbon investments. We expect that the research findings will serve as a roadmap for policy-makers on which barriers must be tackled to develop a green bond market in Brazil, thus facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Environmental Assessments (GEAs) are in a unique position to influence environmental decision-making in the context of sustainability challenges. To do this effectively, however, new methods are needed to respond to the needs of decision-makers for a more integrated, contextualized and goal-seeking evaluation of different policies, geared for action from global to local. While scenarios are an important tool for GEAs to link short-term decisions and medium and long-term consequences, these current information needs cannot be met only through deductive approaches focused on the global level. In this paper, we argue that a more diverse set of futures tools operating at multiple scales are needed to improve GEA scenario development and analysis to meet the information needs of policymakers and other stakeholders better. Based on the literature, we highlight four challenges that GEAs need to be able to address in order to contribute to global environmental decision-making about the future: 1. anticipate unpredictable future conditions; 2. be relevant at multiple scales, 3. include diverse actors, perspectives and contexts; and 4. leverage the imagination to inspire action. We present a toolbox of future-oriented approaches and methods that can be used to effectively address the four challenges currently faced by GEAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy–water–land nexus represents a critical leverage future policies must draw upon to reduce trade-offs between sustainable development objectives. Yet, existing long-term planning tools do not provide the scope or level of integration across the nexus to unravel important development constraints. Moreover, existing tools and data are not always made openly available or are implemented across disparate modeling platforms that can be difficult to link directly with modern scientific computing tools and databases. In this paper, we present the NExus Solutions Tool (NEST): a new open modeling platform that integrates multi-scale energy–water–land resource optimization with distributed hydrological modeling. The new approach provides insights into the vulnerability of water, energy and land resources to future socioeconomic and climatic change and how multi-sectoral policies, technological solutions and investments can improve the resilience and sustainability of transformation pathways while avoiding counterproductive interactions among sectors. NEST can be applied at different spatial and temporal resolutions, and is designed specifically to tap into the growing body of open-access geospatial data available through national inventories and the Earth system modeling community. A case study analysis of the Indus River basin in south Asia demonstrates the capability of the model to capture important interlinkages across system transformation pathways towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, including the intersections between local and regional transboundary policies and incremental investment costs from rapidly increasing regional consumption projected over the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy-water-land nexus represents a critical leverage future policies must draw upon to reduce trade-offs between sustainable development objectives. Yet, existing long-term planning tools do not provide the scope or level of integration across the nexus to unravel important development constraints. Moreover, existing tools and data are not always made openly available or are implemented across disparate modeling platforms that can be difficult to link directly with modern scientific computing tools and databases. In this paper, we present the Nexus Solutions Tool (NEST): a new open modeling platform that integrates multi-scale energy-water-land resource optimization with distributed hydrological modeling. The new approach provides insights into the vulnerability of water, energy and land resources to future socioeconomic and climatic change and how multi-sectoral policies, technological solutions and investments can improve the resilience and sustainability of transformation pathways while avoiding counterproductive interactions among sectors. NEST can be applied at different spatial and temporal resolutions, and is designed specifically to tap into the growing body of open access geospatial data available through national inventories and the earth system modeling community. A case study analysis of the Indus River Basin in South Asia demonstrates the capability of the model to capture important interlinkages across system transformation pathways towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, including the intersections between local and regional transboundary policies and incremental investment costs from rapidly increasing regional consumption projected over the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work evaluates implications of incorporating LCA-GHG (life cycle assessment of GHG emissions) into the optimisation of the power generation mix of Brazil through 2050, under baseline and low-carbon scenarios. Furthermore, this work assesses the impacts of enacting a tax on LCA-GHG emissions as a strategy to mitigate climate change. To this end, a model that integrates regional life cycle data with optimised energy scenarios was developed using the MESSAGE-Brazil integrated model. Following a baseline trend, the power sector in Brazil would increasingly rely on conventional coal technologies. GHG emissions from the power sector in 2050 are expected to increase 15-fold. When enacting a tax on direct-carbon emissions, advanced coal and onshore wind technologies become competitive. GHG emissions peak at 2025 and decrease afterwards, reaching an emission level 40% lower in 2050 than that of 2010. However, if impacts were evaluated through the entire life cycle of power supply systems, LCA-GHG emissions would be 50% higher in 2050 than in 2010. This is due to loads associated with the construction of plant infrastructures and extraction and processing of fossil fuel resources. Thus, taxes might not be as effective in tackling GHG emissions as shown by past studies, if they are only applied to direct emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Integrated assessment model scenarios substantially overestimate CO 2 storage potential. • A new storage potential estimate, the investable potential, is introduced. • Reduced CO 2 storage requires faster mitigation and greater use of renewable energy. • Scenarios prioritise very different CCS applications depending on storage availability. • The impact of cross-border trade in CO 2 and low discount rates are also explored. Most low-carbon scenarios produced by integrated assessment models deploy substantial amounts of carbon capture and storage (CCS). These models generally assume that CO 2 storage is a low-cost and globally ubiquitous resource. Here we challenge this assumption, introducing a CO 2 storage potential which accounts for the financial, contractual, and institutional barriers to CO 2 storage, which we term the investable potential. We provide a first estimate of this investable potential and utilise a global energy system model to explore the implications for global and regional mitigation pathways. Our results suggest that low-carbon scenarios which assume abundant CO 2 storage may substantially overestimate the role of CCS in deep decarbonisation, particularly in key regions such as China and India. Limited CO 2 storage leads to mitigation pathways with faster emission reductions and greater reliance on renewable energy for decarbonisation. We demonstrate that the optimal use of CCS depends heavily on the availability of CO 2 storage, with different use-cases prioritised at different scales of storage availability. Finally, we present exploratory analysis on the potential for cross-border trade in captured CO 2 to match sources and sinks. The results of this analysis can help calibrate expectations and inform policy decisions around the role of CCS in addressing climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CSP and PV technologies represent energy sources with large potentials. We present cost-supply curves for both technologies using a consistent methodology for 26 regions, based on geoexplicit information on solar radiation, land cover type and slope, exploring individual potential and interdependencies. For present day, both CSP and PV supply curves start at $0.18/kWh, in North Africa, South America, and Australia. Applying accepted learning rates to official capacity targets, we project prices to drop to $0.11/kWh for both technologies by 2050. In an alternative “fast-learning” scenario, generation costs drop to $0.06–0.07/kWh for CSP, and $0.09/kWh for PV. Competition between them for best areas is explored along with sensitivities of their techno-economic potentials to land use restrictions and land cover type. CSP was found to be more competitive in desert sites with highest direct solar radiation. PV was a clear winner in humid tropical regions, and temperate northern hemisphere. Elsewhere, no clear winner emerged, highlighting the importance of competition in assessments of potentials. Our results show there is ample potential globally for both technologies even accounting for land use restrictions, but stronger support for RD&D and higher investments are needed to make CSP and PV cost-competitive with established power technologies by 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Integrated assessment models are extensively used in the analysis of climate change mitigation and are informing national decision makers as well as contribute to international scientific assessments. This paper conducts a comprehensive review of techno-economic assumptions in the electricity sector among fifteen different global and national integrated assessment models. Particular focus is given to six major economies in the world: Brazil, China, the EU, India, Japan and the US. The comparison reveals that techno-economic characteristics are quite different across integrated assessment models, both for the base year and future years. It is, however, important to recognize that techno-economic assessments from the literature exhibit an equally large range of parameters as the integrated assessment models reviewed. Beyond numerical differences, the representation of technologies also differs among models, which needs to be taken into account when comparing numerical parameters. While desirable, it seems difficult to fully harmonize techno-economic parameters across a broader range of models due to structural differences in the representation of technology. Therefore, making techno-economic parameters available in the future, together with of the technology representation as well as the exact definitions of the parameters should become the standard approach as it allows an open discussion of appropriate assumptions. Highlights • Comparison of technology representation and techno-economic parameters of 15 IAMs. • Structural differences in representing technology in IAMs are identified. • Methods of projecting techno-economic parameters differ across IAMs. • Strict harmonization of techno-economic parameters across models is difficult. • Recommendation to publish techno-economic parameters and technology representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper performs a multi-model comparison to assess strategies for adaptation to climate change impacts in hydropower generation in Brazil under two Representative Concentration Pathways. The approach used allows for evaluating the interactions between climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies under low and high impact scenarios through 2050. Climate change impact projections of sixteen General Circulation Models indicate that a global high emissions trajectory scenario would likely yield more severe impacts on hydropower generation than a mitigation scenario. Adaptation modeling suggests that climate change impacts can be compensated by a wide range of alternatives, whose optimality will depend on the level of mitigation effort pursued. Our results show that climate change impacts would lead to even higher emissions in the absence of climate change mitigation policies. On the other hand, mitigation strategies to pursue lower emissions are maintained under climate change impacts, meaning that mitigation strategies are robust when faced with adaptation challenges. Mitigation efforts could yield a more diverse and less carbon intensive mix of technological options for adaptation. When analyzing investment costs to adapt to climate change impacts, in some cases mitigation can lead to a lower total investment level. Highlights • Climate change impacts on hydropower are assessed for sixteen models and two scenarios. • Interactions between climate change mitigation and adaptation are analyzed. • Adaptation/mitigation strategies from six different energy models are compared. • Adaptation and mitigation investment costs are assessed and compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement invited Parties to develop low-emission development strategies. This study presents national low-emission scenarios to inform such strategies for Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, EU-28, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia and the USA. We use country-level technology-rich energy-economy and integrated assessment models that include detailed representations of the energy, transport and land systems and provide insights on emissions, energy system and economic implications of low-emission pathways until 2050. We show that the low-emission pathways of most economies studied here are consistent with pathways limiting global temperature increase to well-below 2 °C, while emission reductions are achieved through uptake of renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements and electrification of energy services. The role of mitigation options like nuclear, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and advanced biofuels is differentiates across countries, depending on national priorities, specificities and resource endowments. The energy system transformation requires a pronounced reallocation of investments towards low-carbon technologies, but without raising significant affordability issues in most countries. National pathways improve the consistency between country policy plans with global temperature goals and capture structural heterogeneities and broad socio-economic considerations. • We explore national low-carbon emission scenarios for eleven regions of the globe. • We use country-level technology-rich energy-economy and integrated assessment models. • These models include detailed representations of the energy, transport and land systems. • We provide insights on emissions, energy system and economic implications up to 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]