The Role of Renewable Energy Policies for Effective Climate Change Mitigation Actions in Tanzania - A Systematic Review.

The use of renewable energy sources is one of the measures that have had a significant contribution in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring sustainable development. Hence, this necessitates the need to ensure a sustainable national socio-economic development pathway that supports low emissions through the development and use of renewable energy. This paper analyses data from a systematic review that was conducted to understand how research is approaching the state of public policies of renewable energy and climate change in Tanzania. The review screened more than 500 published papers and unpublished reports containing 120 unique studies related to renewable energy, climate change and sustainable development. Results indicate that renewable energy sources have the potential of contributing to the reduction of about two-thirds of the total global energy carbon dioxide emission. The results further indicate that renewable energy may save carbon dioxide for the range of global cumulative savings of about 220-560 GtCO2 in the period 2010-2050. The results also show that Tanzania has targeted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 30% and 35% by 2030. Thus, more appropriate renewable energy policies would enable the country to further efficiently contribute to the global goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while achieving its sustainable development. This underscores the need for Tanzania to adopt appropriate policies for the utilisation of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, while achieving its sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]