Green Technology Choices: The Benefits, Risks and Trade-Offs of

Energy Efficient Technologies

Sangwon Suh

UN Environment/International Resource Panel;

Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara

New Report by the International Resource Panel (IRP) of UN Environment:

Green Technology Choice: The Environmental and Resource Implications of Low-Carbon Technologies

Significance:First regionally-differentiated global-scale assessment of over 60 supply-side and demand-side low-carbon technologies and their combinations on life-cycle environmental and resource impacts.

Two key messages:

• Both supply-side and demand-side low-carbon technologies are needed for a substantial reduction in global GHG emissions.

• Low-carbon technologies create environmental and human health co-benefits and also alleviate the pressure on land and water, while they may exacerbate the pressure on metallic resources.

Demand-side low-carbon technologies covered

+ Over 20 supply-side technologies including PV, wind, solar thermal, and CCS.

Method and data

Main Results (selected)

Technology-specific results

2010 case

2010 case

Overall results

Potential rebound effect

Overall conclusions

Overall conclusions (1/3):

• Demand-side technologies exhibit substantial environmental co-benefits in most impact categories.

• Some demand-side technologies may aggravate the pressure on metallic resources and other natural resources by more than 50% compared to conventional technologies.

Overall conclusions (2/3):

• Improvements to buildings, industry and vehicle fuel efficiency offer near-term environmental benefits of 20-70% compared to conventional technologies that provide the same service.

• Decarbonisation of electricity should go hand-in-hand with vehicle electrification to ensure GHG reductions and other environmental benefits.

Overall conclusions (3/3):

• Both demand-side approaches and low-carbon electricity are needed.

• Timely policy actions tailored to the specifics of the region are needed.

Co-authors: Joseph D. Bergesen1, Thomas Gibon2, Edgar Hertwich3, Michael Taptich4

1 University of California, Santa Barbara, 2 Norwegian University of Science & Technology,3 Yale University, 4 University of California, Berkeley

Contributors: Severin Beucker (Borderstep Institute; Yasunori Kikuchi (University of Tokyo); Łukasz Lelek(Polish Academy of Sciences); Eric Masanet(Northwestern University); Nydia Suppen (Center for life cycle assessment and Sustainable Design, CADIS); LeenaTähkämö (Aalto University)

UN Environment/International Resource PanelCo-chairs: Janez Potočnik and Alicia BárcenaPeer-review coordinator: Seiji HashimotoExecutive summary review: Paul EkinsUN Environment secretariat: Zura Nukusheva and PederJansen