Air pollution and energy policies/Policy issues

Component is implemented in:

Related IMAGE components

Climate policy Land and biodiversity policies

Projects/Applications

Roads from Rio+20 (2012) project

Key publications

Kruyt et al., 2009 Van Ruijven et al., 2012

References

Jewell et al., 2016 Kruyt et al., 2009 PBL, 2012 Van Ruijven et al., 2008

Energy access policies

Baseline developments

IMAGE can also be used to consider energy access issues. The baseline scenario of the Rio+20 report shows that without additional policy by 2030, 2.6 billion people will continue to depend on solid fuels for cooking and heating and 1 billion people will have no access to electricity (PBL, 2012) (see Figure Global household access). Low energy access has been reported to lead to development issues and to environmental issues.

Policy interventions

The model defines access to modern energy sources for cooking and heating by either using modern fuels or improved biomass stoves. To make the transition, the IMAGE analysis include measures such as increased investments in the power grid (for access to electricity), fuel subsidies and grants, and micro-lending facilities for easier access to credit and lower borrowing costs for households (Van Ruijven et al., 2012). For households for which the shift from biomass may still be out of reach under the induced financial policies, improved biomass stoves are distributed as a cost-effective interim solution. The Roads from Rio+20 report (PBL, 2012), for instance, explored measures, such as subsidies and grid extension, to achieve 95 % grid connectivity and use of modern fuels for cooking and heating in 2030.

Table: Policy interventions Energy access policies

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
Provision on improved stoves for traditional bio-energy	Increases the efficiency of bio-energy use.	Energy demand(*) Human development
Subsidies on modern energy	Reduces the costs of modern energy to reduce traditional energy use (can be targeted to low income groups).	Energy demand(*) Human development

(*) Implementing component.

Air pollution policies

Baseline developments

Indoor and outdoor air pollution with negative health impacts are key issues for energy policies. IMAGE is used to explore air pollution policies, particularly in relation to climate policy. In the baseline scenario of the Rio+20 project, for instance, emissions of air pollutants remain at high levels globally (PBL, 2012) (see Figure Global houshold access). Black carbon emissions are projected to decrease towards 2050, while SO2 emissions remain constant and NOx emissions increase. Another key factor is the ageing population because the impacts of air pollution are felt stronger by the elderly.

Policy intervention

Emissions of air pollutants may be reduced by either a change in energy use or end-of-pipe abatement measures. In IMAGE, the first policy category can be modelled explicitly, for instance, as a result of climate policy. Many technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions also lead to less emissions of air pollutants. End-of-pipe policies can only be implemented by changing the emission factors (in an aggregated way). However, by relating the change in emission factors to those of more explicit air pollution models, it is possible to perform policy relevant experiments.

Table: Policy interventions Air pollution policies

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
Implementation of sustainability criteria in bio-energy production	Sustainability criteria that could become binding for dedicated bio-energy production, such as the restrictive use of water-scarce or degraded areas.	Emissions Energy supply(*) Terrestrial biodiversity
Carbon tax	A tax on carbon leads to higher prices for carbon intensive fuels (such as fossil fuels), making low-carbon alternatives more attractive.	Climate policy(*) Emissions Energy conversion(*) Energy demand(*) Energy supply Human development

(*) Implementing component.

Air pollution and energy access policies

See description at Air pollution policies and at energy access policies.

Table: Policy interventions Air pollution and energy access policies

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
Apply emission and energy intensity standards	Apply emission intensity standards for e.g. cars (gCO2/km), power plants (gCO2/kWh) or appliances (kWh/hour).	Emissions
Capacity targets	It is possible to prescribe the shares of renewables, CCS technology, nuclear power and other forms of generation capacity. This measure influences the amount of capacity installed of the technology chosen.	Emissions Energy conversion(*)
Change market shares of fuel types	Exogenously set the market shares of certain fuel types. This can be done for specific analyses or scenarios to explore the broader implications of increasing the use of, for instance, biofuels, electricity or hydrogen and reflects the impact of fuel targets.	Emissions Energy conversion Energy demand(*) Energy supply
Change the use of electricity and hydrogen	It is possible to promote the use of electricity and hydrogen at the end-use level.	Emissions Energy conversion(*) Energy demand
Excluding certain technologies	Certain energy technology options can be excluded in the model for environmental, societal, and/or security reasons.	Emissions Energy conversion(*)
Implementation of biofuel targets	Policies to enhance the use of biofuels, especially in the transport sector. In the Agricultural economy component only 'first generation' crops are taken into account. The policy is implemented as a budget-neutral policy from government perspective, e.g. a subsidy is implemented to achieve a certain share of biofuels in fuel production and an end-user tax is applied to counterfinance the implemented subsidy.	Agricultural economy(*) Emissions Energy supply Land-use allocation Terrestrial biodiversity
Improving energy efficiency	Exogenously set improvement in efficiency. Such improvements can be introduced for the submodels that focus on particular technologies, for example, in transport, heavy industry and households submodels.	Emissions Energy conversion Energy demand(*) Energy supply
Production targets for energy technologies	Production targets for energy technologies can be set to force technologies through a learning curve.	Energy conversion

(*) Implementing component.