This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/45742/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the Strathprints administrator: strathprints@strath.ac.ukThe Strathprints institutional repository (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk) is a digital archive of University of Strathclyde research outputs. It has been developed to disseminate open access research outputs, expose data about those outputs, and enable the management and persistent access to Strathclyde's intellectual output. Authors accepted manuscript. Published as:Scriecu, S., Belton, V., Chalabi, Z., Mechler, R., Puig, D. (2014) There are growing calls for identifying climate mitigation and adaptation policypackages that would also support human development objectives at the national and regional levels. The literature on climate policy analysis and impact assessment continues to be driven by standard economics with its body of competitive general equilibrium optimization models and cost-benefit analysis techniques of aggregation and monetization. However, its recommendations for climate action are often based on highly restrictive underlying assumptions, which have been increasingly criticized for being too prescriptive, not adequately capturing salient observed socioeconomic realities, and not acknowledging pluralism in values.The main aim of this paper is to put forward a new methodological approach that seeks to address these deficiencies. A generic but comprehensive framework eliciting mitigationadaptation-development interactions, accounting for institutional barriers, and drawing on a combination of an emerging body of new climate economics and multi-criteria decision analysis is suggested. We purport that, by using this framework, multi-dimensional impacts and multistakeholder interests could be better represented when planning climate policy actions. We also argue that analytical tools drawing on economic thinking which embraces interdisciplinary analysis and deep uncertainty and avoids the fallacy of unique optimal solutions, may deliver more effective strategies for pushing economies onto the transformational pathways required.

Lack of access to modern forms of energy hampers efforts to reduce poverty. The provision of electricity to off-grid communities is therefore a long-standing developmental goal. Yet, many off-grid electrification projects neglect mid- and long-term operation and maintenance costs. When this is the case, electricity services are unlikely to be affordable to the communities that are the project’s primary target. Here we show that, compared with diesel-powered electricity generation systems, solar photovoltaic systems are more affordable to no less than 36% of the unelectrified populations in East Asia, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. We do so by developing geo-referenced estimates of affordability at a high level of resolution (1 km2). The analysis illustrates the differences in affordability that may be found at the subnational level, which underscores that electrification investments should be informed by subnational data.

Modernization and expansion require heightened efforts

Accelerating the international use of climate mitigation technologies is key if efforts to curb climate change are to succeed, especially in developing countries, where weak domestic technological innovation systems constrain the uptake of climate change mitigation technologies. Several intergovernmental agencies have set up specific programmes to support the diffusion of climate mitigation technologies. Using a simplified technological innovation system-based framework, this paper aims to systematically review these programmes, with the dual aim of assessing their collective success in promoting technological innovation, and identifying opportunities for the newly formed UNFCCC Technology Mechanism. We conclude that, while all programmes reviewed have promoted technology transfer, they have given limited attention to innovation capabilities with users, government and universities. Functions that could be further developed include knowledge development, legitimation and market formation. These could be focal areas for the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism. We recommend that, in future programmes, part of the funding is dedicated to programmes doing research and development as well as capability development.

Energy planning in rural areas and in developing countries most often relies on the outputs of specialized analytical tools, of which only a handful have been developed. Over the years these tools have been upgraded, and the newest among them take into consideration, to a greater or lesser extent, all key determinants of energy generation and distribution. This article focuses on a "pool" of web-based georeferencing open-source tools and highlights the extent to which each analytical tool reflects the particularities of the various determinants of energy generation and distribution. In doing so, the present work identifies aspects of the tools that need to be strengthened. Building on this information, the article further maps the suitability of each tool with regard to calculating (at a local level) the six Sustainable Development Goal indicators that are closely related to energy. This makes it possible to draw conclusions about monitoring needs in study-areas. Bringing together these two sets of findings, the article concludes with a research agenda for analytical tool development in the area of energy planning, which spills over developmental agendas. This article is categorized under:Energy and Development > Systems and Infrastructure Energy and Development > Economics and PolicyAfrica, energy access, GIS, interactive tools, renewable energy, rural electrification, SDG | INTRODUCTION: BETTER SCIENCE TO SECURE UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO ELECTRICITYFaster, more inclusive, and truly durable development holds the key to addressing all three components of the energy conundrum: energy access, energy security, and climate change. Renewable energy is the only source of energy that is relevant to all three components above, as it can help increase energy access, enhance energy security, and mitigate climate change in almost all socio-economic and geographic settings. Government, business and academia need to join forces to solve the energy conundrum. Specifically, the primary role and contribution of the scientists is to collect, systematize, analyze, and synthesize relevant information. The continuous progress of information and communication technologies (ICT) enables the use of satellite and remote sensing data in support of energy planning. Indeed, these technologies have introduced a new paradigm where new technologies complement or even substitute traditional information gathering (e.g., statistical surveys or censuses) that are generally costly, laborious and, thus, unsuitable in a developing country setting.