One major step has been the scaling up of efforts to move to low-carbon economies through promoting the use of clean, efficient and renewable energy. This has involved exploitation of renewable sources as well as the use of new technologies.
In some countries in the world, especially the developed nations, business communities have also heeded the call by redesigning their investment pattern, shifting from funding fossil fuel to green fuel. Though slow, the shift has generally been significant.
In developing countries like Tanzania where both technology and funding to develop renewable sources are inadequate, the shift to renewable sources is slow. Yet government and other stakeholders have shown determination to promote the use of and access to clean energy among rural communities.
This is evidenced by the establishment of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and the emphasis on non-grid connectivity based on diversification of energy sources and increased involvement of the private sector.
There is also considerable involvement of civil society organisations in promoting the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.
The Sustainable Energy Forum (SEF), for example recently teamed up with WWF and the Vice President’s Office to organize a conference on energy access and climate change, that drew delegates from across Tanzania and the world over.
The Forum seeks to ensure that renewable energy provides a source of sustainable livelihoods for Tanzanian communities particularly the poor in the rural areas.
About 15 civil society organisations which form the SEF strive to ensuring that all Tanzanians have total access to clean, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy by 2030 as outlined in the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) global initiative.
Rather than working individually, the organisations have formed an umbrella organization with assistance from WWF to reach other targets including strengthening public-private partnership, communication and networking through multi-stakeholder engagement.
“In addition, the forum is positioned timely to support Tanzania’s SE4ALL Action agenda into actions through linking high level government agencies, private sector, development partners to the lower level of grassroots communities,” said Dr Amani Ngusaru WWF Tanzania Country Director when welcoming delegates to the conference.
He said the conference aimed to highlight the work and progress in bringing sustainable energy solutions to Tanzania as well as discuss challenges in addressing issues of climate change resulting from energy production and consumption.
The conference also discussed how Tanzania could develop the huge potential of renewable energy sources such as hydropower, natural gas reserves, geothermal, coal deposits, solar power and wind.
In promoting access to clean energy there is need for technology transfer and building the capacity of developing countries to enable them to addressing the challenges of climate change.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the most effective response to the global challenge of climate change lies in the development of new technologies whereby the country’s innovation potential decides its future competitive edge on international markets.
During the last 10 years, the government of Tanzania has made major progress in increasing energy access for rural communities but a lot remains to be done.
According to the International Energy Agency, 85 percent of the population still lack access to electricity. There seems to be a positive correlation between energy consumption and poverty situation in rural areas as most communities have low income, limiting them from accessing energy.
Therefore one challenge that needs to be addressed is providing solutions for reducing the factors that make it difficult for poor countries like Tanzania to adopt sustainable energy options. Some of these factors include limited information, lack of technical skills, weak institutional capacity, prohibitive costs, and inaccessibility to technology.
Energy Access in Tanzania is one of the substantial barriers to sustainable economic development. The country might not achieve its vision of securing a middle income country status by 2025 and other SDGs goals unless the energy equation is solved.
The SE4All initiative could be part of the solution as it seeks to bring all sectors of the society together - businesses, governments, investors, community groups, civil society, and academia towards ending energy poverty.
On its part, WWF-Tanzania is committed to supporting the country to accelerate access to renewable energy, increased sustainable use of biomass and integration of environmental concerns into development policies and plans.
“We are also working to reduce the dependence of the poor on natural resources for their livelihoods by supporting Tanzania in engaging on SE4All initiative,” Dr Ngusaru said, adding that WWF recognizes that this is potentially a very important opportunity where the country can benefit significantly from development partners, CSOs and private sector mobilization for realising its energy agenda.
The fight against climate change through mitigation of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) has a key all in generation and consumption of clean energy.
This is important considering that the energy sector accounts for about two thirds of total global emissions and as such, mitigation efforts should focus on sourcing cleaner fuels, increasing efficiency and decreasing consumption.
The global call to phase out the use of fossil fuels and develop renewable energy technologies thus aims at dealing with climate change, the effects of which have become severe over the years.
The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends, low-carbon energy sources, especially generation of energy from renewable sources, and increasing energy efficiency as essential measures that will reduce global warming and keep it below the 2C threshold.
However, the use of renewable energy sources and the quest to attain energy efficiency must target to promote clean, efficient and affordable energy access for poor communities so that they are not left behind in socio-economic development. Renewable energy should thus focus on poverty reduction among the majority of Tanzanians most of whom are poor and live in the rural areas.
This could be attained by looking beyond grid connectivity and directing efforts towards not only establishing mini-grids but also diversifying energy sources so that individual homes can access clean energy that is available within their localities and which also suits their wallets.
Home solar systems that meet the needs of individual families and biogas units are some of those sources.
Yet moving to low-carbon pathways requires substantial investments in renewable electricity generation and other technologies particularly in solar, wind and hydropower.
It also requires investing in energy efficiency in a range of sectors such as lighting, cooking and small-scale industrial production.
June publication of EcoWatch says that the renewable energy revolution is gathering pace with 2015 having been an extraordinary record year for the sector, with the largest global capacity additions seen to date.
In its annual report for 2015 REN21 estimated that about 147 gigawatts of renewable power capacity were added during the year. The organization which is based in Paris focuses on renewable energy sources policy and comprises energy experts, NGOs and governments.
“In total, new installations of renewable power generation capacity rose to 1,848.5 GW globally in 2015,” says EcoWatch. “Most importantly, slowly but surely every year, renewables are becoming more cost competitive with fossil fuels,” the publication adds.
However, while the shift to renewable energy sources gains momentum, it is important to consider the energy mix that creates benefits to poor communities.
It is also upon civil societies to ensure that the use of renewable sources of energy brings about responsible development that has due concern for a healthy environment and protects the rights of poor communities.
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