BY STAFF REPORTER
As Ethiopia is a country of more than 100 million people creating jobs and ensuring rapid economic development is a top priority. In addition to responding to the economic needs, it is also important to ensure that the growth is free from health hazards that emanate from, mainly environmental pollution and climate change.
The growth of manufacturing industry sector, among others is believed to be one of the means to ensure economic growth. Along with the endeavor made to boost the industry sector, equally important area of concern is the issue of preventing damage on the climate.
One of the reasons for which industry is held accountable for climate change is that in the past many of them highly used energy sources that contribute for Green House Gas (GHG) emission. Climate resilient industry provides a pathway for dealing with GHG emissions and points of impact within the borderless dynamics of our planetary system.
Climate resilient industry builds on cleaner and resource-efficient production technologies and practices that de-couple economic growth from unsustainable resource consumption and environmental degradation.
Pathways for climate resilient industry must ensure that climate change and actions to combat it do not jeopardize the development of countries or the welfare of their citizens. UNIDO, through its projects and programmes, focuses on identifying and scaling up means to mutually reinforce the climate resilience and economic development of countries.
In developing countries industry accounts for more than a third of total final energy consumption, and seventy to eighty percent of this sector’s energy demand is for heat production, according to UNIDO. Given the topical concerns of global warming, environmental pollution, energy security and international industrial competitiveness, there is an increasing need for industry to make use of modern (i.e. clean and efficient) sources of energy. Solar and biomass-based technologies have very considerable technical potential to meet in a sustainable way the growing energy needs of many industrial enterprises, especially for small and medium scale enterprises in developing countries.
In recent years Ethiopia has given due attention to the development of the industry sector especially through encouraging the expansion of industrial parks. Its industrial parks are planned to utilize electric power generated by hydropower dams.
According to UNIDO, Industrial energy efficiency remains one of the key strategic mitigation actions. The IPCC argues that the energy intensity of the sector could be reduced by approximately 25 per cent through energy efficiency measures, such as wide-scale upgrading, replacement and deployment of best available technologies.
A further 20 per cent reduction would require broader and more innovative approaches. Such approaches may include, among others, change of product design, processes and input at plant level to collective approaches through sharing of infrastructure and exchange of materials, energy, water and by-products.
UNFCC also stipulates that the rapid and responsible deployment of clean, renewable energy is crucial to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which is to limit the global average temperature so that the worst impact of climate change can be avoided, including ever more severe storms and droughts.
The evolution of solar and wind energy has been the driving force of the transition to a low-carbon world in the past years, but despite the rise of new energy sources, one technology remains a cornerstone of the renewable energy mix in some regions of the Earth: hydropower.
Hydropower still accounts for 70 per cent of the world’s renewable generation capacity, a proportion that rises to more than 80 per cent in Latin America, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). So the sector has a key role to play in the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Hydropower holds a double relationship with climate change. On the one hand, it contributes to the avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. On the other, water availability and hydropower generation are likely to be affected by changing rainfall patterns, which can reduce the flow of rivers.
The need for industry to move towards low emission modes of production is becoming increasingly evident.
Climate resilient industrial development involves continued efforts to mitigate changes in the climate while at the same time prepare industry to adapt to its impacts. Apart from those related to extreme weather events, the impacts of climate variation in industry are not always obvious.
Considering the heavy dependence of industry on various natural resources and raw materials, the productive capacity of manufacturing industry could be severely affected by climate change if not addressed appropriately in a timely manner. It is becoming increasingly evident that certain mitigation measures could aggravate vulnerability in another location, while other approaches have clear mutual benefits towards improving resilience.
Similarly, many adaptation measures would result in additional GHG emissions from industry, for example, from increased extraction of global resources for construction materials and energy, among others. Effective solutions to climate change require a holistic approach that recognizes the interlinkages and potential trade-offs of different approaches, and leverages the synergies between mitigation and adaptation measures. This can also bring additional benefits such as climate financing that could not have been leveraged if addressed separately.
The Ethiopian Herald August 4/2021
