Energy Policies
For North American and Western European policy makers, the priority in energy policies is to prevent climate deviations.
Achieving the target in 2030 in the fight against climate change, which was accepted by the United Nations members in 2015, is a serious global development goal.
But for developing countries where energy is expensive, where they are struggling with many problems and more, such as poverty reduction, health and nutrition, access to clean energy, water and sanitation, creating better jobs, reducing inequality, this is just one of the goals.
For policy makers in developed economies, combating climate change tends to take priority over all these other goals. For many Western policymakers, reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions takes precedence over all other aspects of energy policy. However, the priority issues for policy makers in emerging economies are different and complex. Developing world countries have to adopt a more balanced approach, taking into account essential priorities.
Developed and Developing Economies
Differences in energy access and energy consumption remain sharp between developed and emerging economies
According to statistics, per capita energy consumption in OECD economies is three times higher than in non-OECD countries.
Consumption per capita in the European Union is a third of that in China, five times that in India and almost nine times that in Africa.
Similarly, consumption per capita in the United States is three times that of China, 11 times that of India and 19 times that of Africa.
Some differences are related to geography, where energy consumption tends to be higher in countries where more heating is needed. Differences in comfort and consumption also play an important role.
Citizens of developed economies benefit from more heating, cooling and lighting services. They consume more energy by traveling further and more often, for pleasure as well as for work.
Residents of developing economies also need to consume more energy to achieve their goals if they want to increase their income, comfort and living standards.
In many ways, the economic development process has always been about capturing and using increasing amounts of energy.
Energy Demand and Consumption in OECD Economies
The economic and social development process in OECD economies in the 19th and 20th centuries was rather energy intensive, and will likely be the same for non-OECD economies in the 21st century.
While energy demand has recently stabilized in developed economies, demand is increasing rapidly as emerging economies catch up.
Energy consumption per capita in OECD economies decreased by 0.2% per year between 2009 and 2019, but increased by a compound annual rate of 1.8% in non-OECD economies.
Zero Emission Energy
The enormous scale of energy demand in developing countries poses a major challenge to attempts to control carbon dioxide emissions. Zero-emission energy sources are awaiting their turn to replace current fossil fuel-consuming energy and meet growth in energy demand.
The population of developing countries is still growing rapidly, and this increase, which will further increase energy consumption, is expected to continue for the next thirty years.
In 2019, zero-emission energy sources met only one-sixth of global energy consumption, while the remainder were met by fossil fuels, which will eventually need to be replaced to achieve the net zero emissions target.
By 2050, global energy consumption is likely to increase by 25-75%, depending on trends over the past decade. All this increase will need to be compensated by zero emission energy sources to reach the net zero target.
Regarding a look from a developed economy perspective, the emission problem has become largely static, and existing fossil fuel use in these economies is being replaced by zero-emission sources.
The emission issue for developing countries is dynamic, there is a balancing and adjustment process by adding new extra zero emission sources to meet the increasing growth in energy demand in addition to the variable current fossil fuel use.
North American and Western European policymakers stress the need and importance of formulating an ambitious strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 ahead of the 26th United Nations climate conference in November.
Priorities
Priorities to reduce emissions can put climate change ahead of other development goals and postpone solutions to other problems. However, this is considered as selfish, unfair, and politically impractical for many policy makers in developing countries, who should also be sensitive to other goals.
If setting ambitious and reliable targets for emissions reduction is to achieve global success, then how they can be integrated with other development goals should be analyzed in depth.
Reducing CO2 emissions in middle and low-income countries should go hand in hand with increased energy consumption and provide performance that can serve social and economic development.