Author: shobhakar

Together with colleagues from Sun Yat-sen University, Zhejiang University, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and Princeton University, Prof. Dhakal initiates Special Issue on “Reshaping urban infrastructure for a carbon-neutral and sustainable future” in prestigious Journal Resources, Conservation & Recycling. See details in above web-line of the Journal.

Low carbon urban infrastructure is a bed-rock of low carbon world and essential for aspiration of Paris Agreement on climate change. The special issue cover an array of state-of-art issues such as,

• Evaluation of the impacts of current urban infrastructures on environment and climate change and how they can be reduced in the future;
• Design and management of urban infrastructure future transitions under the constrain of future GHG emissions determined by national or global policies (e.g., national carbon neutrality goals, Paris Agreement);
• Advanced models and tools to track and assess the carbon footprint of urban infrastructure and urban infrastructure transitions/interventions, and how they contribute to climate change mitigation;
• Optimization of energy efficiency, other GHG mitigation strategies, and waste management related to urban infrastructures and their applications in urban planning;
• Trade-offs and synergies between energy use, carbon footprint, and social impacts of urban infrastructure;
• Nexus and connections of urban infrastructure with respect to public health, livability, well-being, social equity, and other sustainable development goals;
• Demonstrations and practical analyses of low-carbon or carbon-neutral projects and applications of urban infrastructure that have broad implications for urban infrastructure transitions towards carbon neutrality and sustainability; and
• Ex-post and ex-ante evaluation of urban infrastructure policies in relation to GHG emissions using quantitative and qualitative techniques.

New paper in “Nature Sustainability” co-authored Prof. Dhakal and led by Prof. Anu Ramaswami of Princeton University titled “Carbon analytics for net-zero emissions sustainable cities” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00715-5 has been published. This is a collaborative research paper by experts from from Princeton, Stanford, Yale, AIT, NASA, World Resources Institute, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Australia, National Institute for Environmental Studies Japan and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability. The paper, addressed the question of what is a net-zero carbon city? The paper makes the case to consider defining a net-zero carbon city as one that has net-zero carbon infrastructure and food provisioning systems. A focus on 7 key community-wide infrastructure and food systems has several advantages. 7 physical provisioning systems- energy, transportation-communications, food, construction materials, water supply, green infrastructure, and waste management systems – cover ~90% of global GHG emissions. They connect many urban agendas such as Smart Cities, Nature Based Solutions, Net Zero Mobility, Net Zero Food, Net Zero Buildings etc. They enable urban decarbonization to systematically link with SDGs on health and wellbeing, inequality, climate, water, land, energy and cities. They also allow city-scale decarbonization efforts to systematically align with larger-scale Net Zero efforts of regional electricity grids, other transboundary infrastructure and nation-scale effort beyond cities’ themselves.

PLOS Climate is a new Open Access journal that unites experimental, theoretical, observational, technological, behavioral and socio-economic research from all regions of the world to tackle the challenges of a changing climate at a global scale. It aims to empower leaders and climate policy-makers all over the world to take urgent action against the effects of rapid climate change by making climate research of the highest methodological and ethical standards available to all without barriers.

Please see Journal here. https://journals.plos.org/climate/ .

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New UNEP Report by Over 50 Elite Scientists, including AIT Researchers, Provides Blueprint to Sustainable Future

As the world is grappling with economic crisis brought by COVID-19 pandemic, UNEP report ‘Making Peace with Nature,’ developed by a team of over 50 world-renowned scientists, led by Ivar Baste and Robert Watson, and including Prof. Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal and supported by a doctoral student Ms. Tooba Masood of AIT, suggests an opportunity to rebuild a sustainable future for all.

Making Peace with Nature, released on February 18, 2021, lays out the gravity of these three environmental crises by drawing on existing key global assessments, including those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of which AIT Prof. Dhakal is a part, and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook report, the UNEP International Resource Panel, and new findings on the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.

The authors assess the links between multiple environmental and development challenges and explain how advances in science and bold policymaking can open a pathway towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and a carbon neutral world by 2050 while bending the curve on biodiversity loss and curbing pollution and waste, to which Prof. Dhakal has contributed to an assessment of Sustainable Cities and Communities.

“Transforming humankind’s relationship with nature is the key to a sustainable future even more in the context of making sustainable cities and communities,” says Prof. Dhakal. He also added, “Embracing nature-based solutions, promoting enhanced access to services such as clean water and energy and public transport, and making infrastructure and buildings in close harmony with nature in cities and communities are crucial”.

This new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Making Peace with Nature, lays out the gravity of three environmental crises- climate, biodiversity loss and pollution- by drawing on global assessments, including those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook report, the UNEP International Resource Panel, and new findings on the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.

This report was a year-long effort, led by Ivar Baste and Robert Watson, directly involving 54 elite scientists (incl 20 authors, Prof. Dhakal was one of these authors), and indirectly synthesizing the voice of thousands of scientists involved in the 25 underlying major global assessments.

The authors assess the links between multiple environmental and development challenges, and explain how advances in science and bold policymaking can open a pathway towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and a carbon neutral world by 2050 while bending the curve on biodiversity loss and curbing pollution and waste. Taking that path means innovation and investment only in activities that protect both people and nature. Success will include restored ecosystems and healthier lives as well as a stable climate.

Amid a wave of investment to re-energize economies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the blueprint communicates the opportunity and urgency for ambitious and immediate action. It also lays out the roles that everyone – from governments and businesses to communities and individuals – can and must play. 2021 is especially crucial, with upcoming climate and
biodiversity convention meetings – UNFCCC COP 26 and CBD COP 15 – where governments must come up with synergistic and ambitious targets to safeguard the planet by almost halving greenhouse gas emissions in this decade, and by conserving and restoring biodiversity.

Tackling three planetary threats together Economic growth has brought uneven gains in prosperity to a fast-growing global population, leaving 1.3 billion people poor, while tripling the extraction of natural resources to damaging levels and creating a planetary emergency. Despite a temporary decline in emissions due to the pandemic, Earth is heading for at least 3°C of global warming this century; more than 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species are at substantially increased risk of extinction; and diseases caused by pollution are currently killing some 9 million people prematurely every year. Environmental degradation is impeding progress towards ending poverty and hunger, reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable economic growth, work for all and peaceful and inclusive societies.

The report shows how this trio of environmental emergencies interact and have common causes, and thus can only be effectively addressed together. Subsidies on fossil fuels, for instance, and prices that leave out environmental costs, are driving the wasteful production and consumption of energy and natural resources that are behind all three problems.

Released ahead of the fifth UN Environment Assembly, the report presents a strong case for why and how urgent action should be taken to protect and restore the planet and its climate in a holistic way. It presents examples of what transformative change can look like, and how it can create
prosperity, employment and greater equality. Far-reaching change involves recasting how we value and invest in nature, integrating that value into policies and decisions at all levels, overhauling subsidies and other elements of economic and financial systems, and fostering innovation in sustainable technologies and business models. Massive private investment in electric mobility and alternative fuels show how whole industries recognize the potential gains from shifting quickly.

The authors point out that ending environmental decline in all its forms is essential to advancing many of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular poverty alleviation, food and water security and good health for all. An example is how intensifying agriculture and fishing in sustainable ways, allied with changes in diets and lower food waste, can help end global hunger and poverty and improve nutrition and health while sparing more land and ocean for nature. Reinforcing the call for action, the report stresses the need for stakeholders at all levels of society to be involved in decision-making, and identifies dozens of key actions that governments, businesses, communities and individuals can and should undertake in order to bring about a sustainable world.

For instance:
• Governments can include natural capital in measures of economic performance, put a price on carbon and shift trillions of dollars in subsidies from fossil fuels, non-sustainable agriculture and transportation towards low-carbon and nature-friendly solutions
• International organizations can promote One Health approaches and ambitious international targets for biodiversity, such as expanded and improved protected area networks
• Financial organizations can stop lending for fossil fuels and develop innovative finance for biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture.
• Businesses can adopt the principles of the circular economy to minimize resource use and waste and commit to maintaining transparent and deforestation-free supply chains
• Non-government organizations can build networks of stakeholders to ensure their full participation in decisions about sustainable use of land and marine resources
• Scientific organizations can pioneer technologies and policies to reduce carbon emissions, increase resource efficiency and lift the resilience of cities, industries, communities and ecosystems
• Individuals can reconsider their relationship with nature, learn about sustainability and change their habits to reduce their use of resources, cut waste of food, water and energy, and adopt healthier diets.

(Adapted from UNEP Press Release, 18 February 2021)

Seven AIT faculty researchers are amongst world’s top 2% scientists in their respective fields

Prof. Shobhakar Dhakal appointed as Dean of AIT School of Environment, Resources and Development

In his presentation, Prof. Dhakal presented the latest knowledge on COVID-19’s implications to the global energy and CO2 emissions followed by what is known and unknown and likely implications of COVID-19 to Nepal’s energy and environmental security.

The presentation slides are available here –> Please click to download/view.

He outlined that COVID-19 is likely to induce delays in new power plants slated to be operationalized in this and the next fiscal year and slow the demand for electricity. Revenue loss to state utility, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), serious financial implications for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) originating from the demand decline and inability of off-taker (NEA) to make payments timely, changes in price of raw materials, labor and other input costs, and the short to long-term impacts to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are likely key implications. However, air pollution has been COVID-19’s unintended co-benefits so far but the extent of air pollution in the atmosphere during the lock-down period is a stark remainder of how difficult is to tame air pollution in cities of Nepal. While noting that COVID-19’s economic impacts will be disproportionate across industries, Prof. Dhakal mentioned that retail, manufacturing, and travel and tourism sectors are especially hard hit. He noted that production and travel and tourism sector collectively contribute closely to 15% of GDP where COVID-19’s impacts are severely felt and will affect for some time. Construction, commerce, foreign remittance and agriculture are also the sectors receiving serious blows from COVID-19 on which Nepal’s GDP heavily relies on. He noted the short-term relief measures that government has out together but emphasized the urgent need for a far-reaching economic recovery packages which would also have indirect effects to the energy and environmental security.

Prof. Dhakal opined that its too early to predict if and to what extent Nepal will have deep structural change and argued that COVID-19 means Nepal must build a resilience energy system and environment planning. Key question he opined to pay attentions are:

(a) How to negate the negative impacts of COVID-19 in the short-run and learn from it?

(b) How to use it as an opportunity as soon as possible for the long-term energy and environmental security?

(c) Owing to surplus electricity, can households switch to electricity for cooking faster under supporting policies of replacing LPG? Can government urgently make a further push for the electrification of transport sector? This will save imported oil ad LPG, reduce air pollution, create local jobs, increase economic and energy resilience. This will aid energy security, Balance of Payment and contribute reducing the trade deficits. More than that, can government develop a wide-arching strategy to use electricity in industries and other sectors to produce ‘value added’ capitalizing on the economic multiplier-effect of electricity to GDP ?

(d) Temporary delay in new power plants likely but can Nepal be able to sell more electricity to India to make short-term gain too? Capacity addition in India may be adversity affected in short run (construction stop, global supply chain issues, payment delays, 15 bn$ projected loss this year to discoms, reduced revenue to hinder capacity of capital expenditure, financial liquidity etc.). Key electricity reforms likely to be delayed in India (such as the real-time market for electricity, scheme for the financial turnaround of discoms, planned auction of coal mines for commercial mining which allowed 100% FDI to attract foreign investors who now may have less interests).

(e) How to ensure that power plants in pipeline are least-affected and the support for the financial liquidity of IPPs and lessen impacts to FDI in hydro-power sector?

(f) How to use this as an opportunity to encourage people to embrace non-motorized modes such as bicycles and provide pedestrian friendly urban settings with supporting policies? These have multiple benefits. While opening gradually after lock-down, can Nepal embolden, facilitate and improve public transportation to save oil and environment?

(g) Can Nepal analyze and implement the lessons learned for air quality during COVID-19 lock-down sooner?

Lastly, Prof. Dhakal emphasized that as Nepal develops economic stimulus packages to address COVID-19’s impacts to the economy, it MUST ensure that energy and environmental security is paid due attentions in these policies as well as public spending than merely business-as-usual economic revival.

ADB recently published a book (contributed by ADB staffs) titled ‘Infrastructure Financing in Asia’ and Book Launch event was held at Robert B. Banks Auditorium of Asian Institute of Technology.

At the book launch event, Prof. Dhakal delivered his perspectives on key challenges and opportunities for infrastructure financing in Asia along side Dr. Bambang Susantono (Vice-President, Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Asian Development Bank), Dr. Donghyun Park ( Principal Economist, Asian Development Bank), Dr. Bindu Lohani (Global Head of Climate Change Practices, The Centennial Group, and Founding Board Member, Asia Water Council) and Ms. Noni Sri Ayati Purnomo (President Director, Blue Bird Group Holding, Indonesia).

See Prof. Dhakal’s presentation slides: click here

Power point slide is here: Please click

Prof. Dhakal delivers a key note speech titled “Urban resilience:  Challenges and future pathways in Asia” at the 7th Asia Pacific Urban Forum (APUF7)’s Leaders Dialogue on Urban Resilience: Safeguarding and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs on Wednesday, 16 October 2019.

The keynote speech addressed four key questions:

• What are the current and emerging risks that cities face in the region?

• Why should we be concerned about urban resilience?

•What have been our past approaches to build urban resilience?

•What could be the future pathways to build urban resilience?

The Seventh Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF-7) was held from 15-17 October 2019 in Penang, Malaysia. Held every 4-5 years, the Forum is the largest regional gathering of urban stakeholders, engaging policymakers from local and national governments, financial institutions, civil society, the academia, the urban training-research community and private sector to discuss innovative solutions, identify common actions and objectives and strengthen effective partnerships to achieve sustainable urban development.