And where are we working in the world now?
Dr. Abron (2nd from right), with members of the iEEECO team and workshop delegates at COP 17.
I recently attended the United Nations’ climate change conference, Conference of Parties 17, Climate Summit, hosted by the Republic of South Africa in Durban, South Africa (November 28, 2011 to December 10, 2011). This second largest climate conference delivered a positive breakthrough on the international community’s response to climate change. PEER Africa, PEER Consultants’ sister company has been operating in South Africa for 16 years now, and our work in South Africa was given accolades on the world stage.
As discussed in South Africa’s response to climate change, the South African government recognizes that it must continue the implementation of ongoing climate related adaptation and mitigation measures while it develops and prioritizes the policy framework for sectoral (i.e. ministerial areas) emission reduction outcomes, and carbon budgets. Thus, in the short-term, the government has turned to “a suite of Near-term Priority Programs”, termed Flagships, consisting of both new and existing initiatives that will be implemented and/or continue to be implemented to support its response to climate change while policy is being developed. Included in the Energy Efficiency and Energy Demand Management Flagship Program is an aggressive residential energy efficiency program. The iEEECO™ methodology, developed and branded by PEER Africa is poised to deliver projects in this program.
Climate change is spurring extreme weather events and the most vulnerable are the poor. “Endemic poverty, poor housing, the absence of early warning systems, and the lack of critical infrastructure such as safe drinking water, sanitation, public transport, safe and accessible schools and health facilities, are leaving people more exposed to weather variability”. (This Is Africa, 2011) In the South African context, application of the integrated Energy Environment Empowerment Cost Optimised (iEEECO™) methodology has demonstrated that South Africa can appropriately address and mitigate many of the impacts of weather variability on the poor while concurrently reducing energy related health and safety risks in the residential sector. The energy related externality costs, especially among the poor living in high density, informal settlements are a greater cost to society than the cost of implementing iEEECO™ mitigation interventions.
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