ABSTRACT
The Paris Agreement reached last December by the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) sets a new course to limit global mean temperature increase to 1.5 °C. Meeting this ambitious target would require a fundamental change in, among others, the way energy is transformed and utilized (IPCC, 2014). However, our understanding of the environmental and natural resource implications of the changes needed in the energy system is still limited. In the effort to close this knowledge gap, the International Resource Panel (IRP) 1 of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has been working on two reports: one on low-carbon electricity generation technologies, which was launched during the UNFCCC Conference of Parties in Paris (Hertwich et al., 2016), and the other on energy efficiency technologies to be launched later this year (Suh et al., 2016 (forthcoming)). A special issue 2 was designed in collaboration with the IRP to support the development of the second report on life-cycle implications of energy efficiency technologies. In particular, the knowledge and data supplied by many contributors of the special issue were instrumental for the development of the upcoming IRP report (Suh et al., 2016 (forthcoming)), which are summarized in this chapter.
Hertwich, E., de Larderel, J. A., Arvesen, A., Bayer, P., Bergesen, J., Bouman, E., . . . Purohit, P. (2016). Green Energy Choices: The Benefits, Risks, and Trade-Offs of Low-Carbon Technologies for Electricity Production: UNEP-International Resource Panel.
Suh, S., Bergesen, J., Gibon, T., Hertwich, E., and Taptich, M. (2016 (forthcoming)). Energy Efficiency: The Benefits, Risks, and Trade-Offs of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies. Paris, France International Resource Panel, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
