Old Wine in New Bottles? Does Climate Policy Determine Bilateral Development Aid for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?

Published by Palgrave MacmillanSince the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 bilateral and multilateral donors have stressed that development assistance has increasingly been oriented towards climate-friendly interventions. With respect to energy aid, this should l...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Axel Michaelowa, Katharina Michaelowa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement 2011-03-01
Series:Revue Internationale de Politique de Développement
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/748
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846131249455824896
author Axel Michaelowa
Katharina Michaelowa
author_facet Axel Michaelowa
Katharina Michaelowa
author_sort Axel Michaelowa
collection DOAJ
description Published by Palgrave MacmillanSince the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 bilateral and multilateral donors have stressed that development assistance has increasingly been oriented towards climate-friendly interventions. With respect to energy aid, this should lead to a substantial increase in projects related to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Given a new database of hundreds of thousands of bilateral development assistance projects, we can assess whether such a reorientation has indeed taken place. We find that, contrary to expectations, the share of bilaterally-funded renewable energy and energy efficiency projects did not increase over the period from 1980 to 2008. This share fluctuated greatly, following the price of oil, peaking with the second oil crisis of the early 1980s. The impacts of global climate policy treaties are minor or inexistent. ‘Traditional’ renewable energies such as hydro and geothermal declined, while “new” renewables showed two peaks in the early 1980s and late 1990s. Differences between donor countries are huge. Several countries, including climate sceptics such as the US and Australia, but also the UK and Switzerland, saw a consistent decline. The self-proclaimed climate pioneers such as Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden show peaks related to both the oil crises and international climate policy. Only in Austria, Denmark, Finland and Spain can ‘new’ climate mitigation development assistance be found.
format Article
id doaj-art-15cffe13656c4e88aa47beac473726b4
institution Kabale University
issn 1663-9375
1663-9391
language English
publishDate 2011-03-01
publisher Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement
record_format Article
series Revue Internationale de Politique de Développement
spelling doaj-art-15cffe13656c4e88aa47beac473726b42024-12-09T15:48:15ZengInstitut de Hautes Études Internationales et du DéveloppementRevue Internationale de Politique de Développement1663-93751663-93912011-03-01210.4000/poldev.748Old Wine in New Bottles? Does Climate Policy Determine Bilateral Development Aid for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?Axel MichaelowaKatharina MichaelowaPublished by Palgrave MacmillanSince the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 bilateral and multilateral donors have stressed that development assistance has increasingly been oriented towards climate-friendly interventions. With respect to energy aid, this should lead to a substantial increase in projects related to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Given a new database of hundreds of thousands of bilateral development assistance projects, we can assess whether such a reorientation has indeed taken place. We find that, contrary to expectations, the share of bilaterally-funded renewable energy and energy efficiency projects did not increase over the period from 1980 to 2008. This share fluctuated greatly, following the price of oil, peaking with the second oil crisis of the early 1980s. The impacts of global climate policy treaties are minor or inexistent. ‘Traditional’ renewable energies such as hydro and geothermal declined, while “new” renewables showed two peaks in the early 1980s and late 1990s. Differences between donor countries are huge. Several countries, including climate sceptics such as the US and Australia, but also the UK and Switzerland, saw a consistent decline. The self-proclaimed climate pioneers such as Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden show peaks related to both the oil crises and international climate policy. Only in Austria, Denmark, Finland and Spain can ‘new’ climate mitigation development assistance be found.https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/748official development assistance (ODA)international cooperationclimate changeCopenhagen UN Climate Change Conference 2009energy efficiencyrenewable energy
spellingShingle Axel Michaelowa
Katharina Michaelowa
Old Wine in New Bottles? Does Climate Policy Determine Bilateral Development Aid for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?
Revue Internationale de Politique de Développement
official development assistance (ODA)
international cooperation
climate change
Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference 2009
energy efficiency
renewable energy
title Old Wine in New Bottles? Does Climate Policy Determine Bilateral Development Aid for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?
title_full Old Wine in New Bottles? Does Climate Policy Determine Bilateral Development Aid for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?
title_fullStr Old Wine in New Bottles? Does Climate Policy Determine Bilateral Development Aid for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?
title_full_unstemmed Old Wine in New Bottles? Does Climate Policy Determine Bilateral Development Aid for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?
title_short Old Wine in New Bottles? Does Climate Policy Determine Bilateral Development Aid for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?
title_sort old wine in new bottles does climate policy determine bilateral development aid for renewable energy and energy efficiency
topic official development assistance (ODA)
international cooperation
climate change
Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference 2009
energy efficiency
renewable energy
url https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/748
work_keys_str_mv AT axelmichaelowa oldwineinnewbottlesdoesclimatepolicydeterminebilateraldevelopmentaidforrenewableenergyandenergyefficiency
AT katharinamichaelowa oldwineinnewbottlesdoesclimatepolicydeterminebilateraldevelopmentaidforrenewableenergyandenergyefficiency