Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
1. Introduction
In industrialised countries sustainable
development emphasizes putting a limit to
the environmental impact of production and
consumption, thus focusing on environmental
sustainability. However, in developing
countries sustainable development prioritises
economic and social development i.e.
increasing access to affordable goods and
services, thus promoting equity. Hence the
challenge for developing countries is to
address the environmental sustainability
aspect while achieving equity. Industrialised
countries can greatly assist in achieving the
sustainable development agenda through
implementing mechanisms under the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), and notably by using
the CDM as a vehicle to address poverty
alleviation while achieving future reductions in
Greenhouse Gas emissions. This endeavour
challenges the history of the application of the
CDM, and will need some dedicated tools to
achieve it.
Similarly, the newly launched Energy Efficiency
and Demand side Management instrument
being considered by the National Energy
Regulator of South Africa could also miss the
poor unless equity priorities are enlisted.
sustaining people’s livelihoods. At the most
basic level, energy, in combination with
appliances, contributes to the provision of
space heating, lighting, and cooking. As
livelihood patterns improve, modern energy in
the form of electricity, is increasingly essential
to allow for household amenities such as
television, internet connection and other
appliances. It has long been established that
low income households, especially in rural
areas of developing countries, use biomass
as their main energy source and that in many
areas there is an increasing gap between what
is needed and the supply of energy services.
Access to affordable energy services and
a shortfall in energy consumption (energy
poverty) among low income households has
thus been found to be closely related (Rovere
et al., 2003) as levels of consumption are
required to ensure economic sustainability
in maintaining existing and extending new
energy infrastructure.
Figure 1 provides per capita residential energy
use, per capita energy consumption levels for
different economies, and energy consumption
per unit of GDP. (While the aggregated ratios
tell a story, they mask the variances between
wealthy and poor within countries.)
Both instruments could play a role in delivering
financial benefits to monitored and verified
emissions, energy and power reductions
that could leverage thermal performance
improvements in subsidised settlements.
Adequate and affordable energy is one of
the most essential inputs for building and
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