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12 Sustainable Development and Mitigation Coordinating Lead Authors: Jayant Sathaye (USA), Adil Najam (Pakistan) Lead Authors: Christopher Cocklin (New Zealand), Thomas Heller (USA), Franck Lecocq (France), Juan Llanes-Regueiro (Cuba), Jiahua Pan (China), Gerhard Petschel-Held † (Germany), Steve Rayner (USA), John Robinson (Canada), Roberto Schaeffer (Brazil), Youba Sokona (Mali), Rob Swart (The Netherlands), Harald Winkler (South Africa) Contributing Authors: Sarah Burch (Canada), Jan Corfee Morlot (USA/France), Rutu Dave (The Netherlands), László Pinter (Canada), Andrew Wyatt (Australia) Review Editors: Mohan Munasinghe (Sri Lanka), Hans Opschoor (The Netherlands) This chapter should be cited as: Sathaye, J., A. Najam, C. Cocklin, T. Heller, F. Lecocq, J. Llanes-Regueiro, J. Pan, G. Petschel-Held , S. Rayner, J. Robinson, R. Schaeffer, Y. Sokona, R. Swart, H. Winkler, 2007: Sustainable Development and Mitigation. In Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)], Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. Sustainable Development and Mitigation Chapter 12 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................... 693 12.1 Introduction ..................................................... 695 12.1.1 The two-way relationship between sustainable development and climate change ................... 695 12.1.2 Evolution and articulation of the concept of sustainable development ................................. 696 12.1.3 Measurement of progress towards sustainable development .................................................. 698 12.2 Implications of development choices for climate change mitigation ............................. 699 12.2.1 Multiplicity of plausible development pathways ahead, with different economic, social and environmental content ..................................... 700 12.2.2 Lower emissions pathways are not necessarily associated with lower economic growth ........... 707 12.2.3 Changing development pathway requires working with multiple actors, at multiple scales ............. 708 12.2.4 Opportunities at the sectoral level to change development pathways towards lower emissions through development policies .......................... 717 12.3 Implications of mitigation choices for sustainable development goals ..................... 726 12.3.1 Energy supply and use .................................... 729 12.3.2 Forestry sector ............................................... 731 12.3.3 Agriculture sector ........................................... 731 12.3.4 Waste and wastewater management sector .... 732 12.3.5 Implications of climate policies for sustainable development .................................................. 733 12.4 Gaps in knowledge and future research needs .................................................................. 733 References ..................................................................... 734 692 Chapter 12 Sustainable Development and Mitigation EXECUTIVE SUMMARY making process in a meaningful way, the more likely they are to achieve the desired goals (high agreement, medium evidence). The concept of sustainable development was adopted by the World Commission on Environment and Development, Regarding governments, a substantial body of political theory and there is agreement that sustainable development involves identifies and explains the existence of national policy styles or a comprehensive and integrated approach to economic, social, political cultures. The underlying assumption of this work is and environmental processes. Discourses on sustainable that individual countries tend to process problems in a specific development, however, have focused primarily on the manner, regardless of the distinctiveness or specific features of environmental and economic dimensions. The importance any problem; a national ‘way of doing things’. Furthermore, of social, political, and cultural factors is only now getting the choice of policy instruments is affected by the institutional more recognition. Integration is essential in order to articulate capacity of governments to implement the instrument. This development trajectories that are sustainable, including implies that the preferred mix of policy decisions and their addressing the climate change problem. effectiveness in terms of sustainable development and climate change mitigation strongly depend on national characteristics There is growing emphasis in the literature on the two- (high agreement, much evidence). way relationship between climate change mitigation and sustainable development. The relationship may not always The private sector is a central player in ecological and be mutually beneficial. In most instances, mitigation can sustainability stewardship. Over the past 25 years, there has have ancillary benefits or co-benefits that contribute to other been a progressive increase in the number of companies taking sustainable development goals (climate first). Development steps to address sustainability issues at either the company or that is sustainable in many other respects can create conditions industry level. Although there has been progress, the private in which mitigation can be effectively pursued (development sector has the capacity to play a much greater role in making first) (high agreement, much evidence). development more sustainable in the future, because such a shift is likely to benefit its performance (medium agreement, Although still in early stages, there is growing use of medium evidence). indicators to manage and measure the sustainability of development at the macro and sectoral levels. This is driven in Citizen groups have been major demanders of sustainable part by the increasing emphasis on accountability in the context development and are critical actors in implementing sustainable of governance and strategy initiatives. At the sectoral level, development policy. Apart from implementing sustainable progress towards sustainable development is beginning to be development projects themselves, they can push policy reform measured and reported by industry and governments using, for through awareness-raising, advocacy, and agitation. They can instance, green certification, monitoring tools, and emissions also pull policy action by filling the gaps and providing policy registries. Review of the indicators illustrates, however, that services, including in the areas of policy innovation, monitoring, few macro-indicators include measures of progress with respect and research. Interactions can take the form of partnerships or to climate change (high agreement, much evidence). stakeholder dialogues that can provide citizens’ groups with a lever for increasing pressure on both governments and industry Climate change is influenced not only by the climate-specific (high agreement, medium evidence). policies but also by the mix of development choices and the resulting development trajectories - a point reinforced by global Deliberative public-private partnerships work most scenario analyses published since the Third Assessment Report effectively when investors, local governments and citizen groups (TAR). Making development more sustainable by changing are willing to work together to implement new technologies, development paths can thus make a significant contribution and produce arenas to discuss these technologies that are locally to climate goals. But changing development pathways is not inclusive (high agreement, medium evidence). about choosing a mapped-out path, but rather about navigating through an uncharted and evolving landscape (high agreement, Region- and country-specific case studies demonstrate that much evidence). different paths and policies can achieve noticeable emissions reductions, depending on the capacity to realise sustainability Making decisions about sustainable development and and climate change objectives. These capacities are determined climate change mitigation is no longer the sole purview of by the same set of conditions that are closely linked to the governments. There is increasing recognition in the literature state of development. The mitigative capacity to realise low of a shift to a more inclusive concept of governance, which emissions can be low due to differentiated national endowments includes the contributions of various levels of government, and barriers, even when significant abatement opportunities private sector, non-governmental actors, and civil society. The exist. The challenge of implementing sustainable development more climate change issues are mainstreamed as part of the exists in both developing and industrialized countries. The planning perspective at the appropriate level of implementation, nature of the challenge, however, tends to be different in the and the more all relevant parties are involved in the decision- industrialized countries. (high agreement, much evidence). 693 Sustainable Development and Mitigation Chapter 12 Some general conclusions emerging from the case studies the extent of mitigation required, and the resulting costs and of how changes in development pathways at the sectoral level benefits. However, in some cases, such as a shift from biomass have or could lower emissions are reviewed in this chapter cooking to LPG in rural areas of developing countries, it may be (high agreement, medium evidence): rational to disregard
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