• Energy Research

Access to improved sanitation facilities is key to the socioeconomic wellbeing and sustainable development of any society. This study examines access to sanitation facilities in Nigeria and explores the socioeconomic and locational factors that influence the type of facility used by households. The study utilizes cross-sectional data from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, and employs descriptive and inferential statistics for data analyses. The results indicated that 44.2% of households used various kinds of pit latrines, followed by toilets that flush to septic tanks (10.3%). While only 5.3% of the respondents used toilets that connect to sewer systems, about a third (31.5%) lacked sanitation facility and the remaining 8.7% used other types of sanitation facilities. Results from chi-square analysis and ANOVA revealed significant statistical differences between the type of sanitation facility households used and their place of residence, geopolitical zone, ethnicity, educational attainment and wealth. Multivariate regression results indicated that the type of household sanitation facility is significantly associated with the mentioned factors as well as household size, gender of the head of the household, type of water sources, number of rooms and access to electricity. Age of the head of the household and type of cooking fuel used were not significant. The study concludes by underscoring the implications of using unimproved sanitation facilities on human health and environmental sustainability.

Abstract Climate change mitigation in rapidly growing developing countries is receiving increased global attention, especially after the 2016 Paris Agreement. In Bangladesh, the government has initiated some climate change policies to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in the last decade. However, the rate of emissions has been increasing recently, which questions the emissions reduction potential of these policies. Therefore, this study has utilized relevant indicators to evaluate the extent to which the policies are mitigating climate change, and of their synergy with national development goals. The findings indicate that the policies have limited impacts on energy decarbonization, energy demand management, and emissions sink improvement. Although policies on renewable energy, energy efficiency and demand management, and afforestation are aligned with national development goals, the policies on electricity generation from coal and forest biomass have little synergy with the goals. By quantitatively evaluating the effects of its climate change policies in enhancing socioeconomic, and environmental benefits, this study can assist Bangladesh’s policymakers to understand the impact of the policies on climate change mitigation and their level of integration with national development goals. Also, other developing countries can adopt the study methodology to evaluate their climate change policies and track their progress.

Apart from many social and economic problems worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has also led to sudden halt in face-to-face climate-related meetings. Moreover, it has also negatively influenced the works related to the preparations for the sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and organizing the 26th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), namely COP26 to be held in Glasgow, which was postponed to November 2021. This article presents a global study undertaken among UNFCCC contact points and other climate experts, to ascertain the impacts of the pandemic on the implementation of SDG13 and UNFCCC processes. The methodological approach entails an bibliometric analysis, online survey, and authors’ expert judgment. Results of the bibliometric analysis show that the most common terms associated with this theme are COVID-19, climate change, CO2, energy, “pandemic-related,” and “adaptation-related.” In addition, the survey revealed some difficulties associated with online participation in the processes from many developing countries. The study concluded that there is negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the UNFCCC process, more minor government priorities regarding climate action, loss of traction of the process, and a challenge to achieve the Paris Agreement, with less significant support from the respondents from less developed countries. The findings suggest that urgent action is needed, to make up for the lost time, and place climate issues more prominently on the global agenda.

Several African and Asian countries have embarked on building new towns to address urbanization challenges such as crowded cities, slums, and pressure on existing infrastructure. These projects have been criticized for being inadequate in fostering environmental sustainability. Based on a desk study, this article reviews the environmental sustainability challenges of these projects and recommends some ecologically embedded practices of traditional settlements that wonderfully survived for many centuries with little adverse social and environmental impacts yet offered opportunities for urbanism. The article discusses how the architecture, urban form, and green infrastructure of traditional settlements present excellent cases of ecological wisdom and embeddedness where the local ecosystems are respected, and every human activity, including the creation of the built environment, is defined by the ecological allowances, where resilience is part of the built environment at both micro and macro scales, and where humanity and nature are equal stakeholders living in unison. The article concludes that these instances of successful ecological embeddedness in traditional settlements can provide lessons for contemporary cities to ponder when envisioning more sustainable built environments for the present and future generations.

Water scarcity is a global challenge, yet existing responses are failing to cope with current shocks and stressors, including those attributable to climate change. In sub-Saharan Africa, the impacts of water scarcity threaten livelihoods and wellbeing across the continent and are driving a broad range of adaptive responses. This paper describes trends of water scarcity for Africa and outlines climate impacts on key water-related sectors on food systems, cities, livelihoods and wellbeing, conflict and security, economies, and ecosystems. It then uses systematic review methods, including the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative, to analyse 240 articles and identify adaptation characteristics of planned and autonomous responses to water scarcity across Africa. The most common impact drivers responded to are drought and participation variability. The most frequently identified actors responding to water scarcity include individuals or households (32%), local government (15%) and national government (15%), while the most common types of response are behavioural and cultural (30%), technological and infrastructural (27%), ecosystem-based (25%) and institutional (18%). Most planned responses target low-income communities (31%), women (20%), and indigenous communities (13%), but very few studies target migrants, ethnic minorities or those living with disabilities. There is a lack of coordination of planned adaptation at scale across all relevant sectors and regions, and lack of legal and institutional frameworks for their operation. Most responses to water scarcity are coping and autonomous responses that showed only minor adjustments to business-as-usual water practices, suggesting limited adaptation depth. Maladaptation is associated with one or more dimension of responses in almost 20% of articles. Coordinating institutional responses, carefully planned technologies, planning for projected climate risks including extension of climate services and increased climate change literacy, and integrating indigenous knowledge will help to address identified challenges of water scarcity towards more adaptive responses across Africa.

There is a growing focus on the role of renewable energy (RE) policies such as feed-in tariffs (FITs), renewable portfolio standards (RPSs), subsidies, incentives, and research and development in the global energy policy mix and in promoting environmental sustainability. Although most developed countries have well-formulated RE policies, in developing countries, such policies face many barriers. This study analyzes the policies, drivers, and barriers to RE deployment for fostering environmental sustainability in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. In the GCC region, the need for economic diversification to reduce dependency on single resource, diminishing hydrocarbon reserve, loss of oil export revenue, climate change mitigation pledges, and abundant solar energy resource are the key drivers for diversifying energy sources to include RE. However, the apparent lack of consolidated policy framework for wide-scale RE utilization calls for a well-articulated policy to advance RE development in each member state. Although FIT and RPS approaches could be effective for initial deployment of small-scale RE projects, a competitive tendering and auctioning mechanisms are more suitable for large-scale projects. Whereas, developing effective energy codes could successfully promote RE deployment, the increased share of RE in energy supply would have synergistic impacts on the region. The GHG emissions avoidance expected to be achieved by the GCC countries will vary between 5 and 247 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030. The fulfillment of inspirational RE targets for 2030 would contribute in fulfilling climate change mitigation pledges, environmental sustainability, economic growth, and generating new jobs.

For the past three decades, sustainable development (SD) at higher education institutions (HEIs) has been receiving increasing global attention based on the recognition of their vital roles in fostering sustainability teaching and practices on their campuses and influencing the larger society to embrace sustainable behaviors. As one of its key dimensions, an institutional framework is a fundamental step and indicator of commitment to advancing SD at universities. However, some universities, especially in the countries of the Global South, are either missing this dimension or have inefficient institutional frameworks due to the lack of standard practice or guidance. This study assesses the extent of establishing an institutional framework for SD in Saudi Arabian universities (n = 44). Data were from a desk study and a survey of university websites and analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics. The study found that 72.7% of the universities have shown a commitment to campus sustainability by having sustainability visions; 52.3% have established a dedicated office for SD governance, 68.2% are involved in community outreach and 63.6% collaborate with external agencies in SD efforts. Although there is no evidence of specific campus sustainability plans in the universities, 45.5% of them have SD coverage in their campus development plans or strategic plans. Sustainability assessment and reporting are generally lacking. The findings can improve our understanding of the extent of the commitment of the universities to SD and how they communicate their SD efforts through their websites, which can foster engagement in campus sustainability. The study concludes that a sound institutional framework is vital to implementing SD at universities.