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Smart grids are an essential element in improving efficiency that is relevant to utilities in all countries - from advanced utilities with robust grids to those whose grids barely keep up with demand. This note provides practical guidance for stakeholders in defining smart-grid goals, identifying priorities, and structuring investment plans. While most of these principles apply to any part of the electricity grid (transmission, distribution, off-grid), the note focuses on the distribution network. Modernizing the grid can help utilities address issues in service delivery such as reducing technical and commercial losses, promoting energy conservation, managing peak demand, improving reliability, integrating high levels of distributed generation (such as mini-grids and power sources with variable output), and accommodating the rising use of electric vehicles. To harness these benefits, it is essential that well-designed plans be developed for the implementation of smart-grid goals and objectives. Smart elements in a grid will differ greatly depending on the state of the power system and the country context. A smart-grid roadmap will therefore vary considerably across countries, but smart technology is essential for successful modernization of any grid.

The case for climate action has never been stronger. Around the world, climate change is putting at risk the lives of millions of people as well as threatening many coastal cities and endangering trillion of dollars of investments in transport infrastructure and services. The Twenty-First Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will bring heads of state and ministers to Paris at the end of November to reach a global climate agreement with far-reaching implications for low-carbon and climate-resilient growth. Transport is playing a greater role in COP21 than in past UNFCCC conferences as a critical part of the solution: a sector that can contribute to both reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and building economy wide resilience to the impacts of climate change. In view of the sector’s potential, the heavily debated transport question is how to sustainably meet the rising global demand for greater interconnectedness and mobility. The World Bank and the seven other leading multilateral development banks have joined forces with the Paris Process for Mobility and Climate (PPMC) and the rest of the transport community to call for more action on transport and climate change.

Climate change is set to have profound effects on Vietnam’s development. With nearly sixty percent of its land area and seventy percent of population at risk of multiple natural hazards, Vietnam globally is among the most vulnerable countries to both chronic and extreme events. At the same time, as Vietnam’s economy grows, the country is becoming a significant emitter of greenhouse gases. While Vietnam’s absolute volume of emissions is still small compared to that of larger and richer countries, emissions are growing rapidly and disproportionate to its economy size. The transport sector plays a critical role in these recent trends. This study aims to set out a vision and strategy for climate-smart transport, in order to minimize the carbon footprint of the sector while ensuring its resilience against future risks. The analytical findings and recommendations are presented in two volumes of the report. The first volume provides how Vietnam can reduce its carbon emissions by employing a mix of diverse policies and investments, under varying levels of ambition and resources. The second volume provides a methodological framework to analyze network criticality and vulnerability, and to prioritize investments to enhance resilience.

This paper introduces the Colombian case study developed under the Mitigation Actions Plans and Scenarios Initiative and the Endesa Colombia Electric Vehicles Initiative. It is aimed to consider the use of electricity in the transportation sector, particularly in the city of Bogota, Colombia. A model for assessing the economic and environmental impacts of the introduction of electric vehicules for private, utility and public services is proposed. Diversification of the energy basket by introducing electricity in the transportation sector is a plausible development strategy for the country. Colombian electricity is relatively clean because of the high hydro component in the generation basket; therefore the substitution of fossil fuels for electricity represents net savings in emissions of greenhouse gases as well as a reduction of particulate matter. The increase in electricity demand as a result of this new use is not high enough to stress installed generation capacity or supply security.

Actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to stabilize warming at 2 degree Celsius, as agreed by the international community in 2009, will fall short if they do not include the transport sector. Transport is responsible for around 23 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions and emissions are expected to rise without further action to curb emission growth and invest in low carbon transport modes. Investment needs are estimated at around $3 trillion to increase the sustainability of existing and new transport systems and to mitigate climate change over the 2015-35 periods. This is in addition to existing annual investments estimated at $1-2 trillion. The actions taken today to send the right policy signals, and establish the enabling institutions and regulations to attract the necessary private finance will be critical to support this transformation. Significant investment opportunities exist in public transport systems, vehicle efficiency improvement, and reducing the need for travel through demand management, regional development policies, and land use planning. As the international community embarks on the road towards CoP 21 in Paris, there is a case to be made for more climate finance flowing towards transport.

The transformational potential of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) was on display in Paris at the Twenty-First Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. ICTs, including the Internet, mobile phones, geographic information systems (GIS), satellite imaging, remote sensing, and data analytics, could reduce yearly global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) 20 percent by 2030, thus holding them at their 2015 level. Moreover, ICT emissions are expected to decrease to 1.97 percent of the global total by 2030, from 2.3 percent in 2020, while emission reductions attributable to ICT will be nearly 10 times greater than those of the ICT sector. ICTs are also critical for climate change adaptation, providing vital tools for all phases of the disaster risk management cycle. Although the opportunities for ICTs to support the climate change agenda are enormous, much work remains in order to realize them. Governments of developing countries must be further encouraged to include ICTs in their national climate change policies. And the international development community will have to make significant efforts, particularly in low-income countries, to develop ICT infrastructure as well as the institutional capacities and skills to implement and sustain these solutions.

World Bank is applying to transport initiatives a new and distinctive method of greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis as part of its comprehensive GHG accounting policy. In transport, choices by travelers determine usage, and a fundamental trend in much of the world is strongly boosting GHG emissions: the massive rise in motorization as household incomes and technical advances make it affordable. This tendency will push transport fuel emissions much higher unless projects sharply expand the opportunities and incentives for users to adopt low-emission modes. The World Bank’s GHG analysis for transport shows whether a given transport project can help lower the trajectory of the sector’s GHG emissions. A central feature is an estimate of the wider social costs of emissions under various modes, for example, air pollution and accidents, as well as climate change. Including them greatly increases the demonstrated benefit of emissions reducing projects and thus will also help accelerate the move to a sustainable transport sector.

During its 2014–15 fiscal year, the World Bank’s transport strategy focused on sustainability as part of a broader effort to eradicate poverty, raise shared prosperity, and tackle climate change. As articulated by the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport, sustainability encompasses heightened access in rural and landlocked areas, low-carbon solutions in cities, and world trade and growth stimulated by investments in infrastructure, inter-modality, and digital and low-carbon technologies. The World Bank’s new commitments in fiscal year 2015 reflected this convergence, and its operational focus has been backed by strong advocacy on transport issues in recent global conferences and high-level summits.

This paper is a collaboration between the World Bank’s Transport Global Practice, the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) to assemble evidence, viewpoints, and analysis on eMobility programs. The objective is to contribute towards helping governments design and implement electric mobility programs that are effective at achieving their intended development aims across climate, economic, fiscal, technical, institutional, and policy dimensions. There is a clear global interest in electric mobility and demand for sharing experiences between countries of all income levels.