This report assesses opportunities and challenges for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in sub-Saharan African countries, namely Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. It analyses the technical potentials for CDM projects per sector as well as a review of the Kyoto infrastructure and an evaluation of Grid Emissions Factors.
The dramatic potential impacts of climate change on hydropower potential in the Zambezi River Basin point to the need to explicitly consider climate change in both project planning and overall system expansion planning.
This is even truer for future plants, where financial viability and loan repayments will depend on the stability of generation and sales revenue. A key next step in this analysis should be to look at not just how climate and development affect individual plants, but how they affect entire national and regional energy systems.
This policy brief is among the output from a research initiative designed to address the major uncertainties facing hydropower development in the Zambezi region, and to deepen understanding among stakeholders of the risks to hydropower from changes in climate and increased upstream water demand.
For 18 months, researchers developed and applied a water supply and demand modelling tool for the Zambezi River Basin.
