Climate change has emerged as one of the most severe global threats in recent years, necessitating urgent interventions. The Paris Agreement on climate change and the United Nations through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have established ingenious targets for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, thus charting a path to a more ecologically friendly energy system. Energy accessibility is often restricted in developing economies, where conventional energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas are still primarily utilized. However, the inimical effects of traditional energy sources such as fossil fuels on the environment and health and the quest for measures to counteract climate change have sparked a growing interest in renewable energy in these countries. Renewable energy can provide several benefits to developing countries, including job creation, improved energy access and security, and reduced reliance on imported fossil fuels. The potential for developing countries to contribute significantly to the energy transition drive is obvious. Nonetheless, they encounter numerous peculiar constraints, including restricted access to financing, infrastructure deficit, and a lack of technical competence that challenge the transition process. Also, the need for proper oversight and accountability in the energy sector in most developing countries impedes the ability of governments to adopt effective policies to enhance the efficacy of the sector. Fundamentally, the energy transition in developing markets is a challenging and heterogeneous process that necessitates a multidimensional approach encompassing regulatory policies, institutional frameworks, and technological integration for a sustainable energy system. Governance Quality, Fiscal Policy, and the Path to a Low-Carbon Future: Perspectives From Developing Economies provides a comprehensive overview of the role of governance quality and fiscal policy in shaping the path toward more sustainable, renewable energy sources. Covering several key themes, including the relationship between institutional quality and renewable energy adoption, emission trading systems, green finance, climate resilience, and climate-induced migration, among others, this premier reference work aims to provide policymakers, academics, practitioners, and students with valuable insights, practical recommendations, and a deeper understanding of the energy transition landscape in developing economies.

It is widely understood that good, affordable eco-housing needs to be at the heart of any attempt to mitigate or adapt to climate change. This is the first book to comprehensively explore eco-housing from a geographical, social and political perspective. It starts from the premise that we already know how to build good eco-houses and we already have the technology to retrofit existing housing. Despite this, relatively few eco-houses are being built. Featuring over thirty case studies of eco-housing in Britain, Spain, Thailand, Argentina and the United States, Eco-Homes examines the ways in which radical changes to our houses – such as making them more temporary, using natural materials, or relying on manual heating and ventilation systems – require changes in how we live. As such, it argues, it is not lack of technology or political will that is holding us back from responding to climate change, but deep-rooted cultural and social understandings of our way of life and what we expect our houses to do for us.

A practical, bipartisan call to action from the world’s leading thinkers on the environment and sustainability Sustainability has emerged as a global priority over the past several years. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals through the United Nations have highlighted the need to address critical challenges such as the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water shortages, and air pollution. But in the United States, partisan divides, regional disputes, and deep disagreements over core principles have made it nearly impossible to chart a course toward a sustainable future. This timely new book, edited by celebrated scholar Daniel C. Esty, offers fresh thinking and forward-looking solutions from environmental thought leaders across the political spectrum. The book’s forty essays cover such subjects as ecology, environmental justice, Big Data, public health, and climate change, all with an emphasis on sustainability. The book focuses on moving toward sustainability through actionable, bipartisan approaches based on rigorous analytical research.

The science is unequivocal: stabilizing climate change implies bringing net carbon emissions to zero. This must be done by 2100 if we are to keep climate change anywhere near the 2oC warming that world leaders have set as the maximum acceptable limit. Decarbonizing Development: Three Steps to a Zero-Carbon Future looks at what it would take to decarbonize the world economy by 2100 in a way that is compatible with countries' broader development goals. Here is what needs to be done: -Act early with an eye on the end-goal. To best achieve a given reduction in emissions in 2030 depends on whether this is the final target or a step towards zero net emissions. -Go beyond prices with a policy package that triggers changes in investment patterns, technologies and behaviors. Carbon pricing is necessary for an efficient transition toward decarbonization. It is an efficient way to raise revenue, which can be used to support poverty reduction or reduce other taxes. Policymakers need to adopt measures that trigger the required changes in investment patterns, behaviors, and technologies - and if carbon pricing is temporarily impossible, use these measures as a substitute. -Mind the political economy and smooth the transition for those who stand to be most affected. Reforms live or die based on the political economy. A climate policy package must be attractive to a majority of voters and avoid impacts that appear unfair or are concentrated on a region, sector or community. Reforms have to smooth the transition for those who stand to be affected, by protecting vulnerable people but also sometimes compensating powerful lobbies.

Based on a comprehensive study review by leading urban planning researchers, this investigative document demonstrates how urban development is both a key contributor to climate change and an essential factor in combating it -- by reducing vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

This publication delivers an interdisciplinary approach from professionals and scholars working in government, the United Nations, academia, scientific research, and private sector. The purpose of this publication is (1) to raise awareness on new technological innovations and how these changes affect urban infrastructure and the quality of living of urban dwellers; (2) to enhance collective knowledge on different user cases of new technologies in cities and the potential benefits and risks; and (3) to call for collaboration and collective actions from all cities to smartly use and govern new tech solutions for a safer, more inclusive, and more prosperous urban environment. The launch of this publication coincided with the 10th World Urban Forum (WUF10), Abu Dhabi, 2020. Principal authors: Michael Keith, Jian Gao, Tao Zhou, Quanhui Liu, Hui Zeng, Mingxiao Zhao, Baolin Cao, Gerhard Schmitt, Jaideep Gupte, Saiful Ridwan, Harrison Simotwo, Pietro Visetti, Keli Zhu, Hongshan Zhang, Shudong Cui, Yifan Li, He Jia, George Economides, Zhiyong Fu, Peter Scupelli, Jiajun Xu, Xinyue Wu, Haishan Wu, Lei Yin, Shantian Cheng, Deyi Wu, and Bingnan Yin