Develop BAU
Stage 3
- 2.1. Assess current country plans, policies, practices, and capacities
- 2.2. Compile lessons learned and good practices from ongoing and previous sustainable development efforts in the country
- 2.3. Assess public and private sector capacity to support initiatives
- 2.4. Assess and improve the national GHG inventory and other economic and resource data as needed for LEDS development
- Greenhouse Gas Inventory Development Toolkit
- 3a. Analytical Decision Making - Developing BAU Scenario
- 3b. Analytical Decision Making - Assessing Opportunities
- 3b.1. Assess technical potential for sector technologies
- Renewable Energy Technical Potential Toolkit
- Building Energy Assessment Toolkit
- Power System Screening and Design Toolkit
- Land Use Assessment Toolkit
- Bioenergy Assessment Toolkit
- Transportation Assessment Toolkit
- 3b.2. Assess economic and market potential of technologies and initiatives
- Clean Energy Market Analysis Toolkit
- 3b.3. Prioritize development options
- 3c. Analytical Decision Making - Developing and Assessing Low Emissions Development Scenarios
- 3c.1. Develop low emissions growth scenarios
- 3c.2. Assess institutional framework for LEDS
- Financing Initiatives Toolkit
- Policy and Program Design Toolkit
- 3c.3. Assess in-depth contributions of selected scenarios to goals across sectors
- Land-use Scenario Analysis Toolkit
- Energy System and Scenario Analysis Toolkit
- 3c.4. Perform multi-criteria impact analysis and assess stakeholder responses
- Clean Energy Impact Assessment Tool
- Sustainable Land-use Impact Assessment Toolkit
3a Analytical Decision Making - Developing a Business as Usual (BAU) Scenario
3a.1 Develop common vision of "no action" scenario through 2050
At this stage the technical team and stakeholder group can develop a "no action" scenario incorporating the data and projections for economy and development, energy demand and supply, land use, GHG emissions and future climate conditions collected in the previous Module 2.
- Ideally, as a starting point, the country will have a GHG emission inventory from which to develop a "no action" scenario for GHG emissions. Where sufficient GHG inventory data do not exist, capacity building may be necessary to develop these data before projections can be made. The tools in the Stage 2 GHG Inventory Development Toolkit can be used to support the development of a GHG emissions inventory.
Lessons Learned and Good Practice Resources
Data Resources for BAU Projection
Software Tools
All Resources
3a.2.1. Review existing scenarios and data used
Land-use sectors
The stakeholder group can establish one or more baseline reference scenarios for landscapes to describe the emissions expected in the absence of a low-emissions development strategy. This business-as-usual should be based on historic landscape-based emissions, adjusted, as appropriate, to include projections to 2050 for the economy, development (e.g., income, access to improved water sources), land use, forest cover change, agricultural expansion and carbon emissions. Reference scenarios for landscapes require information on land cover change and the carbon content of different land cover and land uses.
It may not be possible to definitively choose one reference scenario in the absence of UNFCCC-negotiated guidelines and processes. Until that is clarified, it may be necessary to create a set of different scenarios that vary depending on assumptions related to the projected effect of existing policy reforms and on which future reforms would or would not have happened in absence of LEDS. Different assumptions of future market demand will also strongly affect the reference scenario, as will the base year(s) chosen.
Reliable estimates of land cover change and carbon inventories of different land uses and land cover types require in-depth studies and are not available in many countries. As a result, many countries will not have the data necessary to establish credible reference scenarios. Countries that have already initiated REDD+ readiness activities will have begun work to determine a reference scenario for emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The scoping and planning step of this framework will determine how far along a county is in developing a reference scenario and if the necessary data exists. In the absence of robust data on landscape-based emissions, coarse estimates of historic land cover change can be approximated by widely available remote sensing data coupled with default carbon stock factors. In these cases, improving the carbon inventory and land cover data will be part of the LEDS plan, and the reference scenario will be continually refined as better data is available.
As with many steps in this framework, determining a reference scenario requires integrating technical assistance into a political process and highlighting the need for stakeholder buy-in, especially by national leaders.