Recycling has multiple benefits for many areas of the economy – providing raw materials, creating jobs and encouraging business opportunities and innovation. These economic benefits of recycling are examined in a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). The report considers the recycling industry in the context of building a ‘green economy’, a major European policy objective.
The report, entitled ‘Earnings, jobs and innovation: the role of recycling in a green economy’ shows that recycling has numerous environmental benefits including diverting waste away from landfill, thereby avoiding pollutant emissions. It also helps meet the material demands of economic production, preventing the environmental impacts associated with extracting and refining virgin materials.

Revenues from recycling are substantial and growing fast. From 2004 to 2008 the turnover of seven main categories of recyclables almost doubled to more than €60 billion in the EU. Due to a reduced demand for raw materials and a decline in commodity prices during the economic downturn the turnover of recycling declined sharply at the end of 2008 and in the first half of 2009 but seems to have recovered somewhat since then.

The growth of recycling is being driven by increasing demand for recyclables, as booming Asian economies help to push up the price of materials. Another driver has been EU waste directives, which have contributed by creating obligations to recycle or recover increasing percentages of waste, and discouraging landfilling. As a consequence, the amount of recyclables sorted and placed on the market has increased 15 % between 2004 and 2009.

More jobs at higher income levels are created by recycling than compared to landfilling or incinerating waste. Overall employment related to the recycling of materials in European countries increased by 45 % between 2000 and 2007.

Recycling can meet a large proportion of the economy’s resources demand, alleviating pressure on ecosystems to provide resources and assimilate waste. Recycling already meets substantial proportions of demand for some resource groups, notably paper and cardboard, and iron and steel.

However, even maximum recycling cannot cover all EU demand for resources. Increased recycling can improve ‘resource security’, but economic growth driven by ever increasing material consumption cannot be sustained, as it requires an infinite volume of resources.

Recycling is particularly valuable in securing supplies of critical resources. Recycling of rare metals is essential for the EU to pioneer new technologies, particularly in areas such as e-mobility, information and communication technologies and renewable energy. Imports of precious metal waste into Europe increased 50 % between 2000 and 2009 – the only group of recyclable materials which grew significantly during this period.

However, rare and precious metals are characterised by dissipative use, meaning that they are used in small amounts in a multitude of applications and products. The existing recycling infrastructure has not yet focused on this problem, meaning that many of these metals are lost.

The economic, social and environmental benefits of recycling highlight the need to shift to a green economy in order to generate prosperity while maintaining a healthy environment and social equity for current and future generations.

Background
The Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) is a joint initiative by UNEP, ILO, UNIDO and UNITAR to provide comprehensive assistance to countries seeking to develop and implement inclusive green economy strategies.

The inaugural conference on PAGE was held in the United Arab Emirates, under the Patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The two day event took place from 4 to 5 March 2014.

The conference was an opportunity to review international experience and progress related to green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. It also considered how greener economies can contribute to the emerging post-2015 development agenda. To see the Programme for the PAGE Conference, click here.

More than 450 participants from 66 countries, including 27 Ministers, representing governments, the private sector, civil society and development agencies, attended the meeting.

The conference was opened by the UAE Minister of Environment and Water, followed by representatives from PAGE countries and PAGE partners, including UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

This session was followed by parallel thematic discussions on issues relevant for advancing inclusive green economies.

A Chair’s Summary – consisting of a set of general principles and policy recommendations to realize economic, social and environmental benefits from transitioning to inclusive, environmentally friendly and resource-efficient green economies – was produced at the end of the conference.

The objectives of the conference were the following:

1. Take stock of best practices and lessons learned in advancing an inclusive green economy through policy reforms and shifting investment into key areas of the economy that produce jobs, social equity and income;

2. Share this knowledge through interactive thematic sessions geared toward developing a set of general principles and policy recommendations to realize economic, social and environmental benefits from transitioning to inclusive green economies; and

3. Explore the multiple pathways and partnerships – including PAGE - available to countries as they lead these transitions within their national contexts.

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Transformation of power systems is necessary to guarantee flexibility over long term, but this will be more difficult in some markets than in others
Wind power and solar photovoltaics (PV) are crucial to meeting future energy needs while decarbonising the power sector. Deployment of both technologies has expanded rapidly in recent years – one of the few bright spots in an otherwise-bleak picture of clean energy progress – and IEA scenarios indicate that this trend will continue for decades. However, the inherent variability of wind power and solar PV is raising concerns: Can power systems remain reliable and cost-effective while supporting high shares of variable renewable energy (VRE)? And if so, how?

A landmark study released today by the International Energy Agency addresses these concerns and confirms that integrating high shares – i.e., 30 percent of annual electricity production or more – of wind and solar PV in power systems can come at little additional cost in the long term. However, costs depend on how flexible the system currently is and what strategy is adopted to develop system flexibility over the long term. Managing this transition will be more difficult for some countries or power systems than others, the study says.

“Integrating high shares of variable renewables is really about transforming our power systems,” IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said as she launched The Power of Transformation - Wind, Sun and the Economics of Flexible Power Systems, the latest in a series of IEA reports shedding light on the challenges and opportunities of integrating VRE into power systems globally.

“This new IEA analysis calls for a change of perspective,” she explained. “In the classical approach, variable renewables are added to an existing system without considering all available options for adapting it as a whole. This approach misses the point. Integration is not simply about adding wind and solar on top of ‘business as usual’. We need to transform the system as a whole to do this cost-effectively.”

Currently, wind and solar PV account for just about 3 percent of world electricity generation, but a few countries already feature very high shares: In Italy, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Denmark, wind and solar PV accounted respectively from around 10 to more than 30 percent of electricity generation in 2012 on an annual basis.

The report says that for any country, integrating the first 5-10 percent of VRE generation poses no technical or economic challenges at all, provided that three conditions are met: uncontrolled local “hot spots” of VRE deployment must be avoided, VRE must contribute to stabilising the grid when needed, and VRE forecasts must be used effectively. These lower levels of integration are possible within existing systems because the same flexible resources that power systems already use to cope with variability of demand can be put to work to help integrate variability from wind and solar. Such resources can be found in the form of flexible power plants, grid infrastructure, storage and demand-side response.

Going beyond the first few percent to reach shares of more than 30 percent will require a transformation of the system, however. This transformation has three main requirements: deploying variable renewables in a system-friendly way using state-of-the art technology, improving the day-to-day operation of power systems and markets, and finally investing in additional flexible resources.

The challenges of such transformation depend on whether a power system is “stable,” meaning no significant investments are needed to meet demand in the short term, or “dynamic” which requires significant investments short-term, to meet growing power demand or replace old assets.

The publication helps to clarify the very different perception of wind and solar around the globe. In stable systems, such as those in Europe, the existing asset base will help to provide sufficient flexibility to increase VRE generation further. However, in the absence of demand growth, increasing VRE generation in stable systems inevitably comes at the detriment of incumbent generators and puts the system as a whole under economic stress. This outcome is based on fundamental economics; market effects are thus not only a consequence of variability. The transformation challenge in stable systems is twofold: scaling up the new, flexible system while scaling down the inflexible part of the old.

Governments with stable systems face tough policy questions about how to handle the distributional effects, in particular if other power plants need to be retired before the end of their lifetimes and, if so, who will pay for stranded assets. Meeting these challenges will only be possible through a collaborative effort by policy makers and the industry. In any case, “these surmountable challenges should not let us lose sight of the benefits renewables can bring for energy security and fighting dangerous climate change. If OECD countries want to maintain their position as front runners in this industry, they will need to tackle these questions head-on,” Ms. Van der Hoeven said.

By contrast, in “dynamic” power systems such as in India, China, Brazil and other emerging economies, wind power and solar PV can be cost-effective solutions to meet incremental demand. VRE grid integration can – and must – be a priority from the onset. With proper investments, a flexible system can be built from the very start, in parallel with the deployment of variable renewables. “Emerging economies really have an opportunity here. They can leap-frog to a 21st-century power system – and they should reap the benefits,” the IEA Executive Director concluded.

The Power of Transformation - Wind, Sun and the Economics of Flexible Power Systems is on sale at the IEA bookshop. Accredited journalists who would like more information or who wish to receive a complimentary copy should contact ieapressoffice@iea.org.

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IEA report says technologies offer significant potential for energy-sector decarbonisation but struggle in today’s markets

Energy storage technologies – spanning everything from electric water heaters to pumped hydro – are valuable components in most energy systems and could be an important tool for achieving a low-carbon future. In a new report released today, the IEA estimates that China, India, the European Union and the United States alone should invest at least USD 380 billion in new electricity storage capacity by 2050 to support decarbonisation.

By setting aside energy for use when and where it is needed, energy storage – both electricity and thermal (for heating and cooling) – can decouple supply from demand, increasing system flexibility and improving reliability. It is expected that storage could play a key role in coming decades in facilitating the expansion of variable renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

“Energy storage technologies can play a key role in energy sector decarbonisation by helping to better connect electricity and heat networks,” Didier Houssin, IEA Director of Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology, said at the Paris release of the roadmap. “Furthermore, these technologies can improve the efficiency of energy resource use and increase energy access, which are critical components of a secure, sustainable energy system for all.”

Technology Roadmap: Energy Storage, the latest in the series of IEA publications that show how different technologies can speed the transition to a low-carbon energy system, can be downloaded for free here.

Technology Roadmap: Energy Storage presents an electricity-sector decarbonisation scenario that integrates renewables in part by deploying an estimated 310 gigawatts of additional grid-connected electricity storage in the US, Europe, India and China by 2050. That is 100 times more storage capacity than at the Bath County Pumped Storage Station in the United States, the largest single electricity storage facility in the world, and nearly 10 times all present electricity storage in the European Union.

Storage systems can be defined by how long they can store energy, from systems that hold solar power for use at night to seasonal systems that save summer heat to warm homes in the winter. On the shortest-term basis, electricity storage systems can shift supply and demand within an area to correct load imbalances, avoiding brownouts and blackouts. Storage includes large, centralised systems as well as small and off-grid units.

Electricity and thermal storage technologies exist at widely varying stages of development and cost-competitiveness. But even cost-competitive technologies face difficult regulatory and market conditions that hinder deployment. More investment in research and development is needed to increase performance and lifetime while reducing costs. Technology Roadmap: Energy Storage presents recommendations for such investment and also how to ensure that economically viable technologies are compensated for the many services that they can supply. It also provides timelines for targeted actions worldwide to help less competitive technologies reach the deployment stage.

In electricity storage, pumped storage hydropower (PSH) currently represents the vast majority (99%) of installed electricity storage capacity. PSH, compressed air energy storage and some battery technologies are the most mature technologies, with flow batteries, superconducting magnetic energy storage, supercapacitors and other advanced battery technologies at much earlier stages of development.

Besides heating and cooling buildings worldwide already, the new report explains, thermal storage systems can be used to reduce heat waste from manufacturing and electricity production.

A longer version of this article will appear in the forthcoming issue of IEA Energy: The Journal of the International Energy Agency.