Energy is an underlying driver of economic growth and social development. Yet human consumption of energy in the form of fossil fuels, primarily in developed countries, is altering the Earth's climate and contributing to increased vulnerability of the world's poorest people. While evidence suggests a need for both demand reduction and alternative energy sources in the North, in the South, there is a need to increase energy supplies to meet basic needs—and to do it in a way that promotes sustainable development.
Even as developing countries have experienced economic growth, in part due to increased availability of energy, much of this growth has been concentrated in urban areas, with the associated energy supply centralized around large cities.
Many rural areas, on the other hand, lack the basic energy services required for economic and social development.
To address the needs of the rural areas of developing countries, cost effective, efficient and sustainable energy services must be made available. Decentralization of renewable energy services is especially promising, as decentralization has the ability to assist with technology transfer, increase equity in the distribution and consumption of resources, and increase participation of local people in the supply of energy services.
The Climate Change Knowledge Network recognized the social, economic and environmental value of decentralized renewable energy in rural areas and undertook two projects that aimed to contribute to the design of a sustainable rural energy programs for developing countries:
Linking Mitigation and Adaptation through Decentralized Renewable Energy
To promote integrated climate policy, members of the Climate Change Knowledge Network (CCKN) prepared the publication Seeing the Light: Adapting to climate change with decentralized renewable energy in developing countries in 2004. The central theme of this book is that well-designed decentralized renewable energy (DRE) projects are in fact a mitigative and an adaptive response to climate change – that DREs address core sustainable development priorities and build adaptive capacity to climate change, without increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Building coherent climate policy around decentralized renewable energy systems could address the South's adaptation needs and the North's mitigation priorities. The publication includes case studies from Senegal, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Brazil and Argentina that highlight rural energy projects and their links to adaptation benefits. It also reflects on the CDM feasibility of decentralized renewable energy
projects.
In conjunction with this project, the CCKN hosted at side event at COP-9 (December 2003). During this event, CCKN partners highlighted the content of the case studies contained in Seeing the Light: Adapting to climate change with decentralized renewable energy in developing countries. The following presentations were made:
Coverage of this event was provided by ENB on the Side (1,307 kb)  .
CCKN members involved: IISD, ENDA, SCEE, Bariloche Foundation, and COPPE/IVIG
(Project completed: March 2004)
Decentralized Renewable Energy in Rural Areas of Developing Countries
Through case studies in several developing countries, this project analyzed the feasibility of using decentralized renewable energy in rural areas and assessed the possibilities for investing in decentralized renewable energy projects through the Clean Development Mechanism. The rationale for carrying out this project was that energy is the lifeblood of any economy. In particular, energy is necessary to support agricultural development and cottage and agro-business industry, and thus for tackling such important and diverse issues as malnutrition and food shortage, poverty, inequality, gender disparity, and state security—all of which have significant implications for rural populations.
(Project completed: March 2001)
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