Energy and Sustainability

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Business Economics @ Africa Business School
Business Economics is an Applied Economics stream that deals with business decisions related to choices, incentives and resources allocation. Business economics principles and tools are essential, to navigate through the complexities and interactions of different economic agents and answer questions related to markets design, competition, pricing, regulation and strategic behaviors, among others. Sustainability and the energy transition is a field where business economics tools and principles could provide policy and corporate guidance to ensure a social, economic and environmental least cost pathway to a Zero-Carbon world.
Sustainability and the Energy Transition @ Africa Business School
Sustainability is a multidimensional concept with environmental, social and economic attributes. The United Nations defines sustainability as ‘’meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”. Environmental sustainability is central to the ongoing debate and actions on climate change and the Energy Transition. Indeed, the United Nations identifies climate change as the biggest threat to sustainable development. Climate change is associated with long-term variations in temperatures and weather patterns. It is due mainly to burning fossil fuels. Hydrocarbon use generates Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, such as carbon dioxide and methane. Such emissions contribute to raising temperatures and global warming. To prevent catastrophic impacts of climate changes, around half of global emissions need to be cut by 2030 from 2010 levels and a net-zero is required by 2050. This challenging target cannot be achieved without a global energy transition and an appropriate framework to ensure accurate monitoring, reporting and verifying of emissions. The Paris Agreement is the main binding tool through which global emissions reductions are expected to be achieved. Indeed, the Paris Agreement was adopted on the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by 196 countries. The Paris Agreement sets out a general framework on how countries could reduce their GHG emissions in order to limit global warming to well below 2°C and preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels. It also aims to strengthen countries’ resilience to climate change impacts. Such aims are expected to be achieved via mitigation and adaptation measures and actions compiled in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).
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Research Interests On Sustainability and the Energy Transition

Typical applied research topics that are of interest to ABS are related but not limited to:

bullet  Energy, water and food nexus,

bullet  National and corporate energy strategies,

bullet  Sustainable transportation,

  Carbon footprint estimation and minimization

bullet  Utilities regulation.