sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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Figure II.10
CARBON INTENSITY OF ENERGY USE, 1990, <strong>20</strong>00 AND <strong>20</strong>07
(Kilograms of CO 2 per kilogram of oil equivalent)
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
China World United States Latin America and
the Caribbean
OECD
(high-income
countries)
European Union
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of World Bank, World
Development Indicators [online] http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-<strong>development</strong>-indicators.
Note:
1990 <strong>20</strong>00 <strong>20</strong>07
OECD does not include Chile, Mexico or Turkey.
The carbon intensity of energy is the amount of CO 2 emitted per unit of energy consumed. This ratio depends on the
type of energy used and, therefore, on the technology each country adopts. For a given amount of energy consumption,
emissions vary depending on the carbon content of the energy used. For example, coal has the highest carbon content
(26.8 tons per terajoule of energy), followed by petroleum (<strong>20</strong> tons per terajoule of energy), and natural gas (15 tons
per terajoule of energy). Accordingly, countries with similar levels of energy consumption but whose energy sources
are distributed differently will have different energy intensities (WRI, <strong>20</strong>09).
The region has major potential to help mitigate global climate change through CO 2 retention
services (United Nations, <strong>20</strong>10). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) (<strong>20</strong>11), the total carbon stored in forest biomass in Latin America and the Caribbean was
estimated at around 104 gigatons (Gt), having decreased by 424 million tons annually during the period
1990–<strong>20</strong>10. In terms of forested surface area, the region accounted for 24% of the world’s forests in <strong>20</strong>10
(FAO, <strong>20</strong>11).
Controversy reigns over the role of forest plantations as carbon sinks. Latin American and
Caribbean countries possess 18 million hectares of planted forest, representing 2% of the region’s total
forest area. Between <strong>20</strong>00 and <strong>20</strong>10, the region’s forest area expanded by an annual average of around
3.2%, which is a little over 400,000 hectares of forest per year (FAO, <strong>20</strong>11). Young, fast-growing trees
extract carbon from the atmosphere at a much faster rate and so one would expect the South America
forest plantations, which are mainly the fast-growing species eucalyptus, to mitigate the effects of global
climate change. However, most of the carbon stored in plantations will again be released into the
atmosphere within 10–<strong>20</strong> <strong>years</strong>, when the timber is used industrially or for generating power. In addition,
monoculture forest plantations create a negative impact on run-off and the availability of water in local
basins as well as on biodiversity.