Ethiopia

Ethiopia joined the Climate and Clean Air Coalition in 2012, represented by the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy. Ethiopia's interest is in building on existing work to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) emissions from the household energy sector, in particular, through the distribution of clean cookstoves and increasing reliance on solar energy. Other priorities include reducing black carbon emissions from diesel vehicles and reusing methane emissions through biogas systems.  

Ethiopia continues to work to advance these objectives and contribute to regional mitigation efforts through its participation in the Coalition's Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Waste and Supporting National Planning (SNAP) Initiatives. 

Other activities

Repi Waste to Energy project

A key aspect of CRGE is to identify energy sources that will not only expand the provision of power across the country, but will do so in a manner that incorporates environmental protections and associated socio-economic benefits.

The Reppie Waste-to-Energy project is the first of its kind in Ethiopia as it produces green energy within city limits from municipal solid waste.  The proposed waste-to-energy facility at Reppie will be located within the open dumping site and be part of the proposed transfer station which will see roughly 1,200 tons of waste a day. The facility will be located in the shallowest area of the dumpsite within a 7-hectare area out of the total 37-hectare dump site. The project will be located within a vacant brown-field area which is currently used to dump, burn, and dispose of waste without any environmental sensitivity. Compared to current emission limits from the current dumpsite at Reppie this facility will reduce significant amount of emission.

Black carbon reduction by dissemination of improved cookstoves

At the national level, it is estimated that biomass in its various forms makes up 88% of total energy consumed in the country. In urban areas, access to petroleum fuels and electricity has enabled a significant proportion of the population to employ these sources for cooking and other domestic energy requirements. However, “traditional“ biomass energy is still the predominant source of thermal energy for cooking in both urban and rural areas. Domestic energy requirements in rural and urban areas are mostly met from wood, charcoal, animal dung and agricultural residues. Three stone (open fire) system is still in use, which have significant contribution to indoor air pollution and hence health impact and climate change as the result of Black carbon. Residential sector accounts for 93% of the total energy consumed in Ethiopia (MOWE, 2012). Therefore, the federal Ministry of Water and Energy has developed and National programme for improved household biomass cookstove development and promotion in Ethiopia by focusing mainly on the residential sector.

Strategy to promote cleaner vehicles

Road transport in Ethiopia accounts for over 95% of both freight and passenger mobility. The rate of motorization is close to 10% per year, with over 52% of the current vehicle fleet being over 15 years and above. The road transport sector is therefore characterized by high fuel inefficiency, high operating cost, poor road traffic safety conditions and increasing emission. 

According to the Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (CRGE), the increase in road passenger-km travelled in Ethiopia was forecasted at an annual growth rate of 8.3%-9.1% and the total passenger transport in passenger-km in Ethiopia is expected to increase from 40 billion in 2010 to 220 billion in 2030 driven by a strong urbanization. If business goes as usual, emissions from the motor vehicles will increase from 5 -ton CO₂e in 2010 to 41ton CO₂e in 2030. Hence, to mitigate this, viable and important policy measures were proposed in the strategy.

More specifically, to increase vehicle fuel efficiency and promote importation of cleaner vehicles by identifying and implementing relevant policy packages, Ethiopia is working with United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) under GFEI. In regard to this a study has been conducted on type of vehicles imported into Ethiopia with the objective of providing baseline data and sufficient and updated information in order to draft appropriate legislations and guidelines for dissemination of more fuel-efficient vehicles. Based on the study, Policy measures to encourage importation and assembly of cleaner, more efficient vehicles in Ethiopia were drafted, including importation of 50 ppm low sulfur content fuels.

Use of liquid biofuel is also taken as one important strategy to support promotion of cleaner vehicles  and E10 is already in use and activities are underway to scale up the bio-fuel development program both for biodiesel and bioethanol use.

Biogas Programme

To capture and use the climate-warming methane gas that is emitted from livestock, landfill, and sewage plant operations. Capturing and using biogas, which is composed mostly of methane, contributes to reducing methane in the atmosphere. To promote the uptake of domestic biogas, since 2008, a National Biogas Programme (NBP) is developed to disseminate domestic biogas and develop a commercially viable market biogas sector in four selected regions in Ethiopia. This program envisioned to promote 14,000 family-sized domestic biogas digesters in four selected regions.