FYR Macedonia Green Growth Country Assessment

FYR Macedonia Green Growth Country Assessment
Author: Erika Jorgensen and Maria Shkaratan
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 276
Release:
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This green growth country assessment for FYR Macedonia defines and assesses the economic costs and benefits of a shift to greener growth for FYR Macedonia, with a focus on climate action. Multi-sector analytic work tied together by macroeconomic modeling generated a detailed green growth path to 2050. While addressing today's economic challenges, policymakers need to keep the long-term in mind, both the likely impact of a changing climate on water, agriculture, and infrastructure and growing obligations to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This consideration is particularly important for decisions on long-lived infrastructure such as power supply, irrigation, or urban streets, water distribution, and sewers. Innovative modeling of water as a constraint on growth as the climate becomes warmer and drier quantified the tough tradeoffs that will be needed to balance competing demands from agriculture, the power sector, and municipalities and industry. A greener energy sector needs to aim at increased supply security, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and increased supply efficiency: more generation to avoid blackouts and expensive imports; lignite and oil replaced by gas and renewables in the supply mix; and aggressive energy efficiency measures in industry, buildings, and households. Providing better transport services while containing accelerating emissions growth will require better fuel efficiency, more use of rail and public transport, and an integrated approach to urban transport that maximizes local cobenefits. Urban areas, especially the capital city of Skopje hold the potential to lead on greener growth. In recent years, urban sprawl, driven by growth in the number of single family houses that use wood for heating and private cars for commuting, has pushed up the energy intensity of urban life as well as the cost of delivering infrastructure services to a less-dense community. The country also needs to plan for the impact of a changing climate on the reliability and quality of infrastructure services. Planners need to decide whether to build infrastructure to be more resilient today or wait to see what happens and spend more on maintenance and rehabilitation (or replacement) later. For FYR Macedonia, the top priorities for infrastructure adaptation over the next decade include urban drainage systems, health and education facilities and municipal buildings. The main local cobenefit of mitigation will be reduction of air pollution, which is among the highest in Europe. Particulate matter pollution from industry, the power sector, and road paving can be abated through better equipment while the other large and unusual source of air pollution--the widespread use of wood for heat by urban households--can be reduced in the near-term by more modern stoves and in the long-term by better heating options. An economy-wide macroeconomic assessment estimates the impact on growth and employment of packages of green growth actions across sectors and provides advice on priorities for public investment. Climate investments pose costs upfront but provide benefits both now and later. Adaptation interventions (which protect tomorrow’s output from climate damage) are found to be less costly to growth and employment in the short-term than mitigation measures (which reduce greenhouse gas emissions) once sector results are integrated into a general equilibrium model. Under a ‘green’ climate action scenario, moderate adaptation measures in agriculture and water and incremental expenses in the climate-proofing of physical infrastructure would amount to the equivalent of around 0.1 percent of annual GDP, while moderate mitigation measures would require the mobilization of resources constituting about one percent of annual GDP. More ambitious climate action, under a ‘super-green’ scenario, would require water sector investments that reach one percent of GDP by 2015 while mitigation investments require two percent of GDP by 2020. Green climate action would together generate short-term losses to national income of more than two percent if financing is mobilized domestically, while super-green action induces even bigger losses. However, both moderate and ambitious climate action promise a medium- to long-term boost in the level of GDP—reaching 1.5 to 2 percent by 2050.

Climate Change Public Expenditure and Institutional Review Sourcebook (CCPEIR)

Climate Change Public Expenditure and Institutional Review Sourcebook (CCPEIR)
Author: Adrian Fozzard
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 257
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This Climate Change Public Expenditure and Institutional Review Sourcebook (CCPEIR) seeks to provide practitioners with the tools and information needed to respond to the public expenditure policy and management challenges arising from climate change. It is a series of notes and supporting materials written as a first step towards consolidating current research and international experience, identifying emerging practice and providing practical and applicable guidance for staff of central finance agencies, development agencies, environmental agencies and other international organizations working on climate change issues. In addition to emphasizing the importance of strengthening national systems throughout, the Sourcebook focuses on the specific public expenditure policy and management challenges posed by climate change, such as decision-making in the face of uncertain future climate conditions, expenditure planning for extreme weather and climate events, the lack of agreed budget definition and classification of climate change activities.

Perspectives on Energy Poverty in Post-Communist Europe

Perspectives on Energy Poverty in Post-Communist Europe
Author: George Jiglau
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2020-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000198936

This book explores the issue of energy poverty in post-communist Europe and shows how it is viewed and addressed through public policies. Energy poverty is severely affecting many parts of the European Union, but up until now only a few comparative analyses have been developed to understand the phenomenon and its diversity throughout the region. Filling this gap, this volume focuses specifically on the Eastern European region, drawing on contributions that cover a wide range of countries including Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. This region has undergone significant transitions over the past three decades, but, as the contributions demonstrate, it still faces major challenges to providing clean and affordable energy to its citizens and renovating existing housing stock. The chapters explore the extent of energy poverty in each country and examine the drivers, while casting light on how policy-makers tackle the issue through a critical examination of the instruments implemented to help energy poor people. This book will be of great interest to researchers in the fields of energy policy and comparative politics, to policy-makers in post-communist countries and EU institutions, and also to other relevant actors, such as companies and NGOs who focus on issues of energy poverty. This book is based upon work from EU COST Action ‘European Energy Poverty: Agenda Co-Creation and Knowledge Innovation’ (ENGAGER 2017–2021, CA16232) supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology — www.cost.eu).

Impact Evaluation in Practice, Second Edition

Impact Evaluation in Practice, Second Edition
Author: Paul J. Gertler
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2016-09-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464807809

The second edition of the Impact Evaluation in Practice handbook is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to impact evaluation for policy makers and development practitioners. First published in 2011, it has been used widely across the development and academic communities. The book incorporates real-world examples to present practical guidelines for designing and implementing impact evaluations. Readers will gain an understanding of impact evaluations and the best ways to use them to design evidence-based policies and programs. The updated version covers the newest techniques for evaluating programs and includes state-of-the-art implementation advice, as well as an expanded set of examples and case studies that draw on recent development challenges. It also includes new material on research ethics and partnerships to conduct impact evaluation. The handbook is divided into four sections: Part One discusses what to evaluate and why; Part Two presents the main impact evaluation methods; Part Three addresses how to manage impact evaluations; Part Four reviews impact evaluation sampling and data collection. Case studies illustrate different applications of impact evaluations. The book links to complementary instructional material available online, including an applied case as well as questions and answers. The updated second edition will be a valuable resource for the international development community, universities, and policy makers looking to build better evidence around what works in development.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 57
Release: 2012-06-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1475538553

This 2011 Article IV Consultation highlights that Macedonia is poised to achieve low but positive growth under the baseline scenario of a shallow recession in the euro area. Under a downside scenario, growth would be weaker, and external financing pressures could arise. In the near term, the government would need to reduce expenditure growth to meet the 2012 deficit target. A key longer-term challenge would be to reconcile the competing objectives of higher public investment and increases in pensions and public wages while preserving low public debt and low taxes.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Author: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 75
Release: 2017-11-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484330048

This 2017 Article IV Consultation highlights slower growth in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia following a solid economic recovery since the global financial crisis. Growth slowed to 2.4 percent in 2016 and contracted by 0.9 percent in the first half of 2017. Economic activity has been supported by private consumption and exports, while negative effects from prolonged political instability have restrained investment and slowed down corporate credit growth. Inflation has gradually picked up, after staying negative during the past few years. Public debt is projected to rise to 47 percent of GDP in 2017. Currently, the government is in the process of preparing the draft economic program.

Looking Beyond the Horizon

Looking Beyond the Horizon
Author: William R. Sutton
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2013-04-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821397699

The risks and opportunities of climate change for agriculture can be effectively dealt only by aligning policies, developing institutional capabilities, and investing in infrastructure and farms, as per the experiences of Albania, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan.

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Author: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2014-02-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1475570805

This paper discusses key findings of Second Post-Program Monitoring Discussions with Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Growth continues to strengthen, although the recovery is not yet broad-based. Private non-debt creating capital flows have slowed, and could leave the reserve path increasingly driven by an accumulation of external public debt. Central government debt has increased by about 15 percentage points since the beginning of the global financial crisis, in the context of growing broader public sector operations. The strong recovery in first half of 2013, high bank liquidity, and the decline in reserves suggest an end to the easing cycle would be in order.