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World Bank Study
services. Importantly, these emission factors do not include emissions from the processes that provide inputs to the electricity generation processes (e.g., coal mining, pipeline infrastructure), and as such they do not represent the full life cycle emissions of electricity generation. When considering data availability for less developed countries, a number of data gaps exist, as represented by the categories “Other Africa,” “Other Latin America,” and “Other Asia” within the GHG Protocol list. For example, Mauritius and Sierra Leone do not have country-specific values assigned; thus the “Other Africa” emission factor would be assumed. This would also encompass Burkina Faso, however, which has a different electricity mix from Sierra Leone (Sierra Leone uses 100 percent conventional thermal, whereas Burkina Faso uses 80 percent conventional thermal and 20 percent hydroelectric). Similarly, a generic figure is given for countries not listed under Central and South America and the Caribbean, which encompasses Belize, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, as well as Puerto Rico and a number of the smaller and wealthier Caribbean islands. The electricity mixes (and therefore emission factors) of these countries are varied, with Suriname using 90 percent hydroelectric power, Belize using approximately 50:50 hydroelectric and conventional thermal power, and most wealthy Caribbean islands using 100 percent conventional thermal power. More detailed information is therefore needed here; but this research exercise has not found easily accessible information outside of the mentioned sources. Land Use Change Emissions
Land use change, or the conversion of nonagricultural vegetation to grass and cropland, can be a major source of GHG emissions for many countries (IPCC, 2006a). The greatest increases in cropland area to provide food and fiber over the last two decades have occurred in Southeast Asia, parts of south Asia, the Great Lakes region of eastern Africa, and the Amazon Basin (IPCC, 2006a). An average of 12 million hectares per year of forest was destroyed the tropics in the same time period (IPCC, 2006a). Because the conversion of land to cropland has the potential to release large amounts of GHGs, PAS 2050 requires that these emissions be included in the assessment of a product carbon footprint. The total emissions resulting from direct land use change have to be included in the carbon footprint of any product arising from land converted to cropland, where 5 percent of total emissions are included in the GHG emissions of the product for each year during the 20 years following land use change. The assessment of these emissions is only required for land use change occurring on or a er January 1, 1990. This cutoff point was chosen somewhat arbitrarily a er lengthy discussions between the stakeholders involved in the development of PAS 2050. This has been a major criticism of the methodology owing to the historical nature of agricultural production in many developed countries, compared with more recent land conversion (and much remaining intact habitat) in developing nations. A greater burden is thus likely to be placed on less developed countries that wish to intensify their agricultural economy (see Chapters 4 and 5 for more detail), compared with developed countries where much land has been under agriculture prior to 1990. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reports that developing nations currently have around 50 percent of their cultivatable land under cultivation, compared to 78 percent in developed countries (Fischer et al., 2001). It further notes that over 80 percent of potential global cultivatable land reserves are located in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. In comparison, the UK Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA), from which PAS 2050 originates some of its LUC values (based on IPCC methodology), uses a baseline of November 30, 2005, to measure LUC impacts against. In places where it can be shown that the land use change occurred more than 20 years before the assessment, no emissions from land use change need to be included, because they are assumed to have occurred prior to the application of the PAS. As many of the world’s cultivatable reserves are also conservation priorities, the inclusion of LUC emissions is important to discourage