A growing number of developing countries are seeking to adopt low carbon development pathways to achieve green growth, reduce their dependency on fossil fuels, and contribute to global efforts on climate change mitigation.
Since 2007 ESMAP has provided support for World Bank engagement in over 10 countries on low carbon development, ranging from long-term economy-wide analytical work to the assessment of implementation options for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions abatement in specific sectors.
This work has generated a wealth of knowledge, experience and tools which can help inform low carbon development planning in other countries, or regions within countries. These are freely provided by ESMAP for the benefit of future or ongoing low carbon studies.
More recently, ESMAP has published Planning for a Low Carbon Future | Lessons Learned from Seven Country Studies, a practical guide for government officials, practitioners, and development agencies involved in low carbon development planning that draws on the first seven country studies carried out by the World Bank in this area.
Image: Nic Bothma, with permission from SouthSouthNorth
Country Studies
The outputs from seven country studies are available below—including full reports and a series of briefing notes. Additional countries will be added once the outputs become available.
In addition to the ESMAP-funded studies listed above, the World Bank has completed a low carbon study for Macedonia that relates to the work highlighted above: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - Green growth country assessment.


Related Resources
ESMAP is collaborating with World Bank colleagues working on climate change to develop the Climate-Smart Planning Platform, a multi-stakeholder initiative to gather and share information on the application of climate-resilient and low-carbon development tools. The Climate-Smart Planning Platform includes a powerful database of tools and associated datasets, and will include a wiki space originally developed by ESMAP to facilitate collaboration.
-
CCAP: Support to developing countries for reducing emissions.
-
Climate Planning: A guide to climate compatible development tools
-
Green Growth Knowledge Platform: Global network of researchers and development experts.
-
LEDS Global Partnership: Coordination, information exchange, and cooperation to advance climate-resilient low emission growth
-
UK Government Global Calculator: Open-source model of the world’s energy, land and food systems to 2050 that allows you to design your own vision of the future and see the implications for the climate instantly.
-
UNDP: Guidance manuals and toolkits.
-
World Bank: Climate change knowledge portal.
Related Links
ESMAP | Renewable Energy > Low Carbon Development