Modelling developments linked to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
date: 03/07/2020
- A research team from four universities in Italy has published a study examining the climate impact on nutrition and labour supply in Uganda. The authors have used a nationally-representative, longitudinal micro-level survey combined with high-resolution climate data and have applied an instrumental variable approach to disentangle the direct impact that climate change has on the labour supply and the indirect impact it has on food supply and nutrition. The results show that increased temperatures initially increase labour supply as people can work longer hours in a week in a milder environment. Another finding is that increased temperatures will increase the need for calories intake and therefore affect food supply and nutrition. However, if temperatures increase past 21.3oC the number of work hours per worker decreases due to heat stress. The overall effect of these impacts is predicted to increase low-skilled labour in Uganda due to the higher demand for agricultural products. This is the first study to provide empirical evidence for the link between climate change, nutrition, and labour supply. The article is available online in the Journal of Environment and Development Economics.
- New research from GISOC examines the sustainability of energy sources versus raw materials demand until 2050. The authors use the element limitation factors (ELF) methodology to analyse the GHG emissions of different energy sources and their ability to meet a number of SDGs. This methodology allows for the identification of energy sources that are less demanding in terms of resource use rather than only looking at their production capacity. As a consequence, it shows where some approaches to energy production cannot be realistically put in practice because they are too resource-intensive. The research helps identify issues for policy challenges such as determination of the budget to allow to different energy sources according to their energy generation potential and to their resource consumption. A poster for the research is available online.