The purpose of this college is to address the capability gap that exists in many developing countries and help build necessary expertise to identify NAMAs in the energy system development and to assess their effectiveness in combating climate change. As the major source of GHG emissions, the energy system will inevitably be affected by international environmental agreements targeted at avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Since over two-thirds of the projected increase in world energy demand is expected to occur in developing countries, their energy technology choices and investment decisions will have considerable impact on the international efforts towards mitigation of climate change. As an important contribution to these efforts, the international community under UNFCCC has agreed that developing countries submit (voluntary) plans on National Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) aimed at avoiding/reducing future GHG emissions. Hence, there is a need not only to identify and evaluate cost-effective NAMAs but also to better understand the challenges and opportunities for the development of energy systems under alternative and/or complementary response actions to climate change at national and international levels. Reconciling the national actions on climate and policies on energy with international targets is extremely challenging. During the college the above themes will be addressed through a series of lectures and hands-on laboratory classes using state-of-the-art modelling tools.

Topics include: Energy options and climate change threats, Major issues in equitable international climate regime, Scientific uncertainties and their impact on energy and climate policy formulation, Methods for assessment of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions