This report is the fifth in a series of working papers on energy and environment issues
published by the UNEP Collaborating Centre on Energy and Environment at Risų National
Laboratory, Denmark. The UNEP Collaborating Centre was established in 1990 and its primary
mission is the further incorporation of environmental issues in energy planning and
policy, with particular focus on developing countries. The work of the Centre is to a
great degree catalytic and involves close collaboration with researchers, planners,
government agencies, etc. in all parts of the world. The UNEP Centre produces a newsletter
c2e2 news at regular intervals for the presentation of
short items on Centre activities and related topics. The UNEP Centre Working Papers
provide a medium for extended discussion of relevant topics written by Centre staff or
collaborating colleagues.
The work reported in this document should be seen in conjunction with the UNEP Centre's
activity in the field of climate change mitigation analysis. Since 1991 the Centre has
been involved in developing methodologies and coordinating and conducting country studies.
The UNEP Greenhouse Gas Abatement Costing Studies indicated a widespread existence of
measures that could reduce emissions of both greenhouse gases and local pollutants, with
modest increases or even decreases in energy system cost (i.e., negative net cost).
Nevertheless, it is recognised that any national strategy to actually put such measures
into practice would be likely to face barriers of various kinds not considered in the cost
assessment. A full national strategy would take into account broader national cost and
benefits, as well as the long-term social and economic effects of each option on the
relevant actors. It may also be necessary for the country to consider its institutional
capacity for implementing a set of options even if funding were available.
To address some of these issues the Centre initiated studies to focus on implementation
issues in order to gain experience and insight into the development of strategies for
environmentally sound energy options. Implementation issues for specific technologies and
strategies vary between countries according to different social structures, regulatory
systems, institutional capabilities and broader cultural factors. The implementation
assessment must therefore be country or sub-country specific, although lessons learned may
be applied in other contexts.
This Zimbabwe study was started at the end of 1993 with an investigation of various
energy-related activities in Zimbabwe and their estimated contribution to environmental
impacts. The project focuses on "no-regret" (negative net cost) options or
low-cost measures and concentrates particularly on options in power production and use,
coal mining and the manufacturing industry.
The study builds directly on the existing collaboration in the UNEP GHG Abatement
Costing Studies where Zimbabwe participated since the inception in Phases One, Two and
Three. The project was carried out as a collaborative effort between the Southern Centre
for Energy and Environment (SCEE) in Harare, Zimbabwe, the National Environment
Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) of India, and the UNEP Centre. The country-level
activities in the study were carried out by SCEE and NEERI, working in close consultation
with the Ministry of Transport and Energy. The UNEP Centre played a leading role in
design, planning, monitoring and review of project activities.
Gordon A. Mackenzie
Series Editor
Project team
Southern Centre for Energy and Environment, Zimbabwe
Mr. Charles Nhova
Mr. Norbert Nziramasanga
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, India
Dr. Vijay Kulkarni
UNEP Collaborating Centre on Energy and Environment, Denmark
Dr. Pramod Deo