Climate Change Mitigation Technologies Research Articles

Technology Transfer for Climate Change Mitigation: A Perspective from Kenya

The impact of climate change continues to be experienced worldwide. Treaties such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of 1992 and the UNFCCC Paris Agreement of 2015 demonstrate the value that UN Member States attach to reaching consensus on climate change mitigation steps. In this thematic report, the author looks at the issue of climate change mitigation technology transfer (TT) from a Kenyan perspective, specifically with reference to Kenya’s National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP), and to provisions in Kenya’s patent law that are relevant to TT licensing agreements between foreign and Kenyan entities.

What role for climate negotiations on technology transfer?

Little progress has been made in climate negotiations on technology since 1992. Yet the diffusion of climate change mitigation technologies to developing countries (non-Annex I) has increased dramatically over the last twenty years. The shift has mostly concerned emerging economies, which are now reasonably well connected to international technology flows. This is good news, as the bulk of emissions increases are expected to take place in these countries in the near future. In contrast, the least developed countries still appear to be excluded from international technology flows, mostly because of their negligible participation in the recent economic globalization. This article focuses on the policy implications of the contribution of climate negotiations to international technology diffusion.Policy relevanceThe discrepancy between the small amount of progress made in climate negotiations on technology since 1992 and the steady increase in the international diffusion of climate mitigation technologies leads to the perhaps controversial view that the diffusion of climate mitigation technologies does not need strong international coordination over technology issues under the UNFCCC. However, climate negotiations can play a key role in stimulating the demand for low-carbon technologies by setting ambitious emission reductions targets and policies.

Mitigating Climate Change at the Carbon Water Nexus: A Call to Action for the Environmental Engineering Community.

Environmental engineers have played a critical role in improving human and ecosystem health over the past several decades. These contributions have focused on providing clean water and air as well as managing waste streams and remediating polluted sites. As environmental problems have become more global in scale and more deeply entrenched in sociotechnical systems, the discipline of environmental engineering must grow to be ready to respond to the challenges of the coming decades. Here we make the case that environmental engineers should play a leadership role in the development of climate change mitigation technologies at the carbon-water nexus (CWN). Climate change, driven largely by unfettered emissions of fossil carbon into the atmosphere, is a far-reaching and enormously complex environmental risk with the potential to negatively affect food security, human health, infrastructure, and other systems. Solving this problem will require a massive mobilization of existing and innovative new technology. The environmental engineering community is uniquely positioned to do pioneering work at the CWN using a skillset that has been honed, solving related problems. The focus of this special issue, on “The science and innovation of emerging subsurface energy technologies,” provides one example domain within which environmental engineers and related disciplines are beginning to make important contributions at the CWN. In this article, we define the CWN and describe how environmental engineers can bring their considerable expertise to bear in this area. Then we review some of the topics that appear in this special issue, for example, mitigating the impacts of hydraulic fracturing and geologic carbon storage, and we provide perspective on emergent research directions, for example, enhanced geothermal energy, energy storage in sedimentary formations, and others.

Carbon dioxide Fischer-Tropsch synthesis: A new path to carbon-neutral fuels

Paradigm of climate change mitigation technologies is shifting from carbon capture and storage (CCS) to carbon capture and utilization (CCU). Here we propose a new path to CCU – direct CO2 conversion to liquid transportation fuels by reacting with renewable hydrogen produced by solar water splitting. The highly promising and CO2-neutral CCU system is possible by our discovery of a new catalyst that produces liquid hydrocarbon (C5+) selectivity of ∼65% and greatly suppressed CH4 formation to 2–3%, which represents an unprecedented selectivity pattern for direct catalytic CO2 hydrogenation and is very similar to that of conventional CO-based Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. The catalyst was prepared by reduction of delafossite-CuFeO2 and in-situ carburization to Hägg carbide (χ-Fe5C2), the active phase for heavy hydrocarbon formation. The reference catalysts derived from bare Fe2O3, CuO-Fe2O3 mixture, and spinel CuFe2O4 are much less active and produce mainly light hydrocarbons, highlighting the critical role of delafossite-CuFeO2 as the catalyst precursor. The new catalyst breaks through the limitation of CO2-based FT synthesis and will open the avenue for new opportunity for carbon recycling into valuable liquid fuels at the similar conditions to industrially practiced CO-FT synthesis.

What Is Carbon Dioxide? When Is Carbon Dioxide?

In this article, I focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS), a controversial climate change mitigation technology that operates by collecting carbon dioxide from point sources and depositing it in underground locations, such as depleting oil reservoirs. Specifically, I investigate the ways in which certain CCS professionals imagine and demand a reconceptualization of carbon dioxide: not as waste or as dangerous material that should be taxed and exchanged in carbon markets, but as a neutral gas that can be bought and sold as a commodity, and perhaps used as a drilling additive for the oil and gas industry. CCS professionals suggest that carbon dioxide has multiple legal, political, and chemical meanings and existences across different points on a CCS network, and they acknowledge how this condition makes it difficult to produce the molecule as a commodity characterized by exchange and commensurability. In studying the commodification of carbon dioxide, I show how these professionals do not intend to create “sameness” across the market, but instead wish to commodify the molecule through “linking” various versions of carbon dioxide together. By tracking carbon dioxide as it moves within a CCS network, I explore the moral logics of CCS technologies, which obscure how energy‐intensive models of life triggered climate change in the first place.

Assessment of Farmers’ Adoption of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies in Uyo Agricultural Zone of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Climate change has been fingered as the main factor responsible for the continuous decline in sustainable agricultural production and environmental degradation particularly in the developing countries. Against this background, a study was conducted in Uyo Agricultural Zone of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria in 2014 from where crop farmers participating in Akwa Ibom State Agricultural Development Programme (AKADEP) activities were selected. A two-staged sampling technique was used to select one hundred and fifty (150) farmers participating in the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) in Uyo for the study. Data were collected from primary sources using structured questionnaire and Focus Group Discussions with the farmers (respondents) in the agricultural extension block selected. Oral interview involving face to face questioning of the respondents in order to further extract more information was used to affirm opinion where need arose. Few observations were also made by the researcher. Descriptive statistics and Likert scale rating techniques were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that out of the 23 climate change mitigation technologies identified, few (5) recorded very high adoption rate. Therefore, the Original Research Article Nkeme; JAERI, 7(3): 1-9, 2016; Article no.JAERI.19996 2 null hypothesis (P= 0.05%) which stated that there was no significant difference between the sample and population means was accepted. The study recommends that Extension contact with farmers should be intensified. Also, general enlightenment campaigns to boost farmers’ participation in the ADP programmes should be sustained.

An Integrated Contribution Approach Focusing on Technology for Climate Change Mitigation and Promotion of International Technology Cooperation and Transfer

Various technologies exist for climate change mitigation. Technology transfer is important for the efficient use of these technologies globally. Such transfer/cooperation should be implemented, at sector basis, broadly and unlimitedly beyond conventional framework. In this paper, an Integrated Contribution Approach is proposed as a domestic as well as a global strategy. This approach unifies two approaches: seeking ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, further improve technical capabilities and encourage technical innovation; and implementing technology transfer effectively, clarifying contributions and promoting efforts to achieve substantial global GHG reduction. As an illustration, this paper estimated the technical potential of solar generation in the developing world by the year 2020, considering current and anticipated technology development. The estimate suggests a huge possibility for CO2 reduction as well as business opportunities through worldwide technology cooperation based on recognition of the importance of continual technology development. To achieve such goals, a scheme promoting incentives for private investment is indispensable as it is essential to use economic forces as well as government policy. This paper describes the following considerations: establishing a simple, easy-to-access scheme that can concentrate private resources on technology transfer; clarifying reduction efforts through measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV); applying it to conditionality together with financial and/or economic internal rate of return (FIRR, EIRR); and establishing a database and analysing data on the technical contributions and dissemination of projects.

Mapping and Measuring European Local Governments’ Priorities for a Sustainable and Low-Carbon Energy Future

The main objective of this article is to assess the priorities of local governments (LGs) in Europe regarding climate change mitigation technologies evaluation in the electricity sector and to provide important insights for energy policy design. The study applies a hybrid weighting methodology to elicit LGs’ preferences in a constructive and iterative way regarding the evaluation criteria of low-carbon energy technologies. Furthermore, the study employs three data collection and preference elicitation methods, namely: survey, workshop, and webinar. The study was conducted across thirty one (31) European LGs that were categorized according to three variables: population size, geographical region and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The analysis shows that “CO2 emissions” is the most important criterion among European LGs, followed by “mortality and morbidity” and “ecosystem damages”. The results illustrate the potential synergies of climate and energy policies for addressing both CO2 emissions and air pollution. It was also found, based on a correlation analysis, that LGs with higher GDP per capita tend to provide higher weights to criteria related to security of energy supply and technological innovation. The current study provides insights on the actual LGs’ priorities that are important to consider during low-carbon energy technologies evaluation and energy policy design. Interestingly, the results of the European LGs’ preferences clearly show that the EU climate policy objectives have reached different levels of governance—and at this particular case, the local level. Furthermore, the developed methodology could be applied at different geographical regions to map other regions’ LG priorities, but also at a group decision making context to elicit relevant stakeholders’ preferences regarding low-carbon energy technologies and policy objectives.

Technological contribution of MNEs to the growth of energy-greentech sector in the early post-Kyoto period

We consider the commitment of large firms with high R&D investments to the development of technologies of climate change mitigation related to the production or storage of energy. We analyze such climate change mitigation technologies focused on energy production and storage (energy CCMT) across the globe with the aim of assessing whether the Kyoto Protocol fosters the diffusion of inventive activity in energy greentech. Using patents as the key dataset, we give an empirical description of the corporate patenting activity and assess its contribution to the overall energy CCMT inventions across countries and sectors of energy greentech before and after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol (1997). Our observations indicate that climate change issues and greentech development have not been prioritized to the same extent by firms of western countries as opposed to, for example, Japanese firms in the beginning of the 2000s. However, we witness a growing commitment in most of the western countries. US large firms were more prone to gain skills in renewable energy technologies than most of their European counterparts, which continue to heavily invest in traditional energies such as Nuclear energy and Combustion.

An inexact optimization model for planning regional carbon capture, transportation and storage systems under uncertainty

CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is widely recognized as a climate-change mitigation technology that can significantly sequestrate human-induced CO2 emission. However, there are two main issues that affect the development and deployment of CCS in a region/country: one is the shortage of planning tool for supporting effective decision making regarding timing, sitting and scaling of CCS capture, transport and storage facilities as well as dynamic sink-source matching between capture and storage. The other is uncertainty in technical, economic, political and other dimensions of CCS as the technology is still in early stage of commercialization. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop an inexact CCS optimization model (ICCSM) for supporting regional carbon capture, transportation and storage planning under interval-format uncertainty with a least-cost strategy. It could address issues related to optimal sink-source matching in a region with multiple capture and storage options. The developed model was then applied to a case study of long term regional CCS planning under uncertainty. To demonstrate its applicability and capability, further scenario analysis indicated that high concentration CO2 from coal-to-chemical/liquids/gas for EOR storage would be early opportunity for CCS in China. In addition, carbon price would be an effective policy instrument for encouraging deployment of CCS. Without sufficient carbon price, it could be difficult for moving CCS from demonstration stage to deployment stage in a short term.

Assessing climate change mitigation technology interventions by international institutions

Accelerating the international use of climate mitigation technologies is key if efforts to curb climate change are to succeed, especially in developing countries, where weak domestic technological innovation systems constrain the uptake of climate change mitigation technologies. Several intergovernmental agencies have set up specific programmes to support the diffusion of climate mitigation technologies. Using a simplified technological innovation system-based framework, this paper aims to systematically review these programmes, with the dual aim of assessing their collective success in promoting technological innovation, and identifying opportunities for the newly formed UNFCCC Technology Mechanism. We conclude that, while all programmes reviewed have promoted technology transfer, they have given limited attention to innovation capabilities with users, government and universities. Functions that could be further developed include knowledge development, legitimation and market formation. These could be focal areas for the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism. We recommend that, in future programmes, part of the funding is dedicated to programmes doing research and development as well as capability development.

Deliberative Decarbonisation? Assessing the Potential of an Ethical Governance Framework for Low-Carbon Energy through the Case of Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage

In this paper we explore the potential of a framework of ethical governance for low-carbon energy. Developing mainly in the field of information and communications technology, ethical governance is concerned with the marginalisation of ethical and moral issues during development and deployment of new technologies. Focusing on early carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) projects, we argue that a focus on technical arguments in the governance of low-carbon energy similarly risks sidelining deeper issues such as fairness, justice, and values. We believe an ethical governance approach does have potential for low-carbon energy technologies like CCS, but also that climate change mitigation technologies pose particular challenges for the implementation of ethical governance.

Attitudes of Greek university students towards energy and the environment

<p>This paper summarises the results of a survey carried out amongst the student population of one of the largest Greek Technological Educational Institutes. It explores attitudes toward the environment in general and then, more specifically, toward global warming and global warming-mitigation technologies. It also explores student understanding of sources of carbon dioxide and climate change-mitigation technologies, such as carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS). Further, it analyses responses to questions about willingness of respondents to pay to solve global warming. The data was collected in October and November of 2011 using a structured questionnaire which was first formulated in English and then translated into Greek. The analysis was performed using the statistical package SPSS v17.0 and focused on descriptive statistics, in order to compare the average ratings for the different statements.</p>
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 <p>The present study concludes that university students in Greece are overwhelmingly positively disposed towards the environment with the majority of respondents believing that protecting the environment should have priority over economic considerations. Students also view the effects of global warming as serious enough to warrant action and state their belief that the current generation should meet its own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. Moreover, the majority of the participants are against the development of nuclear energy, favoring RES (solar wind and bioenergy), and energy conservation technologies. However, the study has also identified a lack of understanding in regards to sources of carbon dioxide. The majority of the respondents do not seem to know that oceans act as sinks of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions or that the housing stock is a significant contributor to this problem. </p>
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Durham Zoo: Powering a Search-&-Innovation Engine with Collective Intelligence

Purpose – Durham Zoo (hereinafter – DZ) is a project to design and operate a concept search engine for science and technology. In DZ, a concept includes a solution to a problem in a particular context. Design – Concept searching is rendered complex by the fuzzy nature of a concept, the many possible implementations of the same concept, and the many more ways that the many implementations can be expressed in natural language. An additional complexity is the diversity of languages and formats, in which the concepts can be disclosed. Humans understand language, inference, implication and abstraction and, hence, concepts much better than computers, that in turn are much better at storing and processing vast amounts of data. We are 7 billion on the planet and we have the Internet as the backbone for Collective Intelligence. So, our concept search engine uses humans to store concepts via a shorthand that can be stored, processed and searched by computers: so, humans IN and computers OUT. The shorthand is classification: metadata in a structure that can define the content of a disclosure. The classification is designed to be powerful in terms of defining and searching concepts, whilst suited to a crowdsourcing effort. It is simple and intuitive to use. Most importantly, it is adapted to restrict ambiguity, which is the poison of classification, without imposing a restrictive centralised management. In the classification scheme, each entity is shown together in a graphical representation with related entities. The entities are arranged on a sliding scale of similarity. This sliding scale is effectively fuzzy classification. Findings – The authors of the paper have been developing a first classification scheme for the technology of traffic cones, this in preparation for a trial of a working system. The process has enabled the authors to further explore the practicalities of concept classification. The CmapTools knowledge modelling kit to develop the graphical representations has been used. Practical implications – Concept searching is seen as having two categories: prior art searching, which is searching for what already exists, and solution searching: a search for a novel solution to an existing problem. Prior art searching is not as efficient a process, as all encompassing in scope, or as accurate in result, as it could and probably should be. The prior art includes library collections, journals, conference proceedings and everything else that has been written, drawn, spoken or made public in any way. Much technical information is only published in patents. There is a good reason to improve prior art searching: research, industry, and indeed humanity faces the spectre of patent thickets: an impenetrable legal space that effectively hinders innovation rather than promotes it. Improved prior-art searching would help with the gardening and result in fewer and higher-quality patents. Poor-quality patents can reward patenting activity per se, which is not what the system was designed for. Improved prior-art searching could also result in less duplication in research, and/or lead to improved collaboration. As regards solution search, the authors of the paper believe that much better use could be made of the existing literature to find solutions from non-obvious areas of science and technology. The so-called cross industry innovation could be joined by biomimetics, the inspiration of solutions from nature. Crowdsourcing the concept shorthand could produce a system ‘by the people, for the people’, to quote Abraham Lincoln out of context. A Citizen Science and Technology initiative that developed a working search engine could generate revenue for academia. Any monies accruing could be invested in research for the common good, such as the development of climate change mitigation technologies, or the discovery of new antibiotics. Originality – The authors know of no similar systems in development

Perceptions of sub-seabed carbon dioxide storage in Scotland and implications for policy: A qualitative study

The geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) offers notable potential, as part of larger carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) processes, to be a significant climate change mitigation technology. This paper challenges the argument often put forward that, due to the greater distances from centres of population, it will be ‘easier’ to garner public and stakeholder support for offshore CO2 storage than onshore. Based on the results of research interviews carried out with stakeholders and informed publics in Scotland, challenges for public and stakeholder acceptance of sub-seabed CO2 storage that may require further policy attention are identified. Whilst existing policy for sub-seabed CO2 storage is cognisant of the need for societal engagement, it may be the case that these regulations may need further reinforcement to ensure future developments are able to address social acceptability issues as fully as possible. The value of taking into account social as well as physical characteristics at the site selection phase, the need for mechanisms to take seriously stakeholder conceptions of uncertainty, and the importance of extending social engagement beyond risk communication are discussed.

Planning for Climate Change: Leading Practice Principles and Models

Local communities exposed to climate change risks associated with warming, increased frequency or intensity of droughts, erosion, flooding, and changed rainfall and temperature patterns, threatening mountain biodiversity and ecosystems. These environmental risks represent a number of social and economic consequences for rural communities, exacerbated by existing socio-economic disadvantage and an aging population profile. The temporary housing and homes are at particular risk in the event of a major natural disaster. These housing forms are an important source of housing for low income without proper insurance or ownership of land there is a high likelihood that tenants will face long term displacement in the event of a disaster. Other social and amenity impacts for rural communities include damage to crop farm lands, and landscapes or items of cultural significance. Beach and cliff top trails and paths may be subject to more frequent damage and increased exposure to landslip. Changed rainfall patterns and increased likelihood of major drought events represent both long term and abrupt unpredictable risks to agriculture life. Over the next 20-30 years extreme weather events are likely to overwhelm existing infrastructure constructed to current design standards and these infrastructures will all experience increased pressures and require additional repair, maintenance and upgrading works. The following overarching principles for leading practice emerge from the literature on climate change mitigation and adaptation planning. The need to uphold the principles of ecologically sustainable development in designing adaptation and mitigation approaches, including environmental integrity, social equity and participation, economic viability and the precautionary principle. This is critical for mountain rural communities whose populations include higher proportions of lower income and socially disadvantaged groups. The need to prioritize actions worth doing anyway, which for Aggrian communities mean actions that have multiple benefits for the environment, for managing coastal processes, for the affordable and efficient provision of infrastructure, for nature based amenity and tourism and for more socially cohesive settlements. The importance of a sound evidence base, for identifying and justifying planning responses to climate change. Local authorities need assistance in accessing, interpreting, and applying consistent and reliable sources of scientific information about climate change scenarios. They need to plan now,in other to prevent further risks associated with climate change. Mountain communities experiencing rapid growth or pressure for rapid development approval, before climate change considerations have been factored into planning and assessment frameworks. There is a particular need to review current planning controls to ensure that they enable new adaptive responses in planning for climate, as well as new technology for climate change mitigation. While climate change is increasingly recognized by Nepalese as a critical issue few local planning schemes include specific provisions for climate change, adaptation or mitigation, aside controls relating to them. However, local authorities have planning provisions that may provide indirect protection from climate change impacts. For instance some responding to a national policy of climate change planning schemes .They include specific protection zones in their planning instrument or equivalent. Other mechanisms that may contribute to the adaptive capacity of local communities under future climate scenarios include bushfire protection or equivalent. This information suggests that many local bodies already have the basis for incorporating climate change considerations within their decision making and development assessment framework but that work needs to be revised in relation to specific climate change scenarios. Similarly, many local bodies have well established approaches to promote more sustainable forms, providing a sound basis for reducing harmful activities and for settlements that are more resilient to some of the impacts of climate change .There is an urgent need to build on and extend this work more widely.

Impacts of different diffusion scenarios for mitigation technology options and of model representations regarding renewables intermittency on evaluations of CO2 emissions reductions

This paper evaluated the impacts of climate change mitigation technology options on CO2 emission reductions and the effects of model representations regarding renewable intermittency on the assessment of reduction by using a world energy systems model. First, different diffusion scenarios for carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), nuclear power, and wind power and solar PV are selected from EMF27 scenarios to analyze their impacts on CO2 emission reductions. These technologies are important for reducing CO2 intensity of electricity, and the impacts of their diffusion levels on mitigation costs are significant, according to the analyses. Availability of CCS in particular, among the three kinds of technologies, has a large impact on the marginal CO2 abatement cost. In order to analyze effects of model representations regarding renewables intermittency, four different representations are assumed within the model. A simplistic model representation that does not take into consideration the intermittency of wind power and solar PV evaluates larger contributions of the energy sources than those evaluated by a model representation that takes intermittency into consideration. Appropriate consideration of renewables intermittency within global energy systems models will be important for realistic evaluations of climate change mitigation scenarios.

UK media representations of Carbon Capture and Storage

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a climate change mitigation technology which has had a rather chequered history in British policy making and in the British public sphere. This article deals with the neglected topic of representations of CCS in the British media and their possible impact on public perceptions and public policy. Public perception of CCS is shaped in part by the media which provide tools for making sense of complex technological and political issues such as CCS. This article compares articles on CCS in two UK newspapers, one national (“The Times”) and one regional (“The Aberdeen Press and Journal”) in 2011, a year during which some of the last battles over CCS demonstration projects were fought. It applies frame and metaphor analysis to a corpus of 150 articles. Findings reveal that during 2011 CCS coverage moved through a cycle of hype and disillusionment, with both newspapers reaching a trough of disappointment at the end of 2011. It will be difficult to reignite interest in CCS in this context, both in terms of media and public attention, and in terms of policy and investment. Regional confidence in national CCS policy in particular will be difficult to recover.

Life Cycle Assessment to Evaluate the Environmental Impact of Biochar Implementation in Conservation Agriculture in Zambia

Biochar amendment to soil is a potential technology for carbon storage and climate change mitigation. It may, in addition, be a valuable soil fertility enhancer for agricultural purposes in sandy and/or weathered soils. A life cycle assessment including ecological, health and resource impacts has been conducted for field sites in Zambia to evaluate the overall impacts of biochar for agricultural use. The life cycle impacts from conservation farming using cultivation growth basins and precision fertilization with and without biochar addition were in the present study compared to conventional agricultural methods. Three different biochar production methods were evaluated: traditional earth-mound kilns, improved retort kilns, and micro top-lit updraft (TLUD) gasifier stoves. The results confirm that the use of biochar in conservation farming is beneficial for climate change mitigation purposes. However, when including health impacts from particle emissions originating from biochar production, conservation farming plus biochar from earth-mound kilns generally results in a larger negative effect over the whole life cycle than conservation farming without biochar addition. The use of cleaner technologies such as retort kilns or TLUDs can overcome this problem, mainly because fewer particles and less volatile organic compounds, methane and carbon monoxide are emitted. These results emphasize the need for a holistic view on biochar use in agricultural systems. Of special importance is the biochar production technique which has to be evaluated from both environmental/climate, health and social perspectives.

Influence of climate change mitigation technology on global demands of water for electricity generation

Globally, electricity generation accounts for a large and potentially growing water demand, and as such is an important component to assessments of global and regional water scarcity. However, the current suite—as well as potential future suite—of thermoelectric generation technologies has a very wide range of water demand intensities, spanning two orders of magnitude. As such, the evolution of the generation mix is important for the future water demands of the sector. This study uses GCAM, an integrated assessment model, to analyze the global electric sector's water demands in three futures of climate change mitigation policy and two technology strategies. We find that despite five- to seven-fold expansion of the electric sector as a whole from 2005 to 2095, global electric sector water withdrawals remain relatively stable, due to the retirement of existing power plants with water-intensive once-through flow cooling systems. In the scenarios examined here, climate policies lead to the large-scale deployment of advanced, low-emissions technologies such as carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), concentrating solar power, and engineered geothermal systems. In particular, we find that the large-scale deployment of CCS technologies does not increase long-term water consumption from hydrocarbon-fueled power generation as compared with a no-policy scenario without CCS. Moreover, in sensitivity scenarios where low-emissions electricity technologies are required to use dry cooling systems, we find that the consequent additional costs and efficiency reductions do not limit the utility of these technologies in achieving cost-effective whole-system emissions mitigation.