What is Nepal's pathway to limit global warming to 1.5°C?
Buildings
Lighting is almost completely electrified in Nepal with 85% of the residential households reliant on electricity and 5% on solar.1 More than half of households in the country currently rely on firewood as their primary cooking fuel and a third of the households, mostly in urban areas, rely on liquified petroleum gas (LPG).2 As the quality of life improves, trends show that LPG cookstoves are steadily replacing biomass ones.3 Firewood is commonly used for heating in rural areas while space heaters that run on LPG or electricity are used in urban areas.4
Nepal's energy mix in the buildings sector
petajoule per year
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Graph description
Energy mix composition in the buildings sector in consumption (EJ) and shares (%) for the years 2030, 2040 and 2050 based on selected IPCC SR1.5 global least costs pathways.
Methodology
Data References
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Emissions from buildings were low at 0.4 MtCO₂ in 2011 and have remained somewhat constant since.5 The reduction of emissions in this sector depends primarily on electrification of heating, and cooking appliances.
In its 2020 NDC, Nepal aims to reduce residential cooking-related emissions to 1.6 MtCO₂ by 2030 compared to BAU by scaling up electric cooking to ensure that at least 25% of residential households use electric stoves as their primary mode of cooking and through promotion of fuel-efficient biomass and biogas stoves as well.6 In its LTS, Nepal aims to phase out energy-related emissions from the residential and commercial sectors by 2050. The LTS also aims to increase the renewable energy capacity of the country to 53.2 GW by 2050 with the aim of electrification of major end-use sectors.7
The decarbonisation of the sector will primarily rely on electrification of Nepal’s buildings, with more than half of energy needs related to cooking, heating and lighting of this sector met with clean electricity by 2050.
Nepal’s 2020 NDC and 2021 LTS targets contribute to meeting these benchmarks.8,9 Reaching this electrification rate in the building sector would not only require substantial increase of Nepal’s renewable energy capacity, but also the strengthening of transmission and distribution infrastructure and subsidisation of residential and commercial clean technology.
By replacing biomass as a key residential energy source, electric cooking will uplift the health of rural women and girls, reduce unpaid domestic labour, and curb unsustainable consumption of biomass. Replacing LPG abates emissions and reduces the significant trade deficit resulting from import of petroleum products in the country.10
While Nepal envisions some role for hydrogen technology in its commercial sub-sector, it is unlikely to have the higher shares shown by some future pathways as the technology remains unavailable in Nepal to date. Although some pathways also show a role of district heating in this sector, this is unlikely as such technology and related infrastructure do not exist in the country.
Nepal's buildings sector direct CO₂ emissions (of energy demand)
MtCO₂/yr
Direct CO₂ emissions only are considered (see power sector for electricity related emissions, hydrogen and heat emissions are not considered here).
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Graph description
Direct CO₂ emissions of the buildings sector in selected 1.5°C compatible pathways.
Methodology
Data References
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1.5°C compatible buildings sector benchmarks
Direct CO₂ emissions and shares of electricity, heat and hydrogen in the buildings final energy demand from illustrative 1.5°C pathways for Nepal
| Indicator |
2019
|
2030
|
2040
|
2050
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Direct CO₂ emissions
MtCO₂/yr
|
1
|
1 to
2
|
3 to
3
|
0 to
2
|
|
Relative to reference year in %
|
-35 to
18%
|
108 to
129%
|
-100 to
49%
|
| Indicator |
2019
|
2030
|
2040
|
2050
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Share of electricity
per cent
|
3
|
7 to
50
|
29 to
45
|
50 to
65
|
|
Share of heat
per cent
|
0
|
0 to
6
|
2 to
5
|
5 to
6
|
|
Share of hydrogen
per cent
|
0
|
0 to
1
|
1 to
44
|
2 to
41
|
All values are rounded. Only direct CO₂ emissions are considered (electricity, hydrogen and heat emissions are not considered here; see power sector for emissions from electricity generation). Year of full decarbonisation is based on carbon intenstiy threshold of 5gCO₂/MJ.
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Methodology
Data References
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