ecuador- cuenca

The Urban Pathways Implementation Tracker
is tracking the Projects Progress and delivers information on its four main outputs:

​INFORM, INSPIRE, INITIATE & IMPLEMENTATION

city profile: cuenca

Ecuador´s Nationally Determined Contributions: ​
Ecuador intends to reduce its energy related GHG emissions in 20-25% by 2025 relative to the emissions of 2011. With the support of the international community Ecuador estimates a reduction of up to 45,8%.

Population: 16,7 millions (2018)
Urban population growth: 2,3% between 2001 and 2010 (last census); 1,9% (estimate 2010-2020). Next census will be carried out in 2020
GDP: 98.613,97 million USD (2016)
Total Area: 256.370 km2

Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador with a population of 614,539. Cuenca has low emission rates and a very good performance in the provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity, waste collection and management, etc. It produces 2.42 tCO2-eqper capita (Ecuadorian average is 2.56 tCO2-eq). Cuenca aims at reducing its GHG emissions in at least 30% by 2050 in comparison to the levels of 2009. 

Energy: 99.6% of Cuenca’s inhabitants have access to electricity in their homes and consume 1,228.50 kWh per person per year.  The industrial and commercial sectors account for 43% of the total energy consumption. Moreover, 32% of the energy used comes from renewable sources, mainly from hydropower plants. To reduce its emissions in accordance to its reduction goal, Cuenca has to increase the share of renewable energy in its energy matrix, as well as to improve the energy efficiency, in particular in the industrial and commercial sectors. 
 
Transport: Cuenca faces challenges such as urban sprawl and decrease in the use of public transport. The latter has decreased 20%, going from 58% to 38% of the total trips. Accordingly, the transport sector generates 57% of the total GHG emissions of the city. To reverse the trend, Cuenca started the construction of its first Tramline, which is expected to begin operations at the end of 2018. However, the mobility and land use plans are not aligned. An articulation between the new tramline and the land use plan is necessary to densify the surrounding area and generate a polycentric structure.
 
Waste: Cuenca collects 98.6% of solid waste and disposes 100% of it in a municipal landfill, which possesses the environmental certification ISO 14001 and follows the guidelines of the US Environmental Protection Agency. The biogas generated in the landfill is turned into energy, generating 2 MW/h of electricity. Moreover, Cuenca is the first city in the country to have implemented a waste separation at source scheme.

factsheets on energy, transport and waste management

The factsheets provide a basic introduction to specific measures in the areas of energy, mobility and waste management, which aims to provide a basket of possible solutions to partner cities.

UP Factsheets

e-learning programme

E-learning programme builds on the toolbox and factsheets and aims to provide a better understanding of possible actions, highlighting the experiences from the implementation of measures in other cities building on the wealth of knowledge of international experts. ​

UP E-Learning

Action Tracker

The Urban Pathways Action Tracker provides an overview of the project’s activities in the cities and reflects on the various action areas. The main objective of this is to share learnings with other cities and identify opportunities for synergies with other projects and initiatives.

UP Action Tracker

Capacity building in Ecuador

Change Maker Programme

City-to-City Partnerships

Regional Replication

policy environment assessment

Summary Ecuador
In its Intended National Determined Contributions, Ecuador commits to reduce by 2025 its emissions in the energy sector in 20,4% - 25% below the 2011 levels. The government states that with the proper availability of resources and support from the international community, Ecuador could reduce its emissions in the sector in up to 45,8% (Ecuadorian Government, 2015).
According to the National GHG Inventory, in 2012 Ecuador produced 80.627 Gg CO2-eq, representing only 0,15% globally. Latin America generates 11% of the total GHG emissions. The sources of GHG emissions in Ecuador are, in order of importance, the energy sector (47%), Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) (25%), agriculture (18%), industry (5%) and waste (4%) (MAE, 2017). The energy sector produced 37.594,03 GgCO2-eq in 2012, which accounts for 47% of national emissions. Between 1994 and 2012 the GHG emissions of this sector increased in 151%.
Transport is the most pollutant subsector with 46% of the sector emissions and 21% of national emissions. It is followed by the energy industry with 32% (MAE, 2017).

Transport: 
The transport generated 16.977,02 GgCO2-eq in 2012 with an increase of 123% in relation to 1994.
86% of the energy is used by terrestrial transport, which runs mostly on fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel).
Almost 2 million vehicles were registered in 2015, which in comparison to 2010 represents an increase of 57%. 28% of the registered vehicles are older than 12 years (INEC, 2016).

Energy: 
The electricity generation emitted 12.032,44 GgCO2-eq in 2012.
In 2015 26.462 GWh of electricity were produced, from which 52% came from renewable sources, mainly from hydroelectric power plants, and the rest from thermoelectric power.
The contribution of other renewable sources was very low with approximately 2%, from which the majority comes from biomass (MAE, 2017).
However, the studies conducted by the national government to assess the generation potential of different renewable sources show that the solar energy potential in Ecuador is 911 MW and only 1MW is being produced, wind power potential is 884 MW, from which only 2,1% is being used and geothermal energy has a potential of 952 MW, which has not been exploited at all (MAE, UNDP, & FOCAM, 2015).

Waste management: 
The waste sector produced 3.377,83 GgCO2-eq in 2012, which accounts for 4% of national emissions.
More than 80% of which comes from solid waste. Between 1994 and 2012 the GHG emissions of the waste sector increased in 136%.
12.450 tonnes of solid waste were generated every day in 2016, from which 61% was organic waste, 11% plastic, 9% paper and 2,6% glass.
Solid waste management in Ecuador is a competence of the municipal authorities.   125 out of 221 municipalities (57%) dispose their solid waste in open-air land-fills, being responsible for the pollution of air, soil and water, as well as for the health problems of the population and in particular of informal waste pickers.

Policy Development

Project Development

Funding solutions

Implementation Facility

Action Plans

Bankable projects

Implementation support