Refugee camps as an opportunity for promoting alternative development strategies based on carbon credits

The difficult social issues faced by non-governmental organizations regarding planning, management, and evolution of the refugee camps led to evaluating alternative development strategies. Indeed, innovative technologies could be promoted for sustainably enhancing local economy. The present model suggests the exploitation of high-albedo materials to generate cool oases in hot climate contexts. The benefits derived by this proposal were investigated by simulating the application of high-albedo devices on shelters in Zaatari, then the avoided carbon emissions were quantified, and several scenarios were discussed. In the framework of the Emissions Trading System, the carbon credits, which can be obtained and sold by contributing to the global warming mitigation process, are estimated to be around 150,000 tons CO2-eq. Considering the market tendencies presented during the COP21 in Paris, the intervention is demonstrated to be sustainable in economic and environmental terms. The payback period is estimated in 3 years in the most reliable scenario. The work presents the main results of a wider research that also included consideration about the urban planning of the camps.