United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had initiated a programme on Climate Change Outreach and Awareness in India. As a part of the programme, Hagler Bailly Services Inc., Washington DC, the international coordinator, organised a tour of a small Indian delegation to Brazil during May 8th to 13th. The delegation consisted of senior officials and experts from the Govt. of India, business sector, financial institutions and non-government organisations. Development Alternatives, being part of the programme, was represented by Dr. Vivek Kumar in this tour, whose report is presented here.
 
Objective
The purpose of the tour was to share information on climate change initiatives being taken up in India and Brazil. The meetings were aimed to examine critical components that support the Brazilian climate change programme: policy development and implementation, programmatic issues, infrastructure development, institutional structures, project financing and partnerships. The delegation met and exchanged views with experts in the government, industry, financial institutions, academia and a few NGOs.
 
Why Brazil?
The reason behind selecting Brazil for the tour was the fact that Brazil is widely recognised as a leader among non-Annex I (developing) countries for various initiatives taken during the formulation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, particularly the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). In fact, the origin of the concept of CDM is attributed to Brazil. As the 16th largest contributor of GHGs in the world and with a population of 165 million people, Brazil (like India) is a vital participant in any international agreement on climate change and an important member of the G-77 and China.
 
Brazilian Initiatives
Brazil has a strong history in promoting renewables and energy efficiency and has developed several highly successful programmes to combat the GHG and energy-related problems facing its mega-cities. Energy, industry and transport are the critical sectors being addressed for controlling carbon emissions through development policies. Brazil’s comparative success in controlling the intensity of GHG emissions is partly a result of policy choices regarding industrial structures, energy efficiency investments and energy supply.
 
The government of Brazil has adopted a number of policies for economic and environmental reasons but the reforms and programmes have had the effect of reducing the carbon intensity. These initiatives have become critical and provide important lessons in terms of developing climate change mitigation projects.
 
The Indian delegation visited offices of Mines and Energy, Science and Technology, USAID, a few research institutes involved in energy efficiency programmes, (including the University of Rio de Janeiro), a few NGOs and some financial institutions. The delegation had the privilege to meet a few legendary personalities in the CDM arena like Dr. Gylvan Meira and Prof. Goldemberg.
 
Brazil has introduced a number of programmes for energy efficiency and energy conservation as revealed from the discussions. Private sector in Brazil takes a pro-active role in making these programmes a success. Awareness about climate change and its mitigation mechanisms are widespread among different sections of the society – the industry, the government, academia and the NGOs. Also, there is an adequate involvement of all these parties in the decision making process. Brazil has identified a number of areas where climate change mitigation projects may be taken up and is going ahead with a few ‘early CDM’ projects.
 
To meet the financial requirements of energy efficiency programmes, Brazil has proposed to collect one percent of the revenue generated by different distribution utilities. Though only one percent, the pool amounts to nearly 200 million USD. Fifty per cent of this fund has been proposed to be devoted for research and development programmes.
 
Brazil has set up an Inter-ministerial Commission to look into the programme and policy issues of climate change mitigation. The Commission is headed by the Department of Science and Technology. Other constituents of the Commission are Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Ministry of External Affairs, and other relevant ministries.
 
A major point of concern for Brazil is that hydropower constitutes about 95% of total power production. Because of a large percentage of power coming from hydro, Brazil does not have much scope for carbon reduction in the power sector except aiming at improved energy efficiency. In this context, the country has proposed afforestation programmes to be considered as a CDM project. However, the energy companies in the country do not appreciate this idea very much.
 
Lessons Learned
The Brazilian experience has provided us the following lessons:

n An institutional arrangement like an Inter-ministerial Commission on climate change in Brazil may be set up in India. Such an institution would certainly empower and speed up the process of decision making

n Involvement of national environmental NGOs and business associations would bring forward the perspectives of the society and industry and strengthen the decision making process.

n The process of CDM project development should be made extremely simple.

n A portfolio of potential CDM projects should be prepared. A few projects may be implemented as "early CDM" projects so as to understand the process.

n Innovative ways of taking up climate change mitigation / energy efficiency improvement programmes should be encouraged.