The Context
Climate Change is emerging as one of the major threats affecting the global environment. From the time that ‘global warming’, or the greenhouse effect began to be recognised as an issue, to the present day where a huge proportion of the scientific world is actively involved in this field, climate change has come to be recognised as a serious issue. In fact, there is a whole slew of organisations, ranging from Government departments to consultancy ‘shops’ that are gearing up to the needs of the climate change regime, if one can call it so.

The basic driver that mobilises the whole process is the importance of mitigating climate change, and the costs associated with the whole business of it. At one end, this translates into the promotion of climate change mitigation projects, either by the developed world, or by the developing world, or through a collaboration of the two, (in the nature of projects that can be developed under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC). At the other end, there is a whole gamut of activities under the umbrella of preparing strategies for successful community-led action to adapt to adverse conditions created by climatic change. A third front deals with preparing an enabling environment globally, in terms of policy prescriptions, to address climate change. Across all the three activities, the broad groups of institutional services required to address the issue are:

qThe supreme global body (like CDM Executive Board), that approves climate change mitigation projects and certifies emission reduction and looks after the global negotiations on climate change.

q Designated Focal Points in developed as well as developing countries that would issue a ‘letter of acceptance’ for all projects that seek to earn emission reduction "credits" and / or assist in the building up of national policy on climate change.

q Monitoring, Verification and Certifying agencies that would conduct periodic M&V of the projects, and would need a license for operating in the specific field of climate change.

q Trading and facilitating agencies that would facilitate as brokers in bringing the host and investing entities together, and assist individual project developers in preparing a climate change project.

q Institutions, such as stock exchanges, where entities may buy or sell carbon emission rights globally, and insurance agencies, to provide cover for the immense risks that are presently associated both with carbon as a commodity and with the future status of all CDM-type climate change mitigation projects.

The Centre at Development Alternatives
The Climate Change Outreach and Facilitation Centre (the Centre) at Development Alternatives is arguably the first of its kind in the country, and exemplifies the vision and dedication of Development Alternatives to promote sustainable development in all directions. The Centre has evolved rather than grown over a period of time, and its conceptualisation, concretisation and final implementation runs parallel to the emergence of climate change as a major threat to the global ecological balance.

Broadly speaking, the evolution of the Centre can be traced into three phases, beginning from 1995. Prior to 1995, Development Alternatives was essentially working on the science of climate change issues focusing on understanding impacts of climate change on various activities in society and attempting to evolve appropriate response strategies.

Phase I - Initiation - January 1995 to December 1998: The idea of a CCOFC was born with the first Joint Implementation Conference organised by Development Alternatives in January 1995. Activities to establish a CCOFC was initiated.

Phase II - Pilot - January 1999 to May 2000: The CCOFC was formally set up in 1999 through the Climate Change Outreach and Awareness project. The project has allowed for a test-run of the CCOFC before it can be meaningfully established with clear priorities.

Phase III - Establishment - June 2000 to May 2004: With the experience during Phase I and II, this phase will focus on establishing an efficient and market oriented CCOFC. This phase coincides with the stage in the global scenario, where the stress shifts from policy advocacy to actual demonstration of action on the field in terms of projects.

Client Segments
Two broad client segments have been identified by the Development Alternatives CCOFC :

q Sections that have the capacity and willingness to pay for services that they require - primarily large and medium business sector adapting their business to climate change concerns.
q Sections that do not possess the resources to pay for the services provided to them - farming communities, small entrepreneurs and other similar stakeholders in society adapting to climate change concerns.

While the latter will pay for a small part of expenses incurred on them, the balance will be partially cross subsidised through surpluses from the former and support from public funds, both national and international.

Activities of the Centre during the Pilot Phase
The activities of the Centre in the pilot phase can be classified into the following heads:

Research: Development Alternatives took up research on various aspects involved in the design and implementation of climate change mitigation projects. In particular, the research assessed the potential of such projects to promote sustainable development in developing countries. A training module on how to do the same was also prepared and field tested in the pilot phase. The training modules seek to incorporate a) corporate awareness on how sustainable business practices may improve bottomlines for businesses; b) techniques for assessment of a firm’s progress towards more sustainable forms of business, and c) the possible action that the firm may be able to take up.

Outreach: A number of workshops and roundtables were organised in different parts of the country to raise awareness about these issues among the stakeholders. These events provided an opportunity to bring various stakeholders on a common platform and share their concerns.

Facilitation: As a facilitating unit, the Centre promoted projects that had the potential for climate change mitigation, and sought financial support from global climate change funds.

Challenges Ahead
In the years to come, the Centre will have to develop into a resource centre on climate change. It should be able to assist the stakeholders globally on how to either mitigate, build up strategies that reduce the vulnerability of a region to climate change impacts, or adapt to climate change, by providing information on any issue related to climate change. In particular, the Centre has to provide project proponents a package of customised services with regard to promoting, developing and implementing a climate change mitigation project. To achieve this end, the Centre would need to undertake research on various climate change issues. In the long run, the Centre hopes to provide the necessary institutional support to local and global efforts to create an enabling environment for the promotion of activities that seek to mitigate climate change. q