Background
India is currently the world’s sixth largest and second fastest growing source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. India’s GHG emissions have increased by 39% in five years against that of USA of 6.5% over the same period. With the population crossing the one billion mark, the rate of growth of the usage of energy and other resources is likely to be high.

The single largest source of CO2 emissions in India is coal-fired power plants, which constitute majority of electricity supply resources. New coal-fired power generation facilities are being added at an increasing rate to meet the existing deficit and growing demand but shortages in power supply continue to exist and it continues to be a major bottleneck to industrial and economic growth. In addition, increasing urbanization, uneven industrial growth and unplanned growth of the cities have imposed tremendous pressure on urban waste management and transport.

In view of the above, it is imperative to ensure that India follows a growth path with minimal pollution, which would lead to a Sustainable and Cleaner development. This could be carried out through technology transfer and financing industrial, utility and urban development projects that help in mitigating the GHG emissions in the long run. Further, a mechanism that would help in building the capacity of the institutions in various fields in India is also essential. This capacity building would include technical assistance, training, awareness creation workshops/roundtable interaction meets/conferences, sharing of experience through exchange visits and joint applied research on issues of importance to India. GEP-CCS is one such project that would enable in capacity building and institutional strengthening.

GEP was launched in 1995 to reduce the volume of emissions of greenhouse gases by increasing efficient coal utilization options and encouraging efficient use of biomass fuels in power generation. The coal fired power stations of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) account for almost 20% of power generation in India and the GEP projects were implemented at three selected plants to increase efficiency. Further, with the assistance of Industrial Development Bank of India, investments were made in selected sugar plants for year-round cogeneration of power, using biomass as fuel.

The GEP Project’s Climate Change Supplement (GEP-CCS) was launched in September 1999. GEP-CCS expanded the ongoing efficient coal conversion activities as the " Efficient Power Generation" (implemented with NTPC) and added two new components "Fostering Climate Change Initiatives for Sustainable Development" and "Linking Urban Development and Climate Change". The new set of activities under GEP-CCS will increase technical cooperation with U.S. and build local institutional capacity to design and implement projects that reduce GHG emissions from energy activities and fulfill the sustainable development objectives simultaneously. The Louis Berger Group, Inc. (LBG) is implementing the new components described below through technical assistance and training support to Indian partners.

A. Climate Change Initiatives for Sustainable Development
This component will build local capacity and create opportunities for greater dialogue and cooperation between the U.S. and Indian government and private stakeholders. The activities under this component will:

q Develop human and institutional capacity to design and implement policies and projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions;

q Promote technical cooperation between U.S. and Indian entities to reduce greenhouse emissions growth rate in India;

q Strengthen efforts to attract and channel private financing into clean energy technology;

q Create public-private partnerships for greenhouse gas emission reduction; and

q Collaborate closely with other bilateral, multilateral and private funds to leverage a larger pool of resources for project implementation.

B. Linking Urban Development and Climate Change
The activities under this component will facilitate conversion of a targeted number of vehicles to a cleaner technology in a commercially sustainable way and build local capacity in cities for methane capture from solid wastes and use it as energy source.

C. Major Components of GEP-CCS
USAID/GEP’s Climate Change Initiatives for Sustainable Development will:

q Build Institutional Capacity of Confederation of Indian Industry’s Climate Change Center and of Development Alternative’s Climate Change Outreach and Facilitation Center to increase awareness among their constituents and facilitate partnership between Indian and U.S. industry on financial and technology cooperation in projects in power, transportation, and energy efficiency areas and in decentralized energy projects for rural development that lead to GHG emissions reduction.

q Collaborate with the Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration for workshops and in-service training programs on issues related to sustainable energy management and its linkages with GHG emission reduction, public administration, economics and management issues.

q Increase Financial Sector Capacity for appraising GHG emission reduction projects and develop financial and risk appraisal tools. Bankers and financiers of repute from the U.S. will collaborate with Indian counterparts to train around 120 Indian financial sector officials to become trainers for their respective organizations.

q Provide support to Climate Change Centers to identify, screen and develop a portfolio of bankable projects to leverage financing from domestic and international funding sources. A pilot project would be undertaken to demonstrate the entire process for the GHG mitigation project development. LBG will provide specialist support to set in process the project cycle for a typical GHG emission reduction project. LBG will also design a Project Tracking System based on internationally accepted software tools suitable for Indian economic situation.

q Provide technical assistance to link project development with commissioned applied research on climate change issues related to sustainable energy development. LBG will help create partnership between key U.S. and Indian institutions on selected research topics of crucial importance to both the countries.

q Collaborate with "champions" from Indian industry, government, academia and NGOs to organize Policy Round Tables for dialogue on global climate change issues particularly as they relate to clean energy development in India.

q Conduct five study tours of selected Indian stakeholders to US and eight senior level policy exchanges between US and Indian individuals. These exchanges will lead to increased cooperation in formulation of a cohesive policy on GHG emission reduction issues.

q Conduct an assessment of current vehicle technology with the focus on reducing emission levels. Different solutions such as switching to cleaner fuels, advanced technologies, inter-modal shifts in transport for the cities would be assessed. A pilot project would be designed in a representative city to demonstrate GHG reduction through a combination of improved technology and more efficient traffic management.

qProvide training to five municipal authorities on methane collection, harnessing and use. LBG will also design a pilot project to demonstrate advanced technology for methane capture from the urban wastes and use as clean energy source. q

The Louis Berger Group Inc.
Global Environment Team
C- 6/7, Safdarjung Development Area
New Delhi 110 016
Tel : +91 11 653 2024, 25, 26
Fax : +91 11 651 8807
E-mail : getgepin@del3.vsnl.net.in