The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has provided a few flexibility mechanisms such as Joint Implementation, Emission Trading, Clean Develop-ment Mechanism and Bubbles, which encourage private sector investment and public-private partnerships in areas where there is a large potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These flexibility mechanisms will be supplemental to the efforts undertaken domestically by the industrialised countries. The purpose of these partnership projects is to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development and to assist developed country Parties in achieving compliance with their quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments.

The concept of sustainable development was first put forward by the International Union on Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, but the working definition was given by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 as "a development process that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of the future generations to meet their own needs". The concept of sustainable development is quite distinct from the concept of economic growth and accepts the limitations of economic indicators like GNP in measuring the true well-being of nations.

The critical components of sustainable development are population control, food security and energy supply. For India, poverty alleviation, economic and social development and environmental protection are the overriding sustainable development goals and priorities, as reflected in the Ninth Plan Document.

The Round Table was a part of the ‘Outreach’ programme of the Development Alternative’s activities under the Climate Change Outreach and Awareness (CCOA) project, funded by United States Agencies for International Development (USAID) and co-ordinated by Hagler Bailly Services Inc., USA. The Round Table was attended by more than 70 participants from business sectors (DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd., Ballarpur Industries Ltd., Thermax Ltd. etc.), non-governmental organisations and government representatives (Ministry of Environment and Forests, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources and Planning Commission), academia and others from foreign embassies and aid agencies.

The Round Table was chaired by Dr. Ashok Khosla, President, Development Alternatives. Dr. Khosla, in his welcome address, said the objective of the Round Table was to agree on a consensual path on India’s stand on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. The purpose of the Round Table was to provide substantial inputs to policy makers and the government to plan our action for the future in the international negotiations vis a vis climate change mitigation programmes. Dr. Khosla said that there were doubts about CDM but it was necessary to understand where India’s interests lay and how partnerships between India and developed countries could be forged.

Shri K. Roy Paul, Additional secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, in his keynote address, mentioned that climate change mitigation issues were not well defined. These needed to be debated at COP 5 and COP 6. He expressed the hope that focussed investment in energy efficiency improvement may usher in an era of large scale technological transformation. Mr. Jim Bever, Deputy Mission Director, USAID, mentioned in his inaugural address, that no country could afford to ignore the welfare of future generations, and climate change mitigation projects may prove to be a true driver for sustainable development of the developing countries.

There were twelve presentations in all, over the four different sessions of the Round Table. The presentations covered the various issues related to CCP projects. Session One discussed sustainable development issues related to CCP projects. Dr. K. Chatterjee, Development Alternatives, discussed about the sustainable development issues confronted by India and the Indian Industry. He also highlighted the need of sustainable development indicators and their integration in the CCP projects. Dr. Keith Kozloff of Hagler Bailly Services Inc., made a presentation on the process for developing, monitoring, and verifying sustainable development indicators and certifying sustainability in CCP projects. Dr. David Berry, Executive Director, President’s Council for Sustainable Development, USA elaborated upon the process of measuring sustainability of CCP projects.

In sessions Two and Three, various interesting case studies from different sectors of Indian industry and the perspectives of Indian industry to these issues were discussed. The sectors represented by these presentations were the energy efficient building material sector, biomass gasification, Demand Side Management (DSM), renewables, thermal power, transport etc.

The Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK), an energy efficient technology of brick making, offers opportunities for resource conservation, gives a cleaner environment and leads to sustainable development of the people. The biomass based gasifier also provides sustainable livelihoods to people by adding value to locally available resources. The power production and distribution system in India offers wide opportunities for investment through CCP projects. Efficiency improvement of the distribution system may lead to much less transmission and distribution losses. Similarly, on the production front, renewables may be encouraged so as to conserve the limited stock of fossil fuels.

Session Four was meant to discuss "UNFCCC Goals - Issues and Options". Hon. Kathleen A McGinty, senior visiting fellow, Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), discussed the issues related to carbon emission reductions. She, however, cautioned that if the transaction cost of CCP projects goes high, only large and centralised sectors will benefit from these fund flows. She, therefore, suggested that small projects may be bundled to reduce the transaction cost so that the smaller projects may be funded through these mechanisms. Dr. S. K. Chopra, Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow, discussed the energy, environment and climate change issues of the UNFCCC.

The last session of the Round Table was a panel discussion. The panelists were Mr. Richard L Edwards, USAID; Dr. David Berry, PCSD; Dr. Ajay Mathur, TERI; Prof. P. R. Shukla, IIM, Ahmedabad; Mr. Abhay Nalawade, Thermax Ltd; and Dr. S. K. Chopra. The session was chaired by Dr. Ashok Khosla. The panelists agreed that since CDM is yet to come into effect and is not clearly spelt out, a number of brain storming sessions are required to make the modalities clear. Mr. Richards L Edwards stressed on the methodology for designing the CCP projects and said that it should be simple so as to keep the transaction cost lower. Prof. Shukla presented the position of five developing countries, namely S. Africa, Brazil, India, Argentina and AOSIS, regarding the CCP projects. He mentioned that as of now, India prefers a bilateral understanding. India has yet to decide whether it should go in for sharing of CERs or not. Further, it does not want any kind of trade as far as CERs are concerned. The panelists again stressed on the point that CDM or any other kind of CCP projects should have market fairness and sustainability.