81292203-Consultancy for development of climate co-benefit methodologies of Indian circular economy and forest programmes

Description

The Indo-German support project for Climate Action in India supports the Indian Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) with the coordination and implementation of Indian climate and biodiversity policies, in particular India"s updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The project focuses on the development of methodologies for the accounting of climate co-benefits, measured in mitigation of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions or sinks, for programmes of the Government of India that do not have a specific climate focus. Climate Co-Benefits refer to programs or actions that do not have a climate focus but target other areas, e.g., programs dedicated primarily to support resource efficiency, forest policies, agriculture, water security, the job market, etc. These programs do not assess and account their potential climate co-benefits contributing to climate change mitigation or climate change adaptation. The unmeasured climate impact has therefore no influence on the economic efficiency of a measure and private actors are not expected to take it into account. As a result, there is a lack of information that jeopardizes the fulfilment of the Indian NDCs and makes reporting under the UNFCCC inaccurate. The development of methodologies to account climate co-benefits aims to address the knowledge gap, so that mitigation and adaptation impacts can be reported to support India"s NDC commitments and the Paris Agreement. At the same time, climate co-benefit methodologies can be used by public and private sector companies for accounting and trading of positive climate impacts of their activities on international and national carbon markets, thus accelerating investments in low carbon pathways. Aligned to priorities of the MoEFCC, project activities focus on the two areas circular economy/resource efficiency and forests/biodiversity. In particular, the project is aiming on intense support for public and private sector enterprises including the umbrella organisation Standing Committee of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). The SCOPE members include giant state enterprises for coal, gas, steel, oil and are responsible for 87% of India"s GHG emissions and thus, have huge mitigation potentials. Lot 1: Work and services to be provided: This assignment aims at assessing India"s circular economy and forest policies, initiatives, programmes etc. from the lens of the climate co-benefits they generate and develop methodologies to quantify these climate co-benefits. The methodologies are targeted to be utilised by government bodies, Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) and private sector organizations for accounting of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation impacts of activities that do not have a climate focus and are not accounted for. This shall support the fulfilment of the Indian Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) as well as reporting to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and at the same time facilitate investments of public and private companies in low carbon technologies e. g. through internal carbon pricing and/or trading mitigation effects on carbon markets. The contractor is responsible for the development of assessment frameworks and piloting methodologies for measuring climate co-benefits in the focus areas of circular economy (CE) and forestry. Based on that, the contractor shall develop roadmaps for using climate co-benefit methodologies for impacts of national schemes and programmes, including sector guidelines on how to calculate climate co-benefits. Finally, the contractor is responsible for conceptualizing training measures for climate action and climate co-benefit approaches in the focus areas. The service consists of 9 work packages (WP): WP 1: Inception & Workplan WP 1 includes the preparation of a detailed workplan for the entire assignment. WP 2 & WP 3: Development of an assessment framework for climate co-benefits with a focus on circular economy (WP 2) and a focus on Forestry (WP 3) Work packages include: - Definition of the climate co-benefits approach for both focus areas - Preparing scoping studies on each focus area, including literature review/studies on initiatives of PSEs, the private sector, and the government of India - Consultations and Focus Group Discussions with relevant political and private sector actors - Preparation and finalisation of an assessment framework for assessing climate co-benefits in each focus area - Support GIZ in adoption of the assessment framework by MoEFCC. WP 4 & WP 5: Develop and pilot a climate co-benefit methodology, one each in the focus areas of circular economy (WP 4) and forestry (WP 5) Work packages include: - Scoping studies of existing methodologies for both focus areas on assessing climate co-benefit potentials for reporting under UNFCCC GHG mitigation reporting - Consultations with relevant national, international agencies, private sector players - Identification of key characteristics of the methodologies to be developed based on the baselines and key conclusions from the assessment framework and on the project objectives - Identification of data sources - Developing new modelling approaches or reconfiguration of existing methodologies relevant to the initiatives and policies in the focus areas - Development and finalisation of a methodology, one each for the focus areas to assess climate co-benefits - Showcasing the relevance of the final methodology for quantifying climate co-benefits of at least one policy/initiative/programme in each focus area - Conduct Stakeholder meetings to promote potentials to quantify climate co-benefits for existing production lines and new investments in low carbon products, including the use of internal carbon pricing and trading on carbon markets - Piloting of the methodologies in at least one policy/programme to be selected by MoEFCC in each focus area WP 6 & WP 7: Develop roadmaps for using climate co-benefit methodologies for impacts of national schemes and programmes in the focus area of CE (WP 6) and Forestry (WP 7) including sector guidelines on how to calculate climate co-benefits Work packages include - Consultations with project partners to identify key government institutions, PSEs and private sector entities to apply and institutionalise the developed methodology for climate co-benefits in both focus areas - Development and finalisation of draft roadmaps including draft sector guidelines on how to calculate climate co-benefits for selected schemes / initiatives / policies / programmes in each focus area and preparation of presentation for consultation with MoEFCC - Supporting adoption and institutionalising the roadmap and sector guideline in the selected government institutions, PSEs and private sector organizations - Identifying avenues for integrating the approaches developed in the Biennial Transparency Report reporting mechanism of UNFCCC WP 8 & WP 9: Conceptualizing training measures for climate action and climate co-benefit approaches in the focus areas of CE (WP 8) and Forestry (WP 9), including topics like potentials of carbon markets and pricing for mitigation action Work packages include - Analysis of existing national trainings for PSEs and private sector companies/SMEs on climate action and co-benefit approaches in both focus areas - Developing a questionnaire for training needs assessment of relevant stakeholders in both focus areas - Developing of draft training modules for both focus areas in consultation with relevant stakeholders - Finalising training modules and conduct regional training programs for all relevant stakeholders - Digitalisation of training modules into online self-paced Massive Open Online courses and integration on relevant portals in consultation with stakeholders. The assignment involves the provision of an international team leader, two international experts, one in the field of Climate Change mitigation and one in the field of Sustainability, two national experts, one with expertise in the field of Circular Economy and one in the field of Forestry, and four national junior-experts, two with expertise in the field of Circular Economy and two in the field of Forestry.