Since its creation in 2002, the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Program has assisted more than 150 companies to develop and implement long-term climate change strategies. This includes developing a GHG inventory, an inventory management plan, and a GHG reduction target.

To replicate this successful model in India, WRI, U.S. EPA and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Green Business Center (GBC) are partnering together to replicate the Climate Leaders program there. Following the Annual Meeting of the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Program in Boulder, Colorado on Dec. 5, 2007, WRI organized the first program design meeting of the program partners at WRI’s offices in Washington, D.C. on December 9-11, 2007.

Following the program design framework provided by the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the GHG Protocol’s new publication, Measuring to Manage: A Guide to Designing GHG Accounting and Reporting Programs, and building on the EPA’s Climate Leaders’s program experience, the program partners identified and discussed key design, implementation, and communication questions and considerations.

WRI is working on synthesizing meeting discussions to draft a set of recommendations on program design addressing important questions, such as sectors and sources, geographical, operational, and organizational boundaries, and setting base year. CII-GBC is planning to launch the program during their annual Green Business Summit in New Delhi sometime in May.

Right: Members of the Confederation of Indian Industry, U.S. EPA Climate Leaders, and WRI met in Boulder, Co. on Dec. 5 to discuss the design of a new GHG program for India