The key development objective of the Learning and Innovation Loan is to support the Government in implementing its strategy for increasing access to electricity in rural and peri-urban and in promoting the adoption of Renewable Energy Technologies (RET). The project’s global environment objective is to remove barriers to application, implementation and dissemination of RET. Removal of barriers will make it attractive for the private sector to start investing in decentralized rural electrification schemes, and operate these on a fully commercial basis.

The main purpose of this project is to decrease harmful emissions of greenhouse gasses in ways that deliver economically competitive heat supplies to a major portion of Szombathely and competitively priced electricity to the grid. Additional project objectives are to strengthen rural employment and incomes through increased beneficial usage of wood; and to demonstrate the technical feasibility of wood-firing for district heating coupled with electric production using gas motors.

This project aims at developing and implementing a bioenergy technology package to reduce GHG emissions by up to 177 tons of C over the next 25 years, and to promote a sustainable and participatory approach to meeting rural energy needs. The project will be implemented mainly in two panchayats (a cluster of about 24 villages), of Tumkur district in Karnataka. The project goals will be achieved through (i). Demonstrating the technical feasibility and financial viability of bioenergy technologies on a significant scale, (ii).

The project will assist India in undertaking the enabling activities to prepare initial national communication to the Conference of Parties in accordance with UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and to build capacity to fulfil its commitments to the Convention on a continuing basis.

The project will introduce a solar thermal component of about 29 MW to a 271 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) with an expected cost of the former ranging from US$1,650/kW to US$2,000/kW. It will include associated training, capacity building and monitoring activities. A GEF grant of between US$39.19 to 49.35 million to cover incremental costs is expected to equalize the cost of electricity generation from the hybrid compared to the pure CCGT. The baseline investment costs for the hybrid will be borne by an Independent Power Producer (IPP).

This project constitutes the first GEF partnership with the Japan Overseas Cooperation Fund, which has been recently integrated into the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. It aims to assist local commercial partners in their efforts to reduce annual GHG emissions in the order of up to 4 million tons of carbon equivalent annually over the medium term by accelerating the growth of biomass co-generation and power generation technologies to replace current fossil fuel consumption in Thailand.

The overall objective of the project is to deliver a comprehensive regionally based assessment of the damage and threats posed by persistent toxic substances, and to evaluate and agree the priorities between chemical related environmental issues at the regional level in order to focus subsequent interventions on the most important and pressing issues.

Objectives: Assistance to sectors representing the bulk of the ODS consumption; Technical assistance at the institutional level; Phase-out priority in the Refrigeration Sector. Goal and Rational: To assist Tajikistan in the rapid phase-out of ODS consistent with international efforts in this direction; To enable the phase out of 91 MT of annual ODS consumption required for compliance with MP control provisions.

The goal of this project is to conserve the biodiversity and natural habitats of Laguna de Tigre national Par and Biotopo, the largest core zone in Guatemala’s protected areas system. This goal coincides with that of the Guatemalan government, as articulated in the 1999-2003 Master Plan for the Laguna de Tigre Management Unit (CONAP 1998).

The objective of the project is to identify and evaluate the ecological costs and benefits of different farming practices/management strategies; to devleop and compare ecological economic models for farming strategies; and to evaluate the role of conservation farming as part of national and regional strategies to conserve biological diversity.