Clean technology initiative (CTI) : final report

(IRG) on the Clean Technology Initiative (CTI) in India (1997-99), designed to increase reduce industrial pollution. CTI has directly introduced substantial changes. These include: (1) a systematic system for environmental benchmarking for industry application; (2) a first-ever prototype green supply chain management (GSCM) system; (3) two industrial extension services launched on the CTI website; (4) a concessional finance system in place and two firms in application pipeline; (5) clean technology partnerships with eight Indian industry associations and close working relationships with 31 business organizations; and (6) strong Indian industry interest in establishing a Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) in India. In addition, during this time there was a four-fold increase in the number of firms certified under ISO 14001. While CTI itself cannot take credit for the newly certified firms, the change and trend are significant, and CTI"s outreach efforts have clearly contributed to the ongoing upsurge in ISO 14000 interest and understanding. Other accomplishments are significant, though difficult to quantify. Most notable is an understanding within the nine participating industrial sectors of the business reasons for improving environmental performance. The global tools of ISO 14000, GSCM, environmental performance benchmarking, and Internet industrial extension, are being increasingly used and knowledge about them spread by Indian industry. As a result, traditional regulatory controls have now been augmented by private voluntary activities, and in the future government environmental policy can build on the new opportunities presented by market-based incentives in India. CTI is unique within the Global Bureau"s Environmental policy and institutional strengthening (EPIQ) program. The experience gained over the past 2 years in India strongly supports its emulation elsewhere as a project focused on voluntary enhancement of industrial environmental performance that can complement regulatory approaches. Where regulation and enforcement are weak, as in India, CTI"s emphasis on "the business case" for applying clean technology and environmental management systems in India has been shown to be highly effective. Yet CTI"s efforts are minuscule in comparison with the size of India"s industrial sector and the environmental and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction requirements. CTI has provided tools and experiences, but its success will depend on a vigorous outreach program to demonstrate successes and spread their effect. Much will depend on the strength of globalization in India and the positive impact of buyer and consumer concerns about industrial environmental performance. Indian policymakers can be expected to take new interest in market-based policy tools to complement and reshape their regulatory approaches and perhaps to reevaluate economic policies that still discourage market forces to work for environmental improvement. IRG"s experience over the past 2 years, and best estimates of the future, suggest that the global pressures favoring market-based policies within the private sector and the public sector will increase and that CTI, upon its completion, will leave a legacy of which USAID/India can be immensely proud.