The project takes a regional approach to increase capacity for meeting UN Framework Convention on Climate Change objectives, focusing initially on the Maghreb countries. Identifies and strengthens capacities of selected regional and sub-regional organizations, develops indigenous capacity to independently identify cost-effective greenhouse gas strategies, seeks to leverage private sector investments, and builds on national programmes to develop data of GHG sources and sinks.

Project develops national master plan for generation and utilization of bioenergy, creates commercially viable packages for replication, and promotes and disseminates technology for high-rate biomethanation. Project will introduce, demonstrate, and standardize a wide variety of cost-effective technologies.

The project will work to establish a successful replicable, widely-used mechanism for sustainable diffusion and support of small-scale decentralized wind electric power generation units as a form of pre-electrification to support investments in social and economic development in rural and semi-rural Mauritania.

Project targets two mining facilities to start up energy service sub-companies, whose profits are tied to the level of energy savings they help clients realize. Project also conducts detailed feasibility study to evaluate economic and technical aspects to biomass to methanol demonstration plant in Chile.

The project will enable Guinea to meet its reporting obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Project expands rural use of photovoltaics (PV) while assessing the technology and approaches to its promotion, providing a model for other African countries’ efforts at off-grid electrification. Includes efforts to develop indigenous PV businesses, cooperation with national utility, and analysis of national policies including import duties.

Project launches a systematic inventory of Africa's greenhouse gas sources and sinks, develops Africa's indigenous capacity to carry out studies and projects, identifies carbon offset projects in energy and forestry sectors, and seeks to procure private sector resources for some of these initiatives. Small set of pre-proposals developed through project will be selected for final documentation in each country where project operates: Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Mali.

In West Africa, operating large buildings accounts for 25 to 30% of the total consumption of electricity, most of which is generated by thermal power plants causing the emission of greenhouse gases, which are added to emissions from the other local or global sources.

Carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation in region where drought and overgrazing have had drastic effects. Project develops and implements community-based land use and range management master plans, revegetates economically-sensitive areas, and tests several new techniques to rehabilitate rangeland.

START is a system of regional research networks being developed by scientific organizations to build capacity in the climate change field, collect and analyze regional data, and incorporate this data into global modeling efforts. This project focuses on Southeast Asia and Northern Africa as pilot regions for developing region-specific methodologies, establishing regional networks for global change research, and laying the foundation for regional research centres.