A Framework for Quantifying the Climate Co-Benefits of Development Programmes

Globally, worsening climate change is causing not only environmental crises, but social crises as well as it exacerbates existing social inequities. G20 governments, irrespective of the country’s level of development, are implementing various development programmes and safety net schemes to respond to these consequences of global warming. Often, these schemes yield unintended but significant benefits, including climate co-benefits, which are not widely monitored, quantified, or reported. The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, a think tank based in India, conducted an assessment of a rural development programme-Usharmukti in West Bengal-for the climate co-benefits of the natural resource management (NRM) activities provisioned through the programme. This study led to the conceptualisation of a framework that can guide quantification of the resilience, adaptation, and mitigation co-benefits of NRM-based development programmes. Operationalising this framework can help governments assess and showcase the climate co- benefits of NRM-based development programmes, thereby contributing to the achievement of climate targets and the SDGs.