Expression of Interest For Assessing Results-Based Financing Framework For Methane Reduction In Indias Value Chains

Expression of Interest for Assessing Results-Based Financing Framework for Methane Reduction in Indias Value Chains The Global Methane Reduction Platform for Development (CH4D): The Global Methane Reduction Platform for Development (CH4D) is a global partnership program under the World Banks Climate Support Facility (CSF), launched to accelerate methane reduction across key sectors including agriculture, waste, and energy. CSF is an umbrella multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Banks Climate Change Group (CCG). CH4D supports World Banks operations teams with: Upstream knowledge, including emissions assessments, methodologies, and roadmaps Downstream technical assistance and grant funding to integrate methane reduction into projects and investments The platform adopts a triple win approach, aiming to: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the near term Enhance environmental resilience Improve livelihoods and economic opportunities for vulnerable populations CH4D is supporting the World Bank Group to identify and scale practical methane reduction opportunities in the agriculture sector. This includes assessing methane reduction opportunities across agricultural value chains, strengthening systems for measuring, reporting, and verifying climate outcomes, and supporting financial institutions (FIs) in developing financing solutions that can accelerate the adoption of methane-reducing technologies and practices. Context: Agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in India, with methane emissions from rice cultivation and dairy production accounting for a significant share. At the same time, agriculture remains central to food security, rural livelihoods, and economic development. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas responsible for approximately one-third of global warming and is over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Reducing methane emissions presents one of the fastest and most cost-effective opportunities to slow global warming. The transformation of agriculture sector towards sustainability and resilience is extremely crucial given its vulnerability to climate change as well as its central role in national development and food security. Among agricultural sources of methane emissions, rice cultivation and dairy production represent priority subsectors due to their economic importance, contribution to rural livelihoods, methane reduction potential, increasing availability of climate-smart technologies, and robust methodologies for measuring and monitoring emissions reductions. These characteristics make them suitable entry points for developing and piloting scalable methane reduction and financing solutions that can subsequently be adapted to other agricultural subsectors. Being a cornerstone institution in Indias agricultural and rural development finance landscape, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) play a pivotal role in mobilizing investment and financial resources from commercial banks and other sources towards sustainable agriculture practices. In this regard, NABARD has already developed a draft green taxonomy together with high-level screening criteria and a carbon estimation tool, which provides the conceptual foundation for identifying and classifying sustainable agricultural investments. However, there remains a need to translate these frameworks into operational financial products and systems that can: Enable FIs to finance climate-smart practices Support adoption of methane-reducing technologies Generate measurable environmental outcomes Facilitate participation in carbon markets World Bank Group Engagement: The World Bank Group is supporting efforts to strengthen sustainable agricultural finance and accelerate climate action across agricultural value chains in India. This includes supporting public and private sector stakeholders to identify scalable opportunities for methane reduction, strengthen measurement and reporting systems, and develop financing mechanisms that can incentivize the adoption of climate-smart practices. The assignment is also aligned with the World Bank Groups broader AgriConnect initiative, which seeks to transform agriculture into a more productive, resilient, and job-creating sector through stronger value chains, increased private sector participation, and enhanced access to finance. Within this broader agenda, methane reduction represents an opportunity to simultaneously improve environmental outcomes, strengthen resilience, and create new economic opportunities for farmers and agribusinesses. The assignment will be jointly supported by teams from the IBRD and the IFC. Purpose of the Assignment: The World Bank Group seeks to support the development and operationalization of results-based financing approaches for methane reduction in rice and dairy value chains in India. The assignment will combine technical assessments of methane mitigation opportunities, measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems, and financing mechanisms into an integrated framework that can be adopted and scaled by FIs. The assignment will identify priority methane-reducing technologies and practices, assess investment needs and financing opportunities, develop approaches for measuring and verifying outcomes, and design results-based financing structures that incentivize the adoption of climate-smart interventions. It will also assess opportunities to leverage carbon markets and other climate finance mechanisms to enhance the financial viability and scalability of methane reduction investments. The resulting framework is expected to support NABARD and participating FIs in expanding sustainable agriculture finance, mobilizing investment towards methane-reducing activities, and generating measurable environmental, resilience, and rural development outcomes. 2. About the Assignment This assignment aims to support the development and operationalization of methane reduction opportunities in rice and dairy value chains in India by integrating methane mitigation, climate-smart agriculture, MRV systems, and results-based financing approaches into a unified framework that can be adopted by FIs. The assignment will build on NABARDs green taxonomy and related tools and support their operationalization in collaboration with NABARD and partner FIs. Rice and dairy value chains have been prioritized due to their importance for livelihoods, contribution to agricultural methane emissions, potential for emissions reduction, and increasing readiness for climate-smart interventions and carbon market engagement. The assignment will identify practical and scalable solutions that generate environmental, economic, and resilience benefits while creating pathways for wider adoption through FIs. Specifically, the assignment will: · Assess methane emission hotspots and inefficiencies across rice and dairy value chains · Review and evaluate technologies and practices that reduce emissions and enhance productivity · Assess adoption barriers, enabling factors, and implementation requirements · Identify and assess financing needs, financing gaps, and opportunities for scaling investments in methane-reducing technologies and practices through FIs · Develop financing pathways and products tailored to different stakeholders · Operationalize results-based financing instruments by developing results-based lending products that incentivize the adoption of climate smart practices by farmers and create pathways for portfolio-level carbon credit generation. · Develop MRV frameworks to measure and verify outcomes · Identify steps needed for banks to generate carbon credits from identified sustainability investments both for international carbon markets as well as for the proposed Indian domestic carbon market under development. · Develop recommendations and implementation roadmaps for NABARD and participating FIs to integrate methane reduction considerations into financing programs, sustainable agriculture portfolios, and climate finance initiatives. 3. Scope of Work The consultant/firm will undertake a comprehensive and integrated set of activities as described below. 3.1 Sector Overview, Value Chain Mapping and Stakeholder Segmentation: The consultant will develop a summary brief of the sectors, giving an overview of the rice and dairy sectors in India, including their production systems, geographic distribution, and economic significance. This will include benchmarking against global peers and analyzing contributions to gross domestic product (GDP), employment, and food security. The overview will also map the full value chains for rice and dairy, covering production, aggregation, processing, distribution, and end markets. This overview should identify key actors, flows of goods and services, and structural inefficiencies. Stakeholders will be segmented based on scale, geography, and operational characteristics. The consultant will also analyze gender roles and disparities and identify priority geographies and clusters for intervention. 3.2 Methane Emissions Assessment: The consultant will summarize available information with sources for key drivers of methane emissions, including water management practices (rice), feed quality and enteric fermentation (dairy), and manure management systems, to inform targeted intervention strategies. The consultant will assess resource inefficiencies and operational practices contributing to higher emissions intensity across different value chain segments. In addition, the consultant will define scope, categorization of activities and priorities for engagement in rice and dairy sector. Activities will be prioritized based on the prevalence of the respective activities in India, market readiness, potential in increasing fa Tender Link : https://wbgeprocure-rfxnow.worldbank.org/rfxnow/public/advertisement/7274/view.html