Outcome Evaluation of U.S. Department of State Support for the Global Methane Initiative

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TECHNICAL REPORT Outcome Evaluation of U.S. Department of State Support for the Global Methane Initiative Nicholas Burger • Noreen Clancy • Yashodhara Rana • Rena Rudavsky Aimee E. Curtright • Francisco Perez-Arce • Joanne K. Yoong Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Environment, Energy, and Economic Development Program This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and was conducted in the Environment, Energy, and Economic Development Program within RAND Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment, a division of the RAND Corporation. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Burger, Nicholas. Outcome evaluation of U.S. Department of State support for the Global Methane Initiative / Nicholas Burger, Noreen Clancy, Yashodhara Rana, Rena Rudavsky, Aimee E. Curtright, Francisco Perez-Arce, Joanne K. Yoong. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8330-7672-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Greenhouse gas mitigation—Government policy—United States. 2. Greenhouse gas mitigation—United States—Evaluation. 3. Methane—Environmental aspects. 4. United States. Dept. of State—Evaluation. I. Title. TD885.5.G73B87 2013 363.738`7460973—dc23 2013000708 The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R® is a registered trademark. © Copyright 2013 RAND Corporation Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND documents to a non-RAND website is prohibited. RAND documents are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND permissions page (http://www.rand.org/publications/ permissions.html). Published 2013 by the RAND Corporation 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2665 RAND URL: http://www.rand.org To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Email: order@rand.org Preface Methane emissions account for approximately one-third of anthropogenic climate forcing, or the heat-trapping effect of greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing methane emissions has increas-ingly become a goal for governments concerned about climate change. Because of the value of methane as a fuel (it is the main component of natural gas), consumers and producers have been interested in both the economic value and the environmental benefits of reducing meth-ane emissions. This report evaluates U.S. Department of State (DoS) support for the Global Methane Initiative (GMI). GMI is an international partnership program that promotes cost-effective methane recovery and use by supporting public- and private-sector emissions reduc-tion efforts. DoS—specifically, its Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) and Ofice of Global Change (EGC)—has supplied funding to GMI totaling $27 million between fiscal years 2006 and 2010 and requested an evaluation of the activities and outcomes that it supported in whole or in part during that period. The evaluation used quantitative and qualitative methods to describe and assess the effect of DoS support for GMI’s methane reduction efforts. We also provide recommendations for the program and future evaluation efforts. Although the primary audience for this report is OES/EGC staff, the results should also be of interest to policymakers and stakeholders who are interested in voluntary actions by the public and private sectors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The RAND Environment, Energy, and Economic Development Program This research was conducted in the Environment, Energy, and Economic Development Pro-gram (EEED) within RAND Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment (JIE). The mission of RAND JIE is to improve the development, operation, use, and protection of society’s essential physical assets and natural resources and to enhance the related social assets of safety and secu-rity of individuals in transit and in their workplaces and communities. The EEED research portfolio addresses environmental quality and regulation, energy resources and systems, water resources and systems, climate, natural hazards and disasters, and economic development— both domestically and internationally. EEED research is conducted for government, founda-tions, and the private sector. Questions or comments about this report should be sent to the project leaders, Nicholas Burger (Nicholas_Burger@rand.org) or Noreen Clancy (Noreen_Clancy@rand.org). 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