Environment & Climate Change
We provide strategic support to actors developing innovative solutions for improved access to clean energy and water, or willing to limit the environmental impact of their activities. Our teams also evaluate the impact of specific projects and of large-scale Green Finance initiatives in the developing world.
Independent Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Unit for FCDO’s Africa Regional Climate and Nature (ARCAN) Programme
Altai Consulting was contracted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) as the independent Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Unit of the Africa Regional Climate and Nature Programme (ARCAN) in a consortium led by Ecorys and in partnership with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), for a four-year period between February 2023 and March 2027. Ecorys leads the ARCAN MEL consortium, holds responsibility for the contract and provides leadership and technical expertise. Altai provides specialist independent monitoring and verification expertise, and IIED provides world-renowned research and specialist thematic expertise.
As a regional programme, ARCAN supports a range of existing multi-partner initiatives that are (i) tackling sectors most affected by climate change, (ii) supporting work focused on regional / multi-country level, and (iii) supporting work that makes the best use of UK expertise. With current International Climate Finance (ICF) funding of £100 million (and an ambition of up to £250 million), ARCAN is a key vehicle to meet the FCDO’s ICF KPI commitments. The programme builds on a range of existing partnerships with large organisations such as the World Bank and the United Nations (UN) through its five thematic pillars: (i) Transboundary Water Management, (ii) Nature, (iii) Weather and Climate Information Service, (iv) Energy Transitions and (v) Climate Finance and Policy. A central assumption to ARCAN is that each programme positively reinforces the actions of the others, which ultimately means the portfolio delivers greater results than the sum of its parts.
Child Centred Risk Assessment (CCRA) and Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA)
Altai was commissioned by UNICEF Mozambique to conduct a Child Centred Risk Assessment (CCRA) and a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA). Not only will the assessment provide a gendered and inclusion analysis, mapping of the exposure, types of hazards, vulnerability and capacity of children in Mozambique, but it will also illustrate the impact of those hazards (including those linked to climate change) on children and provide recommendations on measures to be taken to minimize the impact and mitigate risks. Not only will the assessment provide a gendered and inclusion analysis, mapping of the exposure, types of hazards, vulnerability and capacity of children in Mozambique, but it will also illustrate the impact of those hazards (including those linked to climate change) on children and provide recommendations on measures to be taken to minimize the impact and mitigate risks. The overall assessment will provide UNICEF and its partners with further evidence to inform their programming, particularly in targeting their beneficiaries and increasing the resilience of social and basic services for children.
Evaluation of voluntary commitments and results of the BIODEV2030 project in its 16 countries of intervention
BIODEV2030's general objective was to contribute to the elaboration of ambitious voluntary sectoral commitments, through a multi-stakeholder approach, to reduce pressures and/or restore ecosystems in order to help stabilise and reverse the decline in biodiversity by 2030. The project was intended to catalyse "voluntary commitments" with at least two economic sectors per country, identified as key for biodiversity (BIO-) and for economic development (-DEV), to promote the adoption of good practices to halt the decline of biodiversity. The project was implemented by WWF France in Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Guyana, Madagascar, Uganda, Tunisia, and Vietnam; and by IUCN in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Fiji, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, and Senegal.
Altai Consulting carried out this evaluation to analyse and qualify the results in order to quantify and compare progress made in each country in terms of voluntary commitments, the identification of priorities for action by the various actors, with or without "SMART" objectives, and the mobilisation of relevant actors for their implementation within multi-stakeholder platforms. Altai also conducted an assessment of the potential for implementation of the commitments and the results obtained to meet the objectives of the Post-2020 Global Framework and the country's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP).
Cross-cutting analysis of AFD's "Oceans" intervention portfolio in the Mediterranean
Altai supports the AFD in the review of its Oceans portfolio in order to identify the biodiversity impacts of its last 15 years of intervention in the Mediterranean. In the context of the new Ocean strategic framework (Annex 3) and in line with France's commitments to the oceans, AFD wishes to improve the way it takes into account issues related to marine and coastal ecosystems in all of its activities and to better characterize its contribution to the SDG agenda (particularly SDG 14). The service is thus envisaged as a support to a dialogue process aiming to promote the mainstreaming of issues related to the marine and coastal ecosystem in its projects by drawing lessons from past and current interventions. The challenge is to understand to what extent and how the consideration of marine and coastal ecosystems and their vulnerabilities has influenced AFD's activity and to make recommendations for improvement. The service is divided into two exercises: i) first, a retrospective cross-cutting analysis of projects conducted by the AFD Group and the FGEF in the Mediterranean area between 2008 and 2021ii) second, the evaluation of a cluster of projects.
Support to the elaboration of a EUR 6M project for the low-carbon transition of Côte d’Ivoire
Altai Consulting was mandated to provide support to Expertise France in the elaboration of an EUR 6M EU-funded « Low-Carbon Trajectory » project in Côte d’Ivoire. The EU, at the request of the Ivorian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, wished to support the monitoring process for the implementation of the country’s revised NDCs. Altai conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders involved in the mitigation of and adaptation to the effects of climate change in Côte d’Ivoire and analysed complementary past and current initiatives and programs in the field of climate change mitigation and adaptation in Côte d’Ivoire. Altai finally designed the intervention logic and elaborated project documents (theory of change, log frame, description of action, budget, job descriptions), the final version of which was validated by all relevant stakeholders in Abidjan, during a workshop organized and animated by Altai.
Support to the design of a continuation strategy for BIODEV2030
Altai Consulting was mandated to provide strategic support to Expertise France to foster a reflection on the design of a potential phase 2 of the BIODEV2030 project. BIODEV2030 is currently funded by the French development agency (AFD), coordinated by Expertise France, and implemented by IUCN and WWF in 16 pilot countries, with the aim of integrating biodiversity into development through sectoral commitments resulting from multi-stakeholder dialogues. The approach contributes to the development of the post-2020 biodiversity framework and aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of a science-based participatory and inclusive approach. During phase 1 of the project, multi-stakeholder platforms aimed at strengthening the involvement of private sector actors in biodiversity conservation were set up in the 16 countries of intervention, with contrasting progress.
Altai Consulting provided support to the BIODEV2030 partners in a reflection on the potential content of phase 2 of the project: objectives and expected results, considering results obtained in phase 1; geographical scope; activities. Our team conducted an independent analysis of existing institutional mechanisms for the management of the BIODEV2030 project, to identify good practices and difficulties encountered during phase 1 of the project.
To this end, Altai Consulting organized and animated two strategic reflection workshops with the BIODEV2030 operators (French MFA, AFD, EF, UICN, WWF) and conducted > 50 key informant interviews with the 16 country teams of the project. This led to a final phase of formulation of implementation scenarios for phase 2 based on the lessons learned from phase 1.
Elaboration of Environment Country Focuses – Senegal pilot
Various reports provide a good overview of Senegal's environmental and climate issues, environmental governance, and immediate priorities in this area. The drawback of these reports is the density of the information provided, and the lack of a visual perspective. There is a need for a systematic review of key donor interventions and ongoing programs in the environment sector, and the link between these interventions and changing trends.
Altai developed an easy-to-digest, action-oriented Environment Country Focus in Senegal, including: a review of key environmental governance frameworks and structures, highlighting recent changes and recent changes and critical needs; a review of major ongoing programs, with a matrix approach taking into account major donors and implementing partners across a dozen key pillars; the identification of good practices and opportunities for replication/scaling up ; the identification of key priorities and areas of opportunity for future programming in each pillar.
The report can be downloaded here.
Development of a Plastic Recycling Strategy for a Leading Dairy Manufacturer in Côte d’Ivoire
A major European player in the dairy sector, who was developing production capacities in West Africa, commissioned Altai Consulting to help them build a strategy to ensure recycling of plastic waste generated through their sales. Altai conducted a mapping of the value chain of plastic recycling in the country, from the emissions of plastic waste to the transformation of recycled materials into new products, and provided the client with recommendations and contacts of potential partners to implement the newly adopted plastic recycling strategy.
Performance and Impact Evaluation of One of the Largest Clean Energy Financing Facilities in Africa
Altai Consulting ran the evaluation of one of the largest Clean Energy Financing Facilities in Africa. The evaluation covered all technologies funded by the facility such as hydro, solar (SHS, mini grid, and grid-tied), wind, biofuel, biomass, clean cooking, etc. in 15 countries. The ambitions of the work were to assess the facility performance following OECD-DAC criteria with a strong focus on impact and on providing robust data to challenge the Theory of Change’s underlying assumptions.
Electrical and Electronic Waste Recycling Strategy Definition in Kenya and in Cameroon – Total Energies and GIZ
Altai Consulting has been commissioned by Total Energies and its partner, GIZ, to provide some insights to help Total Energies and GIZ define a strategy to manage responsible end-of-life solar lamps and prevent potential health and environment risks. A comprehensive study was conducted in Kenya in order to help design a comprehensive recycling strategy, building on existing capacities and taking into account specific local, regulatory, legal, technical, economic, financial, environmental, social and cultural factors. The analysis was based on extensive primary and secondary research including fieldwork conducted in Kenya interviewing sector stakeholders (collectors, transporters, dismantlers, repairmen, processing (recycling) facilities, solar lamp end users and other key informants). In Cameroon, the study focused on a desk-based analysis of potential opportunities and risks of establishing a recycling system in the current legal and regulatory context.
Market Due Diligence for a Mini-grid Project in Africa
Altai Consulting has been hired to conduct a market due diligence assessment for a mini-grid project in Africa. The study focused on identifying sites to assess and challenge the hypotheses behind the implementer’s business model.
Solar Home System Impact Research in Kenya – The Shell Foundation
Altai Consulting was commissioned by the Shell Foundation to conduct an impact assessment assignment of solar home systems in Kenya with a key focus on reaching low-income customers and understanding usage and financial behaviours. The research included a quantitative study reaching 1,000 customers of a PAYGo solar home system provider and key informant interviews with stakeholders in the Kenyan off-grid solar environment.