The LEAD Team

LEAD is a program of the USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia (USAID/RDMA) implemented by ICF International with a team of partners that bring additional expertise and experience in low emission development strategies (LEDS), greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and accounting, and carbon markets.

USAID/RDMA

LEAD is one of a portfolio of programs that USAID/RDMA in Bangkok, Thailand supports across the Asia-Pacific region to address climate change. USAID/RDMA supports activities across the region that address regional developmental and environmental priorities and provides targeted assistance in selected countries that do not already have a permanent USAID presence. USAID/RDMA's Regional Environment Office (REO) manages the LEAD program and directs program coordination with other relevant USAID operating units and U.S. Government (USG) agencies. In Asia, USAID/RDMA programs address a range of problems that cross national boundaries, such as human and wildlife trafficking, HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases, global climate change, natural resources conservation, food security, and trade. For more information, visit usaid.gov/rdma.

Under the LEDS Global Partnership, USAID/RDMA leads the Asia Regional Partnership which aims to facilitate regional collaboration among donors, governments, and other stakeholders to promote LEDS across Asia.

ICF International

ICF is the prime contractor for the LEAD program. ICF provides professional services and technology solutions for energy, environment, transportation, and other markets. ICF is the leading provider of climate change and GHG monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), and mitigation assistance to the US Government for domestic and international capacity building. ICF has a substantial presence in Asia and extensive experience in the Asia-Pacific region with GHG inventory capacity building and mitigation program development and support.

Agriculture and Land Use (ALU) Group

LEAD works closely with faculty at Colorado State University to support training on the Agriculture and Land Use Greenhouse Gas Inventory (ALU) Software. The ALU software simplifies the process of conducting a GHG inventory and enables countries to estimate emissions and removals from all agricultural and land-use source categories. It is currently being used by more than a dozen countries for reporting to the UNFCCC and is an important part of the UNFCCC/USEPA regional GHG inventory capacity-building projects in Southeast Asia and Africa.

Alliance to Save Energy (ASE)

ASE promotes energy efficiency worldwide through research, education and advocacy. ASE encourages businesses, governments, and consumers to use energy efficiency as a means to achieve a healthier economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security.

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)

Established in Bangkok in 1959, AIT is a regional human and technical capacity building institution with centers of excellence in climate change and training delivery. AIT promotes technological change and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region through higher education, research and outreach.

Engility (formerly International Resources Group)

IRG helps governments, the private sector, communities, and households manage critical resources to build a cleaner, safer, and more prosperous world. IRG has extensive expertise in low emissions development, including conducting assessments of carbon sequestration/storage potential, analyzing economic value of forest carbon transactions, reviewing carbon financing options, and assisting in the design of carbon projects.

Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI)

GHGMI provides training on GHG accounting, auditing and management, certifies GHG professionals, and conducts research into critical GHG measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) issues. GHGMI has built the world's leading training and certification platform for practitioners in GHG accounting and the carbon market.

Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC)

ISC engages communities and builds the capacity of local organizations to solve problems, an approach that is critical to addressing issues like environmental health and climate change. In Asia, ISC implements innovative LEDS solutions through established public-private-partnership programs, in the region.

Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation (iCET)

Registered in China and the United States, iCET works to mitigate climate change through the promotion of low-carbon transportation, clean energy, energy efficiency and carbon registration practices and policies in China. iCET launched the first Asian voluntary GHG registry, in collaboration with The Climate Registry (TCR).

Nexant

Nexant is a global industry leader focused on every facet of clean energy development and commercialization. A leading provider of technical and management consulting services in the clean energy arena, Nexant has extensive experience and capabilities in biomass, clean coal, CO2 capture and sequestration, geothermal, hydrogen, natural gas, solar, wind and energy efficiency.

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

SEI is an independent international research institute engaged in environment and development issues at the local, national, regional and global policy levels. SEI has 20 years of experience developing software for climate change mitigation assessment, including the Long range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP) software.

The Climate Registry (TCR)

TCR is a nonprofit organization with more than 400 corporate and other members that establishes consistent, transparent standards for businesses and governments to calculate, verify and publicly report their carbon footprints in a single, unified registry. TCR collaborated with iCET to launch the first Asian voluntary GHG registry.

Cooperating Partners

The LEAD Program coordinates closely with the US Department of State (DOS) and US Government technical agencies that work in Asia on LEDS-related activities. Key technical agencies include:

Supporting Organizations

The LEAD Program also partners with other programs and organizations at the national, regional, and international level.