Project Catalyst is an initiative of the Climate Works Foundation. Climate Works is a global, nonprofit philanthropic foundation headquartered in San Francisco, California with a network of Affiliated foundations in China, India, the US, and the European Union. The Climate Works family of organisations focus on enacting policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions through three general policy areas: energy efficiency standards, low-carbon energy supply, and forest Conservation/agriculture (www.climateworks.org).

Project Catalyst was launched in May 2008 to provide analytical and policy support for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations on a post-Kyoto international climate agreement, and related stakeholders. Project Catalyst members have been organised in working groups: abatement, adaptation, technology, forestry, climate-compatible growth plans, and finance. Each working group has received analytical support from the international consulting firm, McKinsey & Company. Working group members include about 150 climate negotiators, senior government officials, representatives of multilateral institutions,business executives, and leading experts from over 30 countries.

Project Catalyst and its working groups provide a forum where key participants in the global discussions can informally interact, conduct analyses, jointly problem solve, and contribute ideas and proposals to the formal UNFCCC process. This paper summarises output from Project Catalyst, but the views expressed in this paper have not necessarily been endorsed by all members of Project Catalyst nor their governments or organisations. The Climate Works Foundation takes sole responsibility for the content of this paper.

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