The fight against climate change cannot succeed unless the people of India and China join the effort at a mass level Jotdeep Singh The Kyoto Protocol and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) are by now reasonably well known to the organisations and companies involved with the climate change space in some way. At a mass level however, especially beyond the metro cities, awareness is poor. Most of the two billion plus population of India and China is not aware of the threats of climate change. Nor has any serious effort been made to spread awareness and encourage action at the level of every individual, household, community, village, or small business. Programmatic CDM, which holds the promise of encouraging some widespread action at this level (emission reduction efforts even at the household level, for instance CFL bulb projects), is still struggling with various issues, including with respect to validation and verification requirements and responsibilities in that regard. It is hoped that this can be resolved soon. There is also hope that smart meters could eventually be installed in cars and h o m e s e n - abling people at a mass level to be able to measure their emissions as a result of fuel and electricity usage (and also its cost in money terms), and thereby not only be able to take steps to reduce emissions, but also save costs while doing so. However, programmatic CDM or other such market linked mechanisms, and new technologies and devices are not by themselves going to ensure action. Awareness of the threats of climate change has to go to the masses, and be expressed in their contexts, in the local languages, and with suggestions on what people are expected to do to contribute to the effort against global warming. Even in terms of governments preparing the public / voters for tough decisions to combat climate change, and to adapt where necessary, mass level awareness is the first step. As we head toward the December 2009 deadline to reach a post 2012 agreement, and in the context of India and China not wanting to take on specific emission reduction targets, it becomes even more important to ensure mass awareness so that people are able to take some voluntary action. Also, it can be perhaps expected that when this becomes a war against climate change that is being fought with a sense of urgency at a mass level, it will also encourage more action at the corporate, institutional, and industrial levels to reduce emissions than would happen without the public pressure. So while the governments negotiate post Kyoto agreements, let the rest of us focus on spreading awareness, and making this a mass effort. (The author is working at Rabo Bank)