The basic objective of the project was "to enable India to contribute towards protecting the global and local environment by developing aggressive plans which will gainfully utilize the wastes generated in municipal, industrial and agricultural sectors for energy recovery."

A Consultants’ team comprising Dr P. Venkata Ramana of WII and Dr T.K. Moulik of ERM India, conducted a Midterm Evaluation of the $10 million UNDP-GEF Biomethanation Project during September 1999-April 2000. The Biomethanation project was sponsored by UNDP-GEF and the Government of India, and implemented by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) beginning 1994.

Several activities were implemented including waste-to-energy demonstration projects, capacity building through training programs and workshops, and information dissemination. The team made several key recommendations towards maximizing the overall impact of the project in terms of technical, operational and institutional aspects.