BEE Releases Norms For India’s Compliance Carbon Credit Market

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The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has now issued a draft procedure for compliance mechanisms under the Carbon Credit Trading System (CCTS). The detailed document talks about the compliance mechanism, GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emission intensity trajectory, verification process and issuance of carbon credits and others.

It said that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) would notify the GHG emission targets in terms of tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent per unit of equivalent product for each cycle of defined trajectory. It mandated the obligated entities to notify an annual target for a three-year trajectory period. 

“The obligated entity who exceeds the targeted GHG emission intensity in any compliance cycle are entitled for issuance of the Carbon Credit Certificates based on the difference in the achieved GHG emission intensity and targeted GHG emission intensity for the production quantity in the relevant compliance cycle,” the BEE carbon credit market norms said.

It also added that those obligated entities failing to achieve the targeted GHC emission intensity tratgets would have to purchase the carbon credits. As per the procedure crafted by the BEE, the Green House Gas (GHG) emissions should be converted to CO2 equivalent basis the Global Warming Potential for the GHGs as specified in India’s Biennial Update Report under the United Nations Framework For Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

It also said that the BEE would take a call on the target emission intensity for the industries. “To establish the GHG emission intensity targets, the technical committee set up by the Bureau shall calculate the GHG emission intensity in the baseline year and the targets of GHG emissions intensity for the trajectory period for each compliance cycle covering the direct energy, process (non- energy) and indirect energy related emissions from the boundary of the obligated entity’s establishment against the product manufactured during the year on a gate-to-gate basis,” the BEE’s Carbon Credit Market norms said. 

It also mandated the obligated entities to submit a performance assessment document within three months of the conclusion of the compliance cycle. It also said that to conduct the verification process, the obligated entity need to appoint the accredited carbon verification agencies. 

“The appointed accredited carbon verification agency shall undertake strategic analysis to develop verification plan which shall at least contain–verification objectives and scope, verification activities and schedule, team structure with roles, data and information to be reviewed and verified, data sampling plan risk management plan and plan for interviews/discussions for verification,” the norms said.