Ministry Of Power Notifies Domestic Carbon Credit Market Scheme

 

The Ministry of Power has now notified the Indian Carbon Credit Market Scheme to boost the trading of carbon credits in the country. The scheme provisions talk about how the market would be governed in the country.

The scheme proposed the constitution of a National Steering Committee, which will govern the Indian Carbon Credit Market and oversee its functioning of the same. It proposed 18 members from different ministries and energy-related institutions. While 13 of them from different ministries will be the designated ex-officio members, representatives from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Grid Controller of India Limited, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), and two expert members will be the members of the Committee.

The Committee will direct the Bureau to formulate rules for institutionalizing the carbon market, define its functions, formulate specific greenhouse gas emission targets for the obligated entities, and recommend issuing carbon credit certificates, among others. The Bureau, meanwhile, will be the administrator of the whole scheme. The Bureau will identify the main sectors that would be the obligated entities, issue the carbon credits, and develop market stability mechanisms, among others. The scheme has designated the Grid Controller of India Limited as the nodal agency for the registry of the Indian carbon market.

It meanwhile has mandated the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to be the regulator for trading activities under the Indian Carbon Market. It has also proposed a Technical Committee and defined its functions. The scheme said that the Bureau would determine the procedure, including the eligibility criteria for the accreditation of any agency to function as an accredited carbon verification agency based on the recommendations of the National Steering Committee for the Indian carbon market.

The scheme’s provisions also said that the Commission should register the power exchanges and approve the carbon credit certificate trading in the Indian carbon credit market from time to time. The Ministry of Power, meanwhile, will decide on the obligated entities list based on the recommendations of the Bureau. It said that the National Steering Committee for Indian Carbon Market would develop a detailed procedure for operationalizing the Indian carbon market. It will include details on the criteria for issuance of carbon credit certificates, the validity of the carbon credit certificates, and other issues.