Government launches ‘Green Credit’ Programme

Recently, the Government has introduced Green Credit Programme, where an individual or entity can earn green credit and trade it on a dedicated exchange.

• A Green Credit programme is being launched at the national level to leverage a competitive market-based approach for green credit for incentivizing environmental actions of various stakeholders.
• This programme is a follow-up action of the ‘LiFE’-(Lifestyle for Environment) campaign.

• However, an environmental activity generating green credit may have climate co-benefits, such as reduction or removal of carbon emissions and an activity generating green credit under Green Credit programme may also get carbon credit from the same activity.
• This programme will cover 8 types of activities:
• Tree plantation which is meant to promote activities for increasing the green cover across the country.
• Water management is meant to promote water conservation, water harvesting, and water use efficiency or water savings, including treatment and reuse of wastewater.
• Sustainable agriculture is meant to promote natural and regenerative agricultural practices and land restoration to improve productivity, soil health, and nutritional value of food produced.
• Waste management is meant to promote circularity, sustainable and improved practices for waste management, including collection, segregation, and environmentally sound management.
• Air pollution reduction is meant to promote measures for reducing air pollution and other pollution abatement activities.
• And mangrove conservation and restoration, which is meant to promote measures for conservation and restoration of mangroves.
• Process of registration:
  • One needs to register the activity with the Administrator electronically through a website to avail green credit.
  • The activity will then be verified by a designated agency and based on its report the Administrator shall grant the applicant a certificate of green credit.
  • The calculation of green credit in respect of any activity undertaken shall be based on equivalence of resource requirement, parity of scale, scope, size, and other relevant parameters required to achieve the desired environmental outcome.
• Significance:
  • The programme will incentivise environmentally-positive actions through a market-based mechanism and generate green credit, which shall be tradable and made available for trading on a domestic market platform.
  • The initiative aims to encourage industries, companies, and other entities to meet their existing or other obligations, under any law that is in force for the time being and encourage other persons and entities, to undertake voluntary environmental measures by generating or buying green credit.
  • However, the green credit generated or procured to fulfill any obligation, in compliance with any law, that is in force for the time being shall not be tradeable.