Centre tweaks Green Credit Programme norms

Source– This post on Centre tweaks Green Credit Programme norms  is based on the article “Centre tweaks Green Credit Programme norms, to focus on restoration of ecosystem” published in “The Hindu” on 17th April 2024.

Why in the News?

Recently the Central government has tweaked the Green Credit Programme norms with the Environment Ministry emphasizing that primacy must be accorded to restoring ecosystems over tree planting.

About the Green Credit Program

1. It was initiated by the Prime Minister of India during the COP 28 event, which took place in 2023 at Expo City, Dubai, UAE.

This program is a part of the government’s Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) movement.

2. It is an innovative market-based mechanism designed to incentivize voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors, by various stakeholders like individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies.

2. The GCP’s governance framework is supported by an inter-ministerial Steering Committee and The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) serves as the GCP Administrator which is responsible for program implementation, management, monitoring, and operation.

3. The GCP focuses on two key activities: water conservation and afforestation.

4. Draft methodologies for awarding Green Credits have been developed and will be notified for stakeholder consultation.

5. These methodologies set benchmarks for each activity/process, to ensure environmental impact and fungibility across sectors.

6. The Green Credit Registry and trading platform would facilitate the registration and thereafter, the buying and selling of Green Credits.

7. Unlike the carbon markets, which are more focused at industry and corporations, green credit programme can benefit individuals and communities as well.

About compensatory afforestation

1. Compensatory afforestation requires any industry or institution authorized to clear forest land for non-forestry uses to:
a) allocate an equivalent area of non-forest land to forest authorities,
b) fund the reforestation of this newly provided land.

2. This land should ideally be located as close as possible to the original deforested area.

3. If suitable non-forest land is not available nearby, the entity must then provide twice the area in ‘degraded’ forest land which is land recognized as forest but characterized by very low tree density for afforestation purposes.

4. These entities are obligated to compensate for the ecological value lost due to the land diversion, a cost referred to as the ‘net present value’ of the forest ecosystem.

UPSC Syllabus: Environment