News: Union Environment Ministry notifies draft Greenhouse Gases Emission Intensity (GEI) Target Rules, 2025, taking a bold step towards sustainability. Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity (GEI) Targets Rules, 2025.
About Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity (GEI) Targets Rules, 2025
- The Rules will establish India’s first compliance-based domestic carbon market which aims to drive industrial adoption of low-carbon technologies and drive India’s commitments to its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
- This market will be structured under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), 2023.
- It is a regulatory framework for carbon credit trading and to facilitate emission reductions in line with India’s commitments under international climate agreements.
- Sectors covered: The Targets will apply to 4 high-emission sector – aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali, and pulp and paper.
- The obligated entities need to account for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Perflurocarbons (PFCs) such as CF4, C2F6, C4F10, and C6F14.
- Compliance mechanism and obligations:
- The targets comprise two compliance periods, 2025-26 and 2026-27, aimed at enabling year-wise sectoral decarbonisation.
- A uniform formula has been proposed to calculate and verify emissions.
- The targets can be achieved by either reducing emissions or by purchasing carbon credits certificates from the Indian carbon market.
- Compliance benefit: Obligated entities keeping emissions below the targets will be issued carbon credits. These can be either banked until the next compliance cycle, or sold to underperforming firms.
- Non-compliance obligation: Obligated entities that underperform and fail to submit carbon credits equivalent to the shortfall for compliance, will be charged twice the average traded carbon price for the related compliance cycle.
- The price will be calculated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Ministry of Power) and the compensation will be collected by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
