Context:
Recently, the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC) has clarified that under the Green Credit Program(GCP) primacy must be accorded to restoring ecosystems over merely tree planting.
Relevance:
GS III: Environment and Ecology
Dimensions of the Article:
- Green Credit Programme
- Green Credit Rules, 2023: Overview
- Compensatory Afforestation: Overview
Green Credit Programme:
- The Green Credit Programme introduces a system of incentives, known as “Green Credits,” for activities that have a positive impact on the environment.
- It complements the domestic Carbon Market in India, expanding beyond CO2 emission reductions to incentivize a wider range of sustainable actions.
Objectives:
- The Green Credit System aims to meet various environmental obligations, encouraging companies, individuals, and local bodies to undertake sustainable initiatives.
- Unlike the carbon market’s focus on CO2 emissions, the Green Credit Programme promotes broader environmental goals.
Tradable Credits:
- Green credits earned through sustainable activities will be tradable, allowing participants to sell them on a proposed domestic market platform.
- This creates a market-based approach to incentivize and reward environmentally beneficial actions.
Program Administrator:
- The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) will serve as the administrator of the Green Credit Programme.
- ICFRE will develop guidelines, processes, and procedures for the implementation of the programme, ensuring its effectiveness and integrity.
Green Credit Activities:
The programme promotes a range of activities that contribute to environmental sustainability, including:
- Increasing Green Cover: Promoting tree plantation and related activities to enhance the green cover across the country.
- Water Conservation: Encouraging water conservation, water harvesting, and efficient water use, including the treatment and reuse of wastewater.
- Regenerative Agriculture: Promoting natural and regenerative agricultural practices and land restoration to improve productivity, soil health, and the nutritional value of food produced.
- Waste Management: Supporting sustainable waste management practices, including collection, segregation, and treatment.
- Air Pollution Reduction: Encouraging measures to reduce air pollution and other pollution abatement activities.
- Mangrove Conservation: Promoting the conservation and restoration of mangroves, important ecosystems for coastal areas.
- Ecomark Label: Encouraging manufacturers to obtain the “Ecomark” label for their goods and services, signifying their environmental sustainability.
- Sustainable Infrastructure: Encouraging the construction of buildings and infrastructure using sustainable technologies and materials.
- Setting Thresholds and Benchmarks: The Green Credit Programme will establish thresholds and benchmarks for each specific Green Credit activity, ensuring clear standards and targets for participants to achieve.
Green Credit Rules, 2023: Overview
Notification and Legal Basis
- Introduced on 12th October 2023 under the Environment Protection Act of 1986.
Objective
- Establish a mechanism promoting voluntary environmental actions leading to the issuance of green credits.
- Initial focus on voluntary tree plantation on degraded land, waste land, watershed areas, etc., managed by Forest departments.
Implementation of the Green Credit Program (GCP)
Afforestation Financing
- Registered and approved entities can finance afforestation projects in designated degraded forest and wasteland areas.
- Afforestation activities will be executed by State Forest departments.
Green Credit Valuation
- Two years post-planting, each tree undergoes evaluation by the International Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE).
- Each planted tree can potentially earn one ‘green credit’.
Utilization of Green Credits
- Companies that have converted forest land for non-forest uses and removed numerous trees can use green credits to fulfill obligations under India’s compensatory afforestation laws.
Available Land for Green Credit Projects
- 10 States have identified approximately 3,853 hectares of degraded forest land for individuals, groups, and public/private sector units to earn and potentially trade green credits.
- Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh (MP) together represent about 40% of the available forest land.
Compensatory Afforestation: Overview
Definition
- Compensatory afforestation mandates industries or institutions, permitted to clear forest land for non-forestry purposes,
- Provide equivalent non-forest land to forest authorities, and
- Fund afforestation on the provided land.
- Land must ideally be near the cleared forest tracts.
- If unavailable, twice the amount of ‘degraded’ forest land can be used for afforestation.
Additional Compensation
- Companies must compensate for the lost forest ecosystem’s value, known as the ‘net present value’, due to land diversion.
Issues with Compensatory Afforestation and the Green Credit Program (GCP)
Challenges
- Obtaining contiguous non-forest land for compensatory afforestation, particularly in States like Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh with historical land diversions for mining.
- The Compensatory Afforestation Fund, funded by environmental compensation from companies, has substantial unspent funds due to land availability issues.
Green Credit Challenges
- Assigning a monetary value to green credits is problematic.
- Linking green credits to compensatory afforestation activities is complex.
-Source: The Hindu
