What are the new Green Credit Programme rules

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Last Updated23/04/2024

The Environment Ministry issued further guidelines on its Green Credit Programme (GCP), after it had prescribed rules governing the first initiative.

Green Credit Programme: It has its origin in Mission Life.
The GCP programme presents itself as an “innovative, market-based mechanism” to incentivise “voluntary actions” for environmental conservation.
Individuals, organizations and companies public and private would be encouraged to invest in sectors ranging from
- Afforestation water conservation, stemming air-pollution, waste management, mangrove conservation and in return be eligible to receive ‘green credits.
An autonomous body, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), is in charge of administering the programme.
- They will define methodologies to calculate ‘green credits’ that result from the activities prescribed.
- They will also manage a trading platform whereby such credits could be traded.

The GCP programme for afforestation says that companies can “exchange” their credits for “complying with compensatory afforestation, which would create excessive deforestation in certain parcels of Land.
Planting trees does not automatically boost ecosystems.
Planting the wrong types of trees could fester invasive species or prevent a sustainable ecosystem.
There is also a threat that natural forests could be razed and invasive monocultures promoted.
Finally, the GCP also says that green credits that result in storing carbon (from trees) may be used for carbon trading.
This again is controversial as the math equating these activities is not clear.

States must rely on to calculate what it would cost to restore a degraded forest landscape.
Preference would be given to indigenous species
companies would not be able to offset all their obligations under compensatory afforestation using green credits, but could claim a portion of it.