Green credits: Govt nod to 12 projects, 24 under consideration

The government has been pushing the public-sector undertakings (PSUs) to take a lead in registering for the programme, especially in mining heavy states, and is developing guidelines for third-party verification of projects under the scheme, sources added.

The GCP, notified on October 13, 2023, seeks voluntary participation in “environmental positive actions” such as afforestation, water conservation, waste management among others from PSUs, private industries, non-profits and individuals. The GCP’s governance framework is supported by an inter-ministerial Steering Committee, and The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun, which serves as GCP administrator, responsible for programme implementation, management, monitoring, and operation.

Those investing in these initiatives will earn green credits in return which they can trade on a platform. The greening activities will happen on degraded land parcels and state forest departments have identified over 10,000 hectares of degraded land so far.

Over the past few months, the Environment Ministry has held meetings with the PSUs to push for registration under the initiative, with a special focus initially on states such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, where large forested areas have been diverted for mining.

Those interested in undertaking plantations have to first register on a government portal and the state departments then identify plots. A plantation plan and cost estimate are submitted to ICFRE, which clears final proposal.

ICFRE is working on evolving a mechanism for third-party verification of greening projects, sources from the government body said. “We are looking at a timeline of another month to finalise a draft on third-party verification. We are also deliberating on whether stakeholders who register under the scheme should be included in the monitoring committee,” the source said.

Under the green credit rules, the ICFRE can deem an entity a ‘designated agency’ to carry out verification of activities executed under the programme. Discussions are also underway on evolving a definite mechanism on linking the green credits to the compensatory afforestation compliance of industries, a senior government official said.

The GCP has provided for exchanging the credits meeting compliance of compensatory afforestation. This refers to the legally mandated afforestation that industries and government agencies have to undertake on non-forest land equivalent to the size of forests that are felled.

Speaking on registration seen under the GCP so far, senior forest department officials from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh said that PSUs such as the NTPC have registered for the greening programme in all three states. Other PSUs which have registered in these states include Western Coalfields Ltd and Power Grid Corporation of India in Maharashtra, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd and Indian Oil in Chhattisgarh and Coal India in MP.