The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has been selected to manage the voluntary carbon market, which is scheduled to launch in 2023. This year, the framework might be made public, and the need for voluntary carbon trading could also start up. BEE would support the electricity and environment ministries when they each provide notifications on the carbon market. An inter-ministerial group will ultimately decide on the framework, as stated by BEE Director General Abhay Bakre.
As a step process for the readiness, a wholly-owned subsidiary, International Carbon Exchange Pvt, Ltd, was established by the Indian Energy Exchange last year to investigate potential opportunities in the voluntary carbon market. The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022 was approved by Parliament on December 12, 2022, paving the way for establishing a national carbon market. In 2021, the proposed federal carbon market plan was made available for stakeholder review. To get around the limitations of the “ESCerts” market and to encourage voluntary entities to help India meet its Nationally Determined Contributions pledges, it was suggested that a voluntary carbon market in India be created.
A carbon market would be beneficial, according to a report by Intellecap, as many top Indian corporations have committed to going carbon-neutral. The market would also give flexibility to organizations in hard-to-abate sectors and with high reduction costs to supplement their reduction efforts with credits from the carbon market.
