World Environment Day: Green clearances in India at multi-year high

Industrial projects get bulk of clearances, followed by infrastructure and mining

Environmental clearances, including those given to industrial, infrastructure, mining and power projects in India, rose to their highest in seven years in 2022.

The Ministry of Environ­ment, Forests and Climate Change has cleared 584 projects in 2022, shows a Business Standard analysis of data from the ministry’s website. The clearances are up 11 per cent from the 528 granted in 2021. As many as 53 clearances have been granted so far in 2023, shows data as of May (chart 1).

Monday marked World En­vironment Day, a UN-led initiative to raise awareness globally about the importance of protecting the environment.
 

Industrial projects accoun­t­ed for 77 per cent of the gran­ted clearances in 2022. Infra­structure projects accounted for 16 per cent, while mining projects accounted for 13 per cent. Coal mining projects were the major contributor in the mining sector accounting for 7 per cent of the clearances. Non-coal mining projects contributed to another 6 per cent of the clearances (chart 2).
 

The year 2022 was a blockbuster one for all kinds of clearances, according to data shared in the Lok Sabha in March. The government granted 12,496 clearances including forest, wildlife and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) and environmental clearances (ECs) in 2022.

This was higher than the 8,793 clearances granted in 2021. There were 3,498 clearances in 2019 and 577 in 2018.
 

Measures to streamline the system have shortened wait pe­r­iods, according to the minis­t­ry’s reply in Parliament. “...average time taken for grant of EC and CRZ clearance at the central level has reduced signi­f­icantly from more than 150 days in 2019 and 102 days in 2020 to less than 70 days in 2022, respectively. Similarly, average time taken for grant of ‘in-principle’ FC (forest cleara­n­ce) approval has been calcul­ated to be… (around) …180 days for the financial year (FY) 2021-22 against 188 days in the prev­ious FY,” said the response.