CDM gains may attract Union levy

The department of environment and forests has cleared 268 projects in India under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for certified emission reduction (CERs) as per the Kyoto Protocol.

Till date, 35 of these have been certified by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

"In our meeting to be held on March 31, we will look at another 96 projects for certification. These include sectors like industries across board, municipalities and even paddy fields", said S K Panigrahi, director, department of environment and forests of the Planning Commission, at a seminar on CDM organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Approximately Rs 220,000 had already been spent on CDM projects in India.

These projects have the potential to earn upto 250 million CERs till 2012 and upto $150 billion by selling carbon credit points (CCPs) to annex-1 countries. However, such returns could be enjoyed only till 2012, cautioned Panigrahi.

CCPs, which are currently sold for € 22 to € 30 per tonne of Carbon dioxide, might go upto € 120 per tonne by November 2006 by which time annex-1 countries are required to submit certain numbers of CCPs, said Panigrahi.

G D Gautama, special secretary of the department of information technology and environment in the government of West Bengal, said that India ranked second in the world after Brazil in terms of CDM registrations.

India's contribution is about 19.4 per cent of the world figure.

In terms of CER contribution too, India has a 16 to 18 per cent share.

The green tax, if implemented, would the not be very encouraging for Indian industries which are doing their best to reduce pollution and erosion of natural resources by overuse, and are being awarded monetarily in return.