Carbon Credit Trading Scheme(CCTS)

• CCTS is a market-based mechanism to reduce or limit emissions. Its genesis lies in India’s commitment to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions—emissions reduction target for 2030 committed under the Paris Agreement of 2016.

Compliance mechanism

1. A mandatory program for the energy intensive industries where the Government will set the GHG emission intensity targets (GHG emission per unit of output) for these entities and they will have to comply with these targets.
2. Under the compliance mechanism, the Central Government shall specify the registered entities as obligated entities. For this purpose, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency will identify sectors and potential for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and recommend including such sectors in the Indian carbon market.
3. Bureau of Energy Efficiency shall recommend the targets in terms of ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per unit of equivalent product after considering all relevant aspects including available technologies and likely cost of their implementation.
4. The Ministry of Power, after duly considering the recommendations of Bureau of Energy Efficiency and NSCICM, shall recommend the greenhouse gases emission intensity targets to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change for notification under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
5. The obligated entities shall comply with the prescribed GHG emission intensity targets in each compliance year. The obligated entities who reduce their GHG emission intensity below the target GHG emission intensity shall be eligible for issuance of Carbon Credit Certificates and the entities who are not able to achieve the target will be required to surrender/purchase equivalent number of certificates based on shortfall.
6. The nine sectors – Aluminium, Chlor Alkali, Cement, Fertiliser, Iron & Steel, Pulp & Paper, Petrochemicals, Petroleum refinery, and textile are to be considered for gradual transition and more sectors would be included in future.

Offset Mechanism

1. A voluntary project-based baseline and credit mechanism for the non-obligated entities where the non-obligated entities can register their projects for GHG emission reduction, removal, or avoidance against the baseline for the issuance of Carbon Credit Certificates (CCC).
2. This mechanism will enable country to tap mitigation from sectors not covered under the compliance mechanism and can incentivise actions in such sectors.
3. Under the offset mechanism, the non-obligated entities can register their projects for GHG emission reduction or removal or avoidance for issuance of carbon credit certificates upon fulfilment of the eligibility requirements as per detailed procedure published by Bureau of Energy Efficiency based on recommendations of NSCICM.

• The Grid Controller of India (GCI) is the registry operator and is to manage and operate The ICM registry.
• The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is the regulator for trading activities under the Indian Carbon Market (ICM).

Additional Information

• • The Supreme Court, in a recent decision, has stated that all matters related to industrial alcohol falls under the purview of state governments rather than the central government, granting states the authority to formulate laws regarding its regulation.
  • Industrial alcohol, also known as denatured alcohol, is essentially ethanol in its pure form.
  • Alcohol is broadly categorised into two types: Industrial alcohol and Usable alcohol. 
  • Industrial alcohol typically refers to isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) or denatured alcohol (ethanol with additives). Isopropyl alcohol, with the chemical formula C₃H₈O, is primarily used for cleaning and disinfection in industrial settings. The other type of industrial alcohol is ethanol (C₂H₅OH), often misused to produce illicit liquor.
  • Usable alcohol predominantly refers to ethyl alcohol (ethanol), intended for human consumption. Alcoholic beverages like beer, wine, and spirits contain ethanol, produced through the fermentation of sugars by yeast.
• What is the use of industrial alcohol?

• Industrial alcohol finds application in various domains:
• As a cleaning agent
• As a solvent in manufacturing processes, often blended with other chemicals
• As an antiseptic for medical purposes
• Industries such as manufacturing, construction, and fuel rely on industrial alcohol as a solvent, chemical, disinfectant, or biofuel

Additional Information

• Climate engineering, also known as geoengineering, sunlight reduction methods or solar climate intervention, refers to a broad set of methods and technologies that aim to deliberately alter the climate system in order to alleviate the impacts of climate change.

• It aims at removing atmospheric CO2 and storing it in geological, terrestrial, or oceanic reservoirs.

Methods

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)

• BECCS is the combination of biomass used to generate bioenergy, with CCS to prevent emissions reaching the atmosphere.
• It can provide net atmospheric CO2 removals, unlike the application of CCS on fossil infrastructure.

• Risks associated with BECCS:
  • Land competition between biomass production and agriculture, freshwater use and phosphorous for fertilizer,
  • Destruction of natural ecosystems for biomass production,
  • Consequent diminishing of biodiversity and vital ecosystem services.
  • Biomass plantations can also be invasive monoculture crops, which further harm local biodiversity and displace existing ecosystem.

Direct Air Capture with Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS)

• DACCS combines CCS with chemical processes to capture CO2 from ambient air, which is then stored underground.
• Storage in geological reservoirs or in mineral forms would remove CO2 for up to 1000 years.

Enhanced Weathering (EW)

• It removes atmospheric CO2 by spreading small particles of ground silicate and carbonate rock onto soils, coasts or oceans.
• Rocks containing silicate and carbonate naturally absorb CO2, yet over very slow (geological) timescales.
• By spreading small particles of silicate and carbonate, EW increases the total surface area of the planet that experiences this weathering effect and encourages weathering on surfaces.

• Risks associated:
  • Worsened air quality from rock dust spread onto soil
  • Degradation of local water quality.

Ocean Fertilization

• It aims to increase the rate at which the ocean draws down atmospheric CO2 and sequesters it in the deep oceans through the growth of phytoplankton.

• It aims to reflect some sunlight and heat back into space by increasing the reflectivity of the earth’s surface or injecting aerosols into the stratosphere.

Methods

Stratospheric Aerosol Interventions (SAI)

• SAI involves the injection of gas in the stratosphere, which converts into aerosols that block some incoming solar radiation.
• The IPCC Special Report considered SAI as a fast-acting method to immediately mask climate impacts during a period of emissions “overshoot”, which would increase the time available for mitigation to lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

• Risks associated:
  • Changing precipitation patterns and air circulation,
  • Adverse impacts on monsoon areas in particular, harming agriculture and many ecosystem types.
  • Disrupting the chemistry of the stratosphere,
  • Affects the length of time of methane storage, the formation of ice, and microphysics of clouds.

Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB)

• It involves spraying sea salt or similar particles into marine clouds, increasing their reflectivity and blocking some incoming solar radiation.
• Risks associated:
  • Affect regional rainfall patterns.
  • Reduce the intensity of hurricanes.
  • Likelihood of minor crop failures.

Cirrus Cloud Thinning

• It seeks to reduce the thickness of ice clouds 4-8 miles (6-13 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.
• Cirrus clouds tend to trap more heat in the atmosphere than they reflect back to space.
• Thinning these clouds could allow more heat to escape from Earth’s atmosphere, producing a cooling effect.

Additional Information

• A dry port, or inland container depot (ICD), provides a logistics facility away from a seaport or airport for cargo handling, storage, and transportation. It acts as a bridge between sea/air ports and inland regions, facilitating efficient movement of goods. 
• As of April 2022, the maximum number of dry ports are in Tamil Nadu and Haryana with 11 dry ports. 

Additional Information

• It was launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2021 for registration and creation of a comprehensive National Database of Unorganized Workers.
• The registration in the portal is fully Aadhaar verified and Aadhaar seeded. Any unorganised worker can register himself or herself on the portal on a self-declaration basis.
• It has been made available to the States/UTs for registration of unorganised workers including migrant workers and domestic workers on e-SHRAM portal.
• It allows an unorganised worker to register himself or herself on the portal on self-declaration basis, under 400 occupations in 30 broad occupation sectors.
• Any worker who is unorganised and aged between 16-59 years, is eligible to register on the e-Shram portal.
• Universal Account Number is a 12 digit number uniquely assigned to each unorganised worker after registration on the e-Shram portal. UAN is a permanent number i.e., once assigned, it will remain unchanged for any worker.