Challenges to investment
In the 2010s, India faced significant challenges managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a rapidly developing economy, India was undergoing fast industrialization and urbanization, which led to increased energy consumption and GHG emissions. Under the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, India endeavored to reduce the GHG emissions intensity of its GDP by 20–25% below 2005 levels by 2020. However, India lacked a framework for GHG emission reporting and a carbon market to incentivize emission reduction, as well as the technical capacity to measure and manage emissions.
Approach
To resolve these challenges and assist India’s corporate sector to meet its GHG emissions reduction targets, World Resources Institute (WRI) India in coloration with, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) launched the India Greenhouse Gas Program (India GHG Program) in 2013. The voluntary GHG Program aimed to help companies measure and manage GHG emissions, establishing a voluntary reporting framework based on international standards and then helping companies with technical capacity, reporting and target setting, identifying emission reduction opportunities, and other options for carbon neutrality. In return for their participation, WRI, CII, and TERI offered technical assistance and opportunities for public visibility.
Key Enabling Conditions
Several conditions helped the GHG program successfully engage companies and lower GHG emissions. Over and above, India’s commitment to its National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and international climate agreements has provided a strong policy backdrop for emissions reduction initiatives such as the GHG program and others such as the Perform, Achieve, Trade (PAT) scheme. The government also provided financial incentives for clean energy investment, energy efficiency, and emission reduction. The GHG program also benefitted from active industry participation and leadership, which helped to raise public awareness and incentivize company participation and voluntary emission reduction. By addressing key challenges and leveraging enabling conditions, the program has made notable progress in reducing emissions and fostering a culture of sustainability within India’s industrial sector, hereby creating a more conducive environment for clean energy finance.
Impact / Outcomes
Despite being voluntary, the GHG program was successful in engaging companies, with over 50 companies participating by 2017 which, together, contributed 15% of India’s total GHG emissions each year. Participating companies reported significant reductions in their GHG emissions, as well as increased interest in clean energy investments as a way to support India’s targets when it came to lowering net emissions. These efforts helped India meet its pledge under the Copenhagen Accord, achieving a 24% reduction in GDP emissions intensity, excluding land-use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF). Importantly, this voluntary program represented a significant initial step towards comprehensive emission reduction and laid the groundwork for additional decarbonization measures (e.g., the 2023 Carbon Credit Trading Scheme).
Additional Sources
- Shakti Foundation, “Measuring and Tracking GHG Emissions: A concrete path to climate progress”, https://shaktifoundation.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/MRV-Brochure-23-nov.pdf
- UNFCCC. “Letter including India’s domestic mitigation actions”, https://unfccc.int/files/meetings/cop_15/copenhagen_accord/application/pdf/indiacphaccord_app2.pdf
- National Action Plan on Climate Change, Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change, https://archivepmo.nic.in/drmanmohansingh/climate_change_english.pdf
- India GHG Program, https://indiaghgp.org/
- Climate Action Tracker, https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/india/targets/#:~:text=2020%20pledge,emissions%20from%20the%20agricultural%20sector
- World Resources Institute. “India GHG Program Launches with More Than 20 Leading Companies.” 22 July 2013. https://www.wri.org/news/release-india-ghg-program-launches-more-20-leading-companies
- Carbon Credits. “India Revises Its Carbon Credit Trading Scheme for Voluntary Players”. 22 February 2024. https://carboncredits.com/india-revises-its-carbon-credit-trading-scheme-for-voluntary-players/#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20India%20introduced%20the,of%20the%20voluntary%20carbon%20market
- IEA (2023). Energy Statistics Data Browser, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/energy-statistics-data-browser