Upsetting the Offset - Transnational Institute

11
India’s ‘Clean Development’ "
Soumitra Ghosh and Hadida Yasmin
Introduction
After carbon trading was conceptualized in the Kyoto Protocol, India seems to
have been the busiest country to put the concept into action. By early August
2008, India had 355 CDM projects accounting for about 31% of the world’s
total of 1136 projects registered with the CDM Executive Board of the
UNFCCC. India’s share is highest among all countries, with China standing
second with 250 projects. About 2700 million CERs (certified emission
reductions) are expected to be generated by 2012, if all these hostcountryapproved
projects in India go on stream. By 8 August 2008, a total of
179,888,442 CERs had been issued to projects worldwide, with India accounting
for 25.83% and China for the maximum 35.56%.
If we observe the distribution of all UNFCCC-registered projects by scale,
there are 611 large-scale projects and 525 small-scale ones, with the energy
industry (renewable and non-renewable sources) predominating with 796
projects. Taking into account all projects in various stages – such as those
already registered, requested for registration, and waiting for validation – the
total number of CDM projects in India comes to be 1021. These include both
unilateral and bilateral projects. Projects with involvement of a third party (any
Annex-I country) are called bilateral. Countries that are financing most of the
bilateral projects in India are the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the
Netherlands, and Japan. Other countries involved are Sweden, Germany, Spain,
Italy, Austria, France, Canada, Denmark, Finland, and so on.
Project Status
(Including
bilateral ones)
Number of
Projects
kCO2/ Year* 2012 kCO2/ Year** kCERs
Issued***
Validation 620 41,127 190,132
Registered 355 31,471 214,572 45,385
Registration
46 2,303 11,290
Requested
Total 1021 74,901 415,994
(It will be 808,537 by 2020)
Table 1: Overview of CDM Projects in India (as on 9 August, 2008) 1
*Annual reduction claimed in 1000-tons of CO2-equivalent per year
**Total reduction to be claimed in 1000-tons of CO2-equivalent by 2012
***Saleable CERs, in 1000-tons of CO2-equivalent, officially issued by the UNFCCC so far
45,385
(from 151
registered
projects)
129