Centre is taking several measures to ensure adequate preparedness of the Indian exporters for the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), with a special focus on building domestic capacity for emissions measurement, reporting and verification, and supporting smaller exporters in meeting the new requirements, confirmed the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.
Additionally, sources from the government also confirmed that the small players will get more handholding including financial assistance if needed.
“We will be handholding the exporters and all sorts of supports will be given to them and even financial assistance for smaller exporters under Export Promotion Mission,” said a source from the Ministry aware of the matter.
A key area of concern has been the availability of accurate emissions data, particularly for steel exports. The issue has been taken up with the Ministry of
Steel and commerce ministries are working on a mechanism to account for embedded emissions generated by upstream producers.
An inter-ministerial committee on export preparedness for EU CBAM has been formed under the chairmanship of additional secretary with other key ministries and departments, regulators and industry bodies to address compliance-related challenges faced by exporters as the EU’s carbon regime gets implemented.
The government has also undertaken training and awareness programmes for exporters covering EU CBAM requirements, measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), accreditation and verification processes. India is also working to strengthen its domestic verification ecosystem and two accredited validation and verification bodies (VVBs) have applied for EU and UK CBAM-related work. Ministry also confirmed that discussions are also underway for a memorandum of understanding with an EU-recognised accreditation body, which could support future recognition of NABCB.
As the UK recently recognized India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) as a qualifying carbon-pricing mechanism under its CBAM framework, India is also having discussions with the UK on its CBAM framework. In its recently released for India FTA, EU has confirmed for a formal framework for cooperation, technical dialogue, and financial support to help Indian industries transition toward lower-carbon technologies and cope with new compliance burdens.
