Chennai Corporation building (File photo | EPS)
CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation, along with Chennai Smart City Limited, is set to join Indore in becoming the only other civic body to generate revenue from carbon credits by selling carbon offsets to buyers in the international market.
Carbon credits are permits that allow companies to generate a particular amount of greenhouse gases. These credits are generated from projects that directly remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere (like afforestation) or projects that use greener alternatives to traditional technology like solar energy. One carbon credit is earned when a project has reduced or avoided one metric tonne of greenhouse gases.
Companies use these credits to reduce their net carbon emission metric which is often reviewed by investors. As the first step, a Request for Proposal has been prepared to call for consultants to help the corporation through the entire process of setting up a carbon credit framework, including identifying buyers.
“The city corporation has been undertaking several green initiatives and has several eligible projects like Miyawaki urban forests that help reduce carbon emission. We will be able to use the revenue generated from this for other city infrastructure projects,” said a corporation official.
This move is expected to help the Chennai city corporation not only get credits for its sustainable projects but also monetise them. Projects such as bio-methanation plants, tree-planting projects, bio-fertiliser projects, electric vehicles,energy-efficient lighting are eligible to be registered for the programme.
To ensure the emission reduction data is not falsified, a third-party body, that can verify and validate the emission reduction, is to be hired. “In the future, if other government agencies would like to set up a similar framework, we will be open to helping them too,” the official added.
In 2020, the Indore Municipal Corporation became the first civic body in the country to generate a revenue of Rs 50 lakh by selling carbon credits earned by stopping emission of 1.70 tonnes of carbon dioxide through bio- methanation plants.This was done by registering the projects under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), a voluntary emissions reduction standard, said to be the world’s most widely used carbon offset programme.
All about Getting rewarded
-Carbon credits are permits that allow companies to generate a particular amount of greenhouse gases
-These credits are earned from projects that directly remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, like afforestation and solar energy
-Consultants will be roped in to help Chennai Corporation to set up a carbon credit framework
-This move is expected to help the city corporation not only get credits for its sustainable projects but also monetise them
