NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) made Rs 19.5 crore by selling 3.55 million carbon credits collected from 2012 to 2018, said the officials.
In 2007, Delhi Metro became the first metro or railway project in the world to be registered by the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which enabled Delhi Metro to claim carbon credits for its Regenerative Braking Project.
CDM is a project-based Green House Gas (GHG) offset mechanism under the Kyoto protocol allowing the public and private sector in high-income nations, the opportunity to purchase carbon credits from greenhouse gas emissions.
CDM projects generate emission credits called Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), which are then bought and traded. One CER is equal to one ton of CO2(eq) emission reduced. The CDM helps to deliver sustainable development benefits to the host country, said DMRC officials.
"The CDM projects are managed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an entity established to combat 'dangerous human interference with the climate system'. The first CDM project of Delhi Metro was based on the regenerative braking technology. Carbon credits generated from this project till 2012 were sold for Rs 9.55 crore," a senior DMRC official.
Officials said that the second CDM project was based on the principle of the Modal Shift. The essence of this project is that the carbon footprint of people travelling by metro is lesser than that of other modes of transport.
Delhi Metro has so far registered four projects - Regenerative Braking project, Modal Shift project, MRTS Program of Activities (PoA) project and solar project with UNFCCC.
Green earnings
3.55 million: Carbon credits sold between 2012-18
Rs 29.65 crore: Total revenue generation
CDM projects are managed by the UNFCCC to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system"
Rs 9.55 crore from Carbon credits generated from the Clean Development Mechanism in 2012
DMRC in 2014 became the first ever metro to be registered with the 'Gold Standard Foundation'