India proposes binding GHG intensity targets for major industries

India's MoEFCC published draft rules on April 16, 2025 setting greenhouse gas emission intensity targets for aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali, and pulp & paper under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme. The framework makes 186 named facilities accountable, embedding enforceable decarbonization in India's carbon market.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change published draft Greenhouse Gases Emission Intensity Target Rules, 2025 on April 16, 2025, establishing legally binding sector-specific emission intensity benchmarks measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per unit of product. The rules apply to aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali, and pulp & paper under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, with compliance in two phases covering 2025-26 and 2026-27. Entities must meet targets or buy carbon credit certificates from the Indian Carbon Market, with shortfalls attracting environmental compensation equal to twice the average carbon-credit trading price.

A detailed list of 186 obligated facilities, including major players such as Vedanta, Ultratech, ACC, Emami Paper, and Tata Chemicals, is included in the draft alongside baseline emission data and assigned reduction trajectories. These high-emission industrial entities are directly affected, required to register on the Indian Carbon Market Portal and submit periodic compliance reports using Bureau of Energy Efficiency protocols. The framework shifts these sectors toward a market-driven compliance ecosystem, embedding cost-effective decarbonization across industrial value chains while incentivizing early emissions-reduction action.

Obligated industries should register with the Indian Carbon Market Portal and prepare baseline-aligned compliance reporting using Bureau of Energy Efficiency protocols, while assessing their assigned emission-intensity reduction trajectories. Stakeholders may submit comments on the draft rules during the 60-day consultation from publication, sending inputs to [email protected]. Facilities should plan for either meeting targets or purchasing carbon credit certificates to cover shortfalls, noting that revenue from environmental-compensation penalties will fund carbon-market infrastructure and decarbonization efforts.

Key figure — Penalty: environmental compensation equal to twice the average carbon-credit trading price for shortfalls