Times of India , Sunday, June 12, 2005

Correspondent : PAUL JOHN

AHMEDABAD: Industries and municipal corporations in Gujarat can now earn in dollars on initiatives to reduce the tonnes of carbon emitted that contribute to global green house phenomenon. These emissions are caused by extensive release of carbon dioxide, meth-ane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sul-phur hexafluoride into the atmosphere through various industrial processes and burning of solid wastes. At a seminar organised by the Confederation of India Industries (CII) here on Saturday, members belonging to various industrial sectors across Gujarat were introduced to the concept of carbon trading and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The principles of CDM have their birth in alternatives worked out by international negotiators as part of the Kyoto Protocol, which man-dates that developed countries jointly reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by five per cent by 2008-2012 as compared to their 1990 levels. India became a signatory to the United Nations Frame-work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in August 2002. Under this pact, developing countries like India will not only get new and clean technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from devel-oped countries, but also funding for putting such environment friendly technology in place. The protocol came into effect in February this year. "Carbon trading are mechanisms worked out by international nego-tiators as part of the Kyoto Protocol. The developed countries negoti-ated and obtained three flexible mechanisms through which they could buy credit for emission reductions elsewhere. The Clean De-velopment Mechanism (CDM), for instance, is one of the three flexi-ble mechanisms that permits them to sell their ‘total annual units of GHG emission reduction in tonnes’ for a particular rate per tonne to companies and organisations in the developing world. The buyers can use this credit to meet their emission reduction targets for 2008-12,"says director for carbon emissions ministry of environment and forests RK Sethi.

SOURCE : Times of India, Sunday, June 12, 2005