India’s ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has issued a draft notification setting greenhouse gas emission targets for the iron and steel industry and aligning them with the country’s carbon credit trading system (CCTS), a government official said on Wednesday, July 8, citing the official notification.
The ministry has set emission reduction targets for 255 industrial units, including the sector’s majors like JSW Steel, Tata, SAIL (Steel Authority of India), and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel, among others.
The draft notification lists 2023-24 as the year for baseline product output and baseline emission intensity, and 2026-27 as the compliance-year target for individual steel plants, sponge iron units and ferroalloy manufacturers. A 60-day window has been given to submit objections and suggestions on the draft.
The draft defines targets in terms of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), which is used to measure the impact of all greenhouse gases and not just CO2, based on their warming potential.
India’s CCTS was launched in 2023 to create a framework that incentivizes emission reduction through a market-based mechanism and to help achieve India’s climate action goals.
