SDG 13: Climate Action | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Institutions: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
The Centre has officially notified the Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity (GEI) Target Rules, 2025, establishing India’s first legally binding emission reduction targets for high-emission industries. These mandatory targets apply to 282 industrial units across four energy-intensive sectors: cement, aluminium, chlor-alkali, and pulp and paper. The compliance period begins in 2025-26, with reduction goals set against a 2023-24 baseline.
These rules are designed to fully operationalize the country’s domestic carbon market. Industries meeting or exceeding their targets will earn tradable carbon credit certificates, issued by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). Non-compliant entities must purchase equivalent credits or face “environmental compensation” (a penalty) imposed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The GEI Target Rules are a landmark step in climate policy, transforming voluntary energy efficiency efforts into an enforceable, market-based compliance framework necessary to achieve India’s climate commitment of reducing the emission intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030.
What is the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), 2023? → The CCTS is the overarching framework notified by the Indian government to establish a domestic carbon market where tradable carbon credit certificates can be bought and sold, providing a market mechanism to incentivize industries to reduce, remove, or avoid greenhouse gas emissions.
Follow the full news here: https://moef.gov.in/storage/tender/1745395105.pdf