Environment Day: Gujarat govt to promote emission reductions with trading scheme

The Gujarat government will launch an `Emission Trading Scheme' (ETS) Wednesday, under which a firm which reduces emissions below the stipulated limit can sell its `emission permits'. The scheme, to be launched on World Environment Day, is the first of its kind in the world, and will incentivise the reduction of emission of pollutants, the government said in a release Tuesday.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will launch it at a function here. "The main aim of the scheme is to incentivise the industrial units which cap their emissions. It will also reduce the cost of reducing pollution," the release said.

"Industrial units will be attached to Continuous Emissions Monitoring System...for effective compliance," it added. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) said in another release that emissions trading or cap-and-trade is a market-based approach used in "controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants".

Under the scheme, the GPCB would set a limit or cap on the amount of a pollutant that may be emitted. "The limit or cap is allocated or sold to firms in the form of emissions permits....Firms are required to hold a number of permits equivalent to their emissions. The total number of permits cannot exceed the cap.

"The firms which need to increase their volume of emissions must buy permits from those who require fewer permits. The transfer of permits is referred to as a trade," the release added. The buyer in this system, thus, will be paying a charge for polluting, while the seller will be rewarded for having reduced emissions, it said.

(With inputs from agencies.)