Orissa has high potential for carbon trading

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Bhubaneswar, Sep 4: Orissa has high potential for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and carbon trading, state Minister for Industries Biswabhushan Harichandan said here today.

CDM is an arrangement under the Kyoto protocol allowing the industrialised developed countries committed to reduce their green house gas emission by 5.2 per cent below the 1990 levels during 2008-12 by investing in projects in the developing countries as an alternative to emission reduction in their countries.

Inaugurating a national workshop on capacity building in CDM projects organised jointly by the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (IPICOL),Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry(UCCI) and Institute for Solid Waste Research and Ecological Balance(INSWAREB), a Hyderabad based NGO here, the minister said during the last few years the state had attracted a number of industries in the core sectors like steel, aluminium, cement and power sectors and they generate tonnes of fly ash.

Mr Harichandan said the entrepreneurs of the state could use the opportunity and earn a lot of dollars through carbon trading by taking up fly ash brick manufacturing in a big way and reducing emissions.

The disposal of fly ash had created a problem. He said not only big industries like Rourkela Steel Plant and Tata Steel which had already decided to take up such projects but small entrepreneurs should also join and reap the benefits, he said.

The minister announced the launching of the FAL-G CDM brick manufacturing project in Orissa, a technology to manufacture bricks without using any fuel, for generating carbon credits.

It was also one of the first projects of the Eco Carbon Private Limited,(ECPL) a corporate body promoting CDM projects in the international market and one of the sponsors of the workshop.

ECPL had entered into an Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with the World Bank to transfer eight lakh tonnes of Verified Emission Reductions. The FAL-G project was first implemented in Andhra Pradesh and its entrepreneurs had earned more than two lakh US dollars for selling carbon credits a few days back.

World Bank Regional Carbon Finance Coordinator for South Asian Region Michel Pommier said the potential of the CDM market in India was estimated to be around 35 billion US Dollars. Though India had joined the CDM field in 2002, it failed to fully exploit the potential benefits.

India had managed to have only 12 per cent of the total CDM world market share while China has 61 per cent of the CDM market share, the highest in the world.

Mr Pommier said the CDM market share is likely to grow further.

If India could have 20 per cent of the market share it could earn 60 billion dollars, he said.

Mr Pommier said carbon finance could make a significant contribution to the Indian economy if the PSU and financial institutions were involved in a big way and incentives were provided for development of low cost carbon technology.

Among others IPICOL Managing Director Ashok Menna also spoke on the occasion.

UNI

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