The Indian corporate remains unconvinced about Clean Development mechanisms (CDM) with only seven per cent of PSUs convinced about its efficacy. ONGC, SAIL and IOC have emerged as the front-runners in using CDM but the majority of PSUs have stee-red clear of adopting these emission reduction techniques. CDM allows emission reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits (where reduction costs are lower) by selling these to
industrialised nations in order that they meet their emission reduction targets.
A Ficci report (to be released on Monday) of the Indian CDM portfolio states that even private players with a huge potential for GHG mitigation including the automobile, pharmaceutical, fertiliser, transport, real estate and fertiliser sector have failed to adopt mitigation strategies to bring down emissions.
While the report admits that among 1,100 Indian companies (representing 60 sectors) engaged in CDM projects, wind projects remain the most popular and account for 68 per cent of all renewable energy CDM projects. These are being taken up by small, medium and large scale enterprises with companies like ITC, SAIL, Grasim and Tata Steel.
Some municipal corporations of state such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and state transport departments of Delhi, Bengaluru and Indore are also attempting to use more effective emission techniques. Deputy director of the Centre for Science and Environment, Chandra Bhushan, points out that unlike the popular perception in the West, a large number of Indian industries are actually operating at global best levels.
Mr Bhushan said, “If you look at five of our most emissions-intensive industrial sectors including steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers and paper as well as the power sector, which together accounted for over 60 per cent of India’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2008-9... statistics show that many of them are actually operating at global best levels.”
“Sectors expected to lag behind are steel and paper, largely because of raw material and fuel constraints and also due to the characteristics of the industries themselves,” he added.