India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme is a compliance market being built in public, one notification at a time. The architecture is settled: BEE administers it, obligated entities in notified sectors receive greenhouse gas emission intensity targets, and those who beat their target earn credits that those who miss it must buy. What is not settled is almost everything a company would need in order to act.
Seven sectors carry notified targets today. Iron and steel — the largest by plant count — is still in draft, with a comment window that expires within days. Twelve offset methodologies are approved and seven more are in consultation. Fifteen agencies are accredited to verify, but only five of them for offset projects. The registry is live, and it holds no registered projects at all.
That last fact is the one worth sitting with. Every institutional piece exists, and nothing has traded. The interesting question for anyone exposed to this is not what the rules say — the rules are readable — but which parts of the machinery are actually running, and which are announced. This track tracks exactly that, and says plainly where the answer is 'not yet'.
The six slots
- Trigger — Ten sectors in two phases; seven carry notified targets Settled
- Requirement — Seven sectors notified; steel draft, window closing In motion
- Instruments — 12 approved methodologies, 7 in consultation, 17 tools Settled
- Readiness — 15 agencies accredited; registry live, no registered projects In motion
- Economics — Rules for trading exist. No price does. Absent
- Response — Nothing registered yet — no behaviour to observe Absent
Or walk it as a path
Obligated entity
A plant in a notified sector that has, or expects, a GEI target
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1TriggerSettled
Ten sectors in two phases; seven carry notified targets
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2RequirementIn motion
Seven sectors notified; steel draft, window closing
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3ReadinessIn motion
15 agencies accredited; registry live, no registered projects
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4EconomicsAbsent
Rules for trading exist. No price does.
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5InstrumentsSettled
12 approved methodologies, 7 in consultation, 17 tools
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6ResponseAbsent
Nothing registered yet — no behaviour to observe
Offset project developer
Developing a project intended to generate carbon credits under the offset mechanism
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1InstrumentsSettled
12 approved methodologies, 7 in consultation, 17 tools
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2ReadinessIn motion
15 agencies accredited; registry live, no registered projects
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3EconomicsAbsent
Rules for trading exist. No price does.
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4TriggerSettled
Ten sectors in two phases; seven carry notified targets
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5RequirementIn motion
Seven sectors notified; steel draft, window closing
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6ResponseAbsent
Nothing registered yet — no behaviour to observe
Observer
Learning the scheme — advisor, investor, journalist, student
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1TriggerSettled
Ten sectors in two phases; seven carry notified targets
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2RequirementIn motion
Seven sectors notified; steel draft, window closing
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3InstrumentsSettled
12 approved methodologies, 7 in consultation, 17 tools
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4ReadinessIn motion
15 agencies accredited; registry live, no registered projects
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5EconomicsAbsent
Rules for trading exist. No price does.
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6ResponseAbsent
Nothing registered yet — no behaviour to observe
The slots in full
Trigger Settled
Why does this reach me?
The sectoral scope memorandum and seven target notifications are final and published. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
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Ten sectors are in scope, split across two explicit phases
Phase 1: Energy, Industries, Waste handling and disposal, Agriculture, Forestry, Transport. Phase 2: Construction, Fugitive Emissions, Solvent use, CCUS. Sixteen sub-sectors in total.
BEE Office Memorandum No. 45/02/NMEEE/Energy Efficiency-CCTS/2024, 20 September 2024 · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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The Phase 2 sectors lacking methodologies is the published sequence, not a shortfall
Construction, Fugitive Emissions, Solvent use and CCUS are scheduled for a later phase. Reading their absence as a gap misreads the memorandum.
BEE Office Memorandum No. 45/02/NMEEE/Energy Efficiency-CCTS/2024 · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Seven sectors carry notified GEI targets
Aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali and pulp & paper under G.S.R. 739(E); aluminium second tranche, petroleum refinery, petrochemical and textile under G.S.R. 25(E).
Gazette of India — G.S.R. 739(E) 8 Oct 2025; G.S.R. 25(E) 13 Jan 2026 · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Iron and steel targets are still in draft
G.S.R. 517(E) dated 26 Jun 2026, gazette-published 2 Jul 2026, with a 60-day comment window. Over 240 plants are named. Baseline year 2023-24; targets bite in compliance year 2026-27.
Gazette of India — draft G.S.R. 517(E) · checked 2026-08-26 verified
What does not exist
The count of obligated entities has not been verified against a primary notification
A widely repeated figure of around 490 circulates in secondary coverage. It is not used here because it has not been counted from the schedules.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
Richard’s view
The two-phase structure is the single most misread thing about CCTS. Almost every commentary treats the four Phase 2 sectors as evidence the scheme is incomplete. They are scheduled. Saying so is both more accurate and less politically exposed than the alternative framing.
Next step Someone else
Read the notification that names you
The gazette notifications list plants individually. If your plant is named, the target applies to it. The schedules are the authoritative answer and they are public.
No commercial relationship. These are government publications and no provider is needed to read them.
Requirement In motion
What would have to be true, in numbers?
Seven sectors are notified and final. The largest by plant count, iron and steel, is draft with a window closing around 31 Aug 2026.
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Targets are set as greenhouse gas emission intensity, per plant, not as absolute caps
This matters commercially: growth is not penalised directly, inefficiency is.
GEI Target Rules and notifications · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Draft steel targets use a 2023-24 baseline year and take effect in compliance year 2026-27
Gazette of India — draft G.S.R. 517(E), 26 Jun 2026 · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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The steel comment window closes around 31 August 2026
Computed from the gazette publication date of 2 Jul 2026 plus the stated 60 days. Confirm independently before relying on it.
Computed from gazette publication date · checked 2026-08-26 inferred
What does not exist
The steel Third Schedule has not been extracted plant by plant
Plant, registration number, state, baseline intensity and 2026-27 target are all in the draft. Extracting them would let any named plant see its own number.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
Whether offset credits can be surrendered against a compliance obligation is unresolved
The single most consequential open question on this track. It determines whether the offset and compliance markets are one market or two. The answer sits in the Detailed Procedure documents, which have not been read.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
Richard’s view
A comment window is the sharpest and shortest-lived opportunity this market offers, and almost nobody in industry knows these are open. Responding to a consultation is probably the highest-return unpaid hour available here.
Next step Our service
Target reading and gap assessment
What your notified or draft target actually requires, measured against your current intensity, with the surrender exposure quantified and the consultation response drafted where a window is open.
This is our service. Scoped and priced before any work begins.
Instruments Settled
What counts as a valid response?
Twelve approved methodologies and seventeen tools are published and in force. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
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Twelve methodologies are approved, covering five of the six Phase 1 sectors
Energy 3 (renewables, hydrogen electrolysis, biomass); Waste 3 (landfill methane, landfill gas, compressed bio-gas); Industries 2 (efficiency and fuel switching, hydrogen from biogas); Forestry 2 (mangrove A/R, non-wetland A/R); Agriculture 2 (livestock methane, rice cultivation). Transport is the sixth Phase 1 sector and its methodology is in consultation.
ICM portal — offset mechanism · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Seven items are in consultation
Shore-side electricity, end-of-life vehicle recycling, Mass Rapid Transit (BM TR06.00X, Transport), cooking energy, and accelerated carbon mineralisation using reactive industrial waste (BM CCUS10.001, CCUS) — plus two comment templates.
ICM portal — offset mechanism · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Seventeen methodological tools are published — twelve non-forestry and five forestry
ICM portal — offset mechanism · checked 2026-08-26 verified
What does not exist
The Article 6 section of the portal reads 'Coming Soon'
Until it populates, the count of authorised Article 6 activities can only be sourced secondarily, so it is not stated here.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
Richard’s view
A methodology is written once and then governs project economics for a decade — baseline, monitoring burden, and what counts as additional. The comment templates are published and open. This is where the leverage is, and it is almost entirely unused by industry.
Next step Someone else
Methodology selection is a crowded field
Several accredited developers and consultants do this competently. The methodologies and tools themselves are published and free to read, and responding to an open consultation costs nothing but time.
No commercial relationship with any developer. We are not the right call for routine methodology selection and will say so.
Readiness In motion
Can this actually be done today?
Accreditation capacity is building fast and running ahead of methodology. The registry is live but holds nothing. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
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Fifteen agencies are accredited, ACVA001 through ACVA015
Accreditation is per mechanism and per sector, held either Provisional (one year) or Final (five years).
BEE ACVA register, last updated 14 July 2026 · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Only five of the fifteen are accredited for offset projects, and three of those hold Final status
Final: Bureau Veritas India (ACVA002), TUV India (ACVA003), KBS Certification Services (ACVA006). Provisional: VKU Certification (ACVA001), Earthood Services (ACVA004). The remaining ten are compliance-only, all Provisional.
BEE ACVA register · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Bureau Veritas is the only agency accredited for both mechanisms
BEE ACVA register · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Accreditation is running ahead of methodology
Three agencies are accredited for Transport and two for Fugitive Emission. Neither sector has an approved methodology. Capacity exists for work that cannot yet be done.
BEE ACVA register cross-referenced against ICM approved methodologies · checked 2026-08-26 verified
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Compliance verification capacity is being built faster than offset
The register grew from ACVA001 to ACVA015 between March and June 2026, and ten of the fifteen are compliance-only. This follows: obligated entities have deadlines, offset projects do not.
BEE ACVA register · checked 2026-08-26 verified
What does not exist
The registry holds no registered projects
Registered Projects is empty. Listed Projects holds a single record whose name indicates a test entry. Every institutional piece exists and nothing has been registered.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
No agency is accredited for CCUS
The CCUS methodology BM CCUS10.001 is in consultation. Even once approved, there is currently nobody accredited to verify against it.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
Richard’s view
Accreditation running ahead of methodology is a genuinely good sign and it is being read backwards by most commentary. Capacity built before demand is how you avoid a bottleneck when demand arrives. The registry being empty is the real constraint, not verifier availability.
Next step Someone else
Five agencies can verify an offset project today
Bureau Veritas India (ACVA002, Final, to 2031), TUV India (ACVA003, Final, to 2031), KBS Certification Services (ACVA006, Final, to 2031), VKU Certification (ACVA001, Provisional, to 2027), Earthood Services (ACVA004, Provisional, to 2027). Check sector coverage before approaching any of them — it varies substantially.
No commercial relationship with any of these agencies, and no referral arrangement. This is the public register, restated usefully.
Economics Absent
What does it cost, and what is it worth?
Trading regulations are notified. No price exists because nothing has traded. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
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CERC has notified the Terms and Conditions for Purchase and Sale of Carbon Credit Regulations, 2026
ICM portal — regulations · checked 2026-08-26 verified
What does not exist
No price discovery. No Indian carbon credit certificate has a published traded price
This is the most consequential absence on the track. Every cost model, every buy-versus-abate decision and every project business case depends on a number that does not yet exist. Anyone quoting a CCC price today is extrapolating from other markets and should say so.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
The portal's Statistics section reads 'Coming Soon'
The day it populates is a genuine story and the likely first source of official volume and price data.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
Richard’s view
The absence of a price is not a failure of the scheme, it is where the scheme currently is. What it means practically is that anyone making an investment decision on CCTS economics today is doing it on an assumption. That assumption should be written down and revisited, not buried in a spreadsheet.
Next step Nobody yet
No price source exists yet
No provider can give you a defensible CCC price today, ourselves included, because none has traded. We monitor the regulations page, the Statistics section and the project registers weekly, and this slot will change the week that changes.
Monitored since 26 Aug 2026. Last checked 26 Aug 2026.
Response Absent
What are the options, and what are others choosing?
Nothing has been registered, so there is no participant behaviour to observe. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
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The registry lists one project, whose name indicates a test record
Listed Projects holds a single entry, 'Test1308', Energy sector, with a consultation window running 13 Aug to 10 Sep 2026. Registered Projects is empty.
ICM portal — listed and registered projects · checked 2026-08-26 verified
What does not exist
No observable participant behaviour
Until projects register and credits trade, any account of 'how Indian industry is responding to CCTS' is inference. The first genuine registration is a landmark and will be reported here.
Monitored since 2026-08-26 · last checked 2026-08-26
Next step Nobody yet
Nothing to benchmark against yet
Peer benchmarking on this track is not possible today and we will not manufacture it. The homepage counters showing 180 and 54 are unlabelled and must not be read as project counts.
Monitored since 26 Aug 2026. Last checked 26 Aug 2026.
Not citable — deliberately withheld
| Claim | Why it is not used |
|---|---|
| Offset credits cannot be surrendered for compliance | Unverified. The most consequential open claim on this track. Sits in the Detailed Procedure documents, not yet read. |
| Approximately 490 obligated entities | Not verified against a primary notification. Widely repeated in secondary coverage. |
| Thirteen Article 6 authorised activities | The portal section reads 'Coming Soon'. Secondary sourcing only. |
| 255 steel companies | Plausible, but the schedule has not been counted. |
| Homepage counters of 180 and 54 as project counts | The counters are unlabelled. They are tracked as a delta only and must never be published as project numbers. |
Beta — read this before you rely on a figure
What this is. Each track answers the same six questions about one subject and shows the date each answer was last checked. Every claim names the primary document it came from. Where something does not exist yet, that is stated with the date the watch began.
What beta means here. The system that assembles these pages is new. Slots may be drafted by an automated research process before an editor reviews them, and no page is published until a person has read it and signed it off. Some sources cannot be read automatically, and where that is true the page says so rather than reporting an unchanged figure.
Check the source before you act. These pages are a starting point for your own reading, not a substitute for it. Rules, prices, accreditations and eligibility lists change between checks, and a date on this page is the date it was last verified, not a guarantee it is current today. Every claim links to the document it came from. Use that document.
Not advice. Nothing here is legal, financial, compliance or investment advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell or retire any carbon credit or to take any regulatory position. It does not create a client relationship. For a decision that carries money or liability, take professional advice on your own facts.
Interests to declare. Richard N. Bright is CEO of Carbon Registry India, a non-profit standard and an NCCF initiative, and provides paid advisory services. Where a track points a reader towards those, it is disclosed on that slot. Most slots point somewhere else, and some point nowhere, which is the honest answer more often than the field admits.
Corrections. If a figure here is wrong, say so and it will be corrected and dated. That is the fastest way to make this better, and it is welcome.