Affluent Indians seek to reduce carbon footprint with carbon credits, but how does it work?
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Globally, credits worth nearly $2 billion traded on the largely unregulated voluntary carbon market in 2021, almost four times the previous year, with about 500 million credits – representing 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions – changing hands, according to Ecosystem Marketplace. New businesses like Climes, Lowsoot and WOCE are seeking to grab a share of India’s growing sales of carbon credits, sought by climate-conscious consumers who want to green everything from their travel to weddings and online purchases. India – which has become one of the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitting nations but aims to reach net-zero emissions only by 2070 – is slowly gaining ground in this market. Besides the cake-cutting, fancy dress and dancing at Sandhu-Torre’s party, guests enjoyed a presentation on how carbon credits work and were encouraged to do their bit to reduce the celebration’s climate-heating emissions. Their gift hampers contained QR codes linking to the Climes website where they could easily offset a share of the party’s emissions by buying carbon credits that support agro-forestry, land restoration or technology that converts waste to energy.