(wl-2964)-Towards a Robust Voluntary Carbon Market for Agriculture in India

The Indian government is establishing its own carbon market and has introduced the Framework for Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) in Agriculture. To ensure its effectiveness, it is crucial to learn from the challenges encountered by existing carbon farming projects under the global VCM in India. This analysis will enable policymakers to address these issues, benefiting the farming community. Without proper implementation, there is a risk of producing low-quality carbon credits that may not sell, undermining the credibility of agriculture-based carbon credits in the long term. This could adversely affect the sector, farmers, and the environment. This concern is heightened by Verra's (world’s largest carbon credit certifying mechanism) recent decision to deny registration to four Indian carbon farming projects. In this commentary, issues ranging from transparency to efficiency to pricing are discussed, and recommendations based on CIMMYT's work over the past 15 months are offered.