By December 2012, Indian companies may earn more than Rs 11,000 crore through the sale of carbon credits they are expected to accumulate from projects for controlling emissions, credit ratings organisation Crisil Research said today.
The renewable energy sector alone is expected to account for a third of the total carbon credits earned, amounting to about Rs 4,000 crore, it said.
Crisil said that India is at the forefront of ushering in one of the most progressive regimes in renewable energy, a sector fast emerging as a big source of carbon credits or Certified Emission Reduction Units (CERs).
Companies can earn CERs by investing in pollution reduction projects such as power generation from renewable sources. These CERs can be sold in the international market to generate income.
Crisil said that the number of CERs issued in India is expected to increase to 246 million by December 2012, from 72 million in November 2009, cementing the country's position in the global carbon credits market.
Crisil research director Nagarajan Narasimhan said, "CER issuance, purely from registration of existing and new renewable energy projects, will increase to 76 million by December 2012, from 13.5 million in November."
Also Read
"Assuming a price of euro 10 for one CER, additional issuances of CERs from renewable energy projects will be worth about Rs 4,000 crore by December 2012," he added.
Narasimhan said that from all its sectors, India can earn more than Rs 11,000 crore from CERs that would be accumulated by then.
Besides renewable energy, the two other areas that will account for big CER earnings for India are HFC (hydro-fluoro carbon) and waste gas utilisation.