Green Credit Programme India: Rules, Tree Plantation and How It Differs from Carbon Credits
What India's Green Credit Programme is, who runs it, how the tree plantation rules changed from February 2024 to August 2025, what green credits can be used for, and why they are not carbon credits.
How are green credits different from carbon credits?
The Rules say so directly: the Green Credit programme "is independent of the carbon credit" under India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 (CCTS). The same preamble adds that an activity that earns a green credit may have climate co-benefits and may also earn a carbon credit under the CCTS.
| Green credit | Carbon credit under the CCTS | |
|---|---|---|
| Law | Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 | Energy Conservation Act, 2001 |
| Ministry | Environment, Forest and Climate Change | Power |
| Run by | ICFRE as Administrator | Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) as administrator |
| Rules | Green Credit Rules, 2023 (12 October 2023) | Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 (28 June 2023, S.O. 2825(E)) |
| What one unit means | An incentive unit for a specified activity; for tree plantation, linked to trees and restored land | 1 tonne of CO2 equivalent reduced, removed or avoided |
| Main purpose | Reward environmental actions such as restoring degraded land | Price greenhouse gas emissions and help meet India's climate targets |
Voluntary carbon credits sold under international programmes, such as Verra or Gold Standard, are a third, separate thing.
Sources: Gazette of India: Green Credit Rules, 2023, S.O. 4458(E), MoEFCC, 12 October 2023 (copy hosted by Puducherry DSTE); Gazette of India: S.O. 884(E), Methodology for calculation of Green Credit in respect of Tree Plantation, MoEFCC, 22 February 2024; PIB: Parliament Question, Green Credit Programme (MoEFCC, 16 March 2026); PIB: Notification issued for Green Credit Program (GCP) and Ecomark scheme (MoEFCC, 13 October 2023); PIB: Year End Review 2023, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Green Credit Programme portal: Frequently Asked Questions (ICFRE/MoEFCC); PIB: Parliament Question, Indian Carbon Market (MoEFCC, 9 December 2024); Mongabay India: Green credit rules tweaked to favour canopy cover, remove trade provision (September 2025), secondary source for orientation
This article was prepared with AI assistance and checked by the GreenEye team against the sources shown in each section.
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