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 much land is involved?
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha on 16 March 2026, the government gave the area of degraded forest land selected for eco-restoration under the programme, state by state (PIB, 16 March 2026):
| State | Area (hectares) |
|---|---|
| Assam | 454 |
| Bihar | 460 |
| Chhattisgarh | 536 |
| Goa | 5 |
| Gujarat | 975 |
| Jharkhand | 302 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 640 |
| Maharashtra | 335 |
| Odisha | 257 |
| Rajasthan | 175 |
| Telangana | 155 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 97 |
| Total | 4,391 |
The land bank on the portal changes over time as Forest Departments add parcels, so other figures may appear in other sources.
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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