A Global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), in one of its report ‘Shades of Green: Reflections on COP25’ suggests that “India could consider developing a robust domestic emission trading system where the private sector could participate and sell retroactive, current and future credits. For the retroactive credits, a suitable cut-off may be decided upon review of the vintage of the available credits in the market vis-à-vis the NDC commitment period. However, going by past experience, market regulations need to be stringent enough to ensure good quality credits and prevent market saturation. Quality of credits may be ensured based on the principles of additionally and sustainable development.”

With only few companies in India which have adopted and implemented ICP successfully over the past decade, it can be said that the adoption rate of carbon pricing has been slow, unlike other countries. Unlike China, Indian government did not provide with enough awareness as to how to increase energy efficiency while managing the carbon credits. China has been successful and faster than India at achieving net zero emissions by focusing on promulgating various specific guidelines and regulations on each of its province and city. Even though the producers and manufacturers of India are ready to be a part of the Paris Agreement’s ‘2°C’ goal in the current market, India does not seem to have enough guidelines, policies, information, guidance and regulations. There are different policies, regulations, and methods through which net-zero emissions can be accomplished faster.

According to experts, carbon taxes like a tax on coal will help reduce carbon emissions faster and increase GDP by 2%. However, the coal cess seems to be ineffective because even though the coal cess penalizes every tonne of carbon from the coal, it pardons the carbon emitted from other fossil fuels. A 2018 report clearly states “Reducing subsidies to fossil fuel industries and introducing carbon pricing can increase critically needed government revenue.” Experts also believe that an explicit carbon tax will also encourage innovations in pre-existing business models like solar drones, super grids, zero energy buildings. “Carbon tax is one of the potent options to nudge the adoption of green tech and, if used wisely, can generate significant results in a short span” says Divakar Vijayasarathy, Founder and Managing Partner of DVS Advisors LLP in one of his articles titled ‘Carbon tax and its impact on India’. Secondly, India’s heavy industries have eagerly adopted carbon pricing but failed to meet net-zero emissions goals. Therefore, India needs to focus on hard-to-decarbonize sectors like iron, steel, bricks, aluminum, cement, bricks, fertilizers, etc. 

However, according to the recent report, India is the only country that is likely to achieve its Paris Agreement’s ‘2°C’ goal. In this report, India is also appreciated for its carbon’s price levels and its extensive energy efficiency policies across industry. India will be on the right track to meet its net-zero goals with its upcoming plans and its aware youth, if it also considers enacting a long term strategy to achieve low carbon economy.