“Be the change that you wish to see in the world”
Mahatma Gandhi
It’s an established record that 2024 has been the warmest year and the first year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5 degree Celsius above its pre-industrial level. On the backdrop of completion of 20 years from enforcing the Kyoto Protocol (adopted in 1997; effective in 2005) and 10 years from adopting the Paris Agreement (2015), the Conference of the Parties (30th session; COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be hosted and presided over by Brazil in November 2025. With climate change being identified as a “common concern for humankind”, the United Nations created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1988. Four years later in 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development organised the Rio ‘Earth Summit’ and signed the UNFCCC reinforcing the five pillars: Mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity-building.
Clear signals of distress are visible on the living planet, in terms of heating of seawaters and melting of ice glaciers. The global call against climate change is the need of the hour and COP30 must be the platform to transform the world towards climate-resilient evolutions. The moment must be used to align the flows of international capital and integrate the climate transitions into a new climate conscious industrial revolution. The “Baku to Belem Roadmap to 1.3T” must serve as a podium to leverage finance, technology and international cooperation for accelerated climate action. The Enhanced Transparency Framework may be a guiding force for the stakeholders to prepare systematic Biennial Transparency Reports and communicate their respective Nationally Determined Contributions in an effective manner. The 62nd session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation was held in the month of June 2025, wherein experiences have been shared regarding the adoption and implementation of technologies to strengthen the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism.
For uniting the collective and united spirit towards a sustainable ecosystem, COP30 has launched four Circles of Leadership, viz. (a) “Circle of COP Presidents”, (b) “Circle of Peoples”, (c) “Circle of Finance Ministers”, and (d) “Global Ethical Stocktake Circle”. Our actions need to be guided by proactive policies as the fight against climate crisis may be suffering from the “The Last War Syndrome” with all the existing political establishments and think-tanks having hierarchical structures based on obsolete strategies. The vagaries brought about by climate change dictates radically innovative solutions to face the new challenges in a rapidly evolving scenario.
Brainstorming on similar lines, a reference is invited to India’s Green Credit Programme (GCP), announced in October 2023 and recently modified in August 2025, which was launched as an innovative mechanism to incentivise voluntary environmental actions by making them quantifiable and tradable. As of September 2025, 26.4 thousand hectares have been recorded for eco-restoration, with the state of Madhya Pradesh registering more than 12,000 hectares. As of November 2024, 384 entities participated in the programme, including 40 Public Sector Undertakings, of which IOCL is leading in commitment, with 14.9 thousand hectares selected for restoration.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” says a very old Chinese proverb. The Government of India, however, is rewriting the script for corporates. Under the new rules, companies can plant their trees today, but they will have to wait five years before reaping the credit. No more instant green points will be allowed for sapling plantations. It’s a shift from quick climate book-keeping to a longer-term commitment, nudging corporates to prove that their sustainability efforts actually take root before they start counting the shade.
Despite the novel motivation, the lack of clarity in the methodology for green credit accrual has repeatedly driven criticism of the GCP. In February 2024, the Ministry of Environment mandated at least 1,100 trees per hectare, with one green credit per tree issued two years after plantation. In April 2024, the requirements were relaxed by including shrubs, herbs, grasses, and rainwater harvesting to cover a broader concept of “eco-restoration.” The benefits of the plantation also allowed for the earning of carbon credits.
However, compensatory afforestation in India has been more of a miss than a hit. With serious issues raised in the past, from ghost plantations to huge unspent funds with governments and central bodies, the GCP warrants more clarity at the policy level and a critical examination of the intended versus observed outcomes. Allowing credits to be traded just after two years of plantation, without safeguards to ensure long-term survival, has drawn sharp criticism. Plans to link these credits with the carbon market added further uncertainty, especially regarding whether the claimed emission reductions would be additional.
The recent modifications, released on August 29, severs ties with the carbon market and replace the rigid 1,100-trees-per-hectare rule with a canopy density benchmark. To earn credits, land parcels must reach at least 40 per cent canopy cover within five years, with one credit awarded for each surviving tree. Furthermore, the rules clarify that green credits can be exchanged only once to meet compensatory afforestation requirements.
Although the revisions are a welcome move, they risk being old wine in a new bottle. Swapping the rigid 1,100-trees rule for a 40 per cent canopy density sounds flexible, but it is still a numbers game. Five years down the line, monoculture plantations could easily tick the box, delivering dense canopies that look good on satellite images but do little for biodiversity, soil health, and water security. By cutting ties with the carbon market, speculative misuse may be avoided, but in doing so, it also strips away incentives for companies that want to make genuine, measurable climate contributions. On the contrary, considering the Green Credit generated under the GCP to meet the requirements under Corporate Social Responsibility can go a long way in executing projects under Public Private Partnership mode.
However, with COP30 around the corner and climate emergency knocking at every country’s doorstep, the recently amended GCP Rules 2023 is a welcome step in the right direction to convert our dialogues into delivery on the ground.
Saugat Das is a research scholar at IIT Kharagpur
Arunava Bandyopadhyay is Assistant Professor at International Management Institute Kolkata
Views expressed are the authors’ own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth