Gujarat PSU is now on CDM roll of honour

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals (GACL) became the first Indian public sector undertaking to register its clean development mechanism (CDM) project with the executive board of CDM under the UNFCCC. The first Indian company to register for CDM was from Gujarat and now, the first PSU to join the league is also from the same state.

The Vadodara-based state PSU will now be able to generate as much as Rs 70-75 crore by selling close to one million carbon credits or certified emission reductions (CERs).

“Our project has finally been registered. This project is part of four such projects being undertaken by the company with a total potential of 1.2m CERs,” PK Taneja, MD, GACL, told ET. The company is now at an advanced level of talks with the Dutch-based Nuon for selling the CERs. “A legal opinion has now been sought on the issue,” Mr Taneja said.

The period during which the CERs would be generated is between ’03-12 as the company had switched over to gas from naphtha as fuel in ’03. Of the remaining three CDM projects the company is working on, the executive board has sought some clarifications.

Earlier, Gujarat Flourochemicals, a Gujarat-based refrigerant gas manufacturing company, was the first company in India to receive project registration from the CDM executive board. The CDM mechanism is designed to make it easier and cheaper for industrialised countries to meet the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets that they agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol.

According to the targets, the carbon emission should be reduced to 1990 levels by ’12. The CDM is also mandated to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development.