Delhi Metro Scores a world first with carbon credits

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro has earned Rs 3 crore annually in carbon credits since 2009. The railway project is the first transport project in the world that was registered under the United Nations programme for dealing in the carbon market.

Metro chief E Sreedharan said that use of regenerative braking system in trains — that results in power production — was one project that had been certified for carbon trading and another project had received in-principal approval.

“Metro has brought about a massive conversion of road-users to Metro-users. For 15 lakh passengers that we see on the Metro, 1.5 lakh vehicles are off the road. This leads to a huge reduction in emissions. The project has received approval and should start earning us carbon credits soon,” he said.

Metro has also used flyash bricks in construction activity which, the corporation says, will save 3.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 10 years.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation officials said the braking system had saved 90,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted.

“The certification report was given on February 22, 2009, by Germany-based validation organization, TUV NORD, which conducted an audit on behalf of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It found that DMRC prevented emission of 90,004 tonnes of CO2 from 2004 to 2007 by adopting regenerative braking systems in trains. In 2008, emission of an additional 39,000 tonnes of CO2 was prevented. With the complete operation of phase-II, we would save close to one lakh tonnes of CO2 emissions,” said DMRC officials.

Explaining how the system works, an official said, “Whenever Metro trains apply brakes, three phase-traction motors installed on the trains produce electrical energy which goes back into the overhead electricity lines. The regenerated power is used by accelerating trains on the same service line, saving overall energy in the system. About 30% power requirement is reduced,” he said.

Metro saved 1,12,500MW hours of power generation between 2004 and 2007. It can claim 4 lakh carbon credits over a 10-year period starting from December 2007.