Centre Notifies India’s First Legally Binding Emission Targets For High-Polluting Industries

The Centre has notified India’s first legally binding Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity (GEI) Target Rules, 2025 for regulating industrial emissions across key polluting sectors, the Indian Express reported.

The rules apply to 282 high-emission industrial units across aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali, and pulp and paper industries.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued the notification on 8 October, following a draft released in April.

The rules define emission intensity as the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted per unit of product output, for instance, the gases released during the production of one tonne of cement or aluminium.

Under the GEI framework, industries that meet or exceed their targets will earn carbon credits issued by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, while those falling short must purchase credits or pay environmental compensation to the Central Pollution Control Board.

The initiative operationalises India’s domestic carbon market under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), 2023, creating a mechanism for trading emission credits and encouraging cleaner production.

Of the 282 covered units, 186 belong to the cement sector, 13 to aluminium, 30 to chlor-alkali, and 53 to pulp and paper.

Major corporations such as Vedanta, Hindalco, Ultratech, JSW Cement, Dalmia, Shree Cement, and JK Paper are among those bound by the new targets.

According to an analysis by Down to Earth, emission reduction targets will range from 2-3 per cent in 2025-26 to as high as 7.5 per cent by 2026-27 — with pulp and paper units facing up to 15 per cent cuts.

The GEI Rules replace the earlier Perform, Achieve, and Trade (PAT) scheme by adding a market-based trading system to India’s industrial decarbonisation efforts.

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