RAS question
The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) of India was notified in:
Correct answer: (C) 2023 (under the Energy Conservation Act 2001, as amended in 2022).
India notified the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme in 2023 under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, after its 2022 amendment enabled a domestic carbon market.
Explanation
India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme is a 2023 measure, not an older climate-policy instrument. The PIB release states that the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 was amended in 2022 to facilitate a carbon market, and that the Government subsequently notified the CCTS through S.O. 2825(E) dated 28 June 2023, with a later amendment in December 2023. This matches the exam answer: 2023 under the Energy Conservation Act framework as amended in 2022. The scheme is built around two tracks: a compliance mechanism for obligated entities that must meet prescribed greenhouse-gas emission-intensity reduction norms, and an offset mechanism through which non-obligated entities may register eligible emission-reduction, removal or avoidance projects. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency implements the scheme.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The cited PIB release links CCTS to the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 as amended in 2022, not to a 2020 notification under the Electricity Act.
- (B) The scheme was notified after the 2022 amendment and the PIB release identifies the notification date as 28 June 2023, so 2019 under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 is too early and uses the wrong legal basis.
- (D) The PIB release treats CCTS as a later domestic carbon-market mechanism notified in 2023, not as a 2015 measure directly notified under Paris Agreement obligations.
Concept
This tests climate-policy instruments under Environment and Ecology, especially the statutory basis of India's carbon market. It recurs in RAS because carbon pricing, compliance markets and India's climate-governance architecture connect current affairs with environmental law.