New Delhi: The Union environment ministry ignored the cautions by the Union law ministry’s legislative department regarding the green credit scheme and still went ahead with its launch, a report by The Indian Express stated on March 31.
Based on responses availed from the government under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the daily had found that the legislative department under the Ministry of Law and Justice had noted that the Environment (Protection) Act “perhaps” supports the business provisions under the scheme.
What is the green credit scheme?
Launched in 2023, the Green Credit Program (GCP) aims to “incentivize environmental actions”. It plans to do this by issuing green credits to individuals, communities, private sector industries and companies, for undertaking voluntary environmental actions such as afforestation. Once individuals or entities register their environmental activities through the Union government’s website or application, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) – which implements the scheme under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change – will verify the activity through an agency. The ICFRE will then issue a green credit certificate.
Once the green credits are registered under the green credit registry, they can be traded – bought and sold, much like stocks – on a trading platform developed by the ICFRE. According to the Union environment ministry, the green credit program will focus on afforestation and water conservation activities in its initial phase.
However, the scheme has come under fire for several reasons.
Prime among them is that the scheme could actually be detrimental to ecosystems because it aims to identify “degraded lands” which entities can plant trees on. Currently, degraded lands or “wastelands” – as classified by the Union government – also include extremely important habitats such as scrub forests and grasslands. Here, planting trees could have several negative consequences including impacting the role of these native ecosystems as crucial carbon sinks, as well as affecting the biodiversity in these areas.
An environmental law expert told Mongabay-India that the scheme employs a “tree-for-tree approach without considering the cultural importance or ecosystem services provided by forests and land”.
Another concern in the methodology specified by GCP is that it does not clarify who will maintain the tree saplings that are planted as part of obtaining green credits. In March 2024, 91 retired civil servants wrote an open letter to the Union environment ministry citing several of these concerns.
“The scheme’s shortcomings are obvious. No amount of money can be a substitute for the land required for our forests, and for our biodiversity and wildlife to thrive. Yet the government is trying to make it easy for entrepreneurs and industrialists to acquire forest land by permitting them to offer, in exchange, money (in the form of green credits), instead of land for land as was the case so far,” it read.
In March this year, the Supreme Court took up these concerns raised by environmental groups, and asked the environment ministry to respond. The ministry has sought some more time for its reply.
The ministry notified the Green Credit Rules – which lays down the basis of GCP – on October 12, 2023, under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Environment ministry ignores cautions
It turns out that a week before the ministry notified the rules, the legislative department under the law ministry cautioned that the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, “perhaps” did not support the business model specified by the Program.
The legislative department, which drafts laws for other ministries, noted this issue twice and advised the environment ministry to “examine the legality of the proposed Green Credit Rules in consultation with the Department of Legal Affairs”. The Indian Express reported this on March 31, based on information in documents availed under the RTI Act.
However, the environment ministry proceeded with the programme without the suggested legal review, Indian Express reported. As per documents accessed by the media house under the RTI Act, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav approved the final draft of the Green Credit Rules on August 18, 2023 before sending it to the law ministry’s legislative department for vetting. On October 5 that year, the legislative department commented:
“Perhaps, the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, do not support such business objects or activity and rules to be framed for the purposes. In view of the above, the administrative ministry may examine the legality of the proposed Green Credit Rules in consultation with the Department of Legal Affairs.”
But in response, the environment ministry said that the GCP “supported environmental protection and improvement, placing it well within the scope of the EPA”, Express reported.
The report added that a scientist-level officer in the environment ministry noted in internal files on October 10, 2023, that the Environment (Protection) Act “provides power to the central government for planning and execution of a nationwide programme for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution”.
In the same correspondence chain, Express reported that a director-level officer in the environment ministry noted that observations made by the law ministry have been “discussed” and “duly considered”.
The issue of the legality of the Green Credit Rules came up again on January 4, 2024, when it was reviewing the draft notification of the GCP. The legislative department noted that it had no record of advice from the Department of Legal Affairs on this, Express reported.
However, on January 29 last year, the environment ministry only “referred to its submissions from October 10, 2023” and said that the rules were in line with the ministry’s “mandate to plan and implement national programs for preventing, controlling, and reducing environmental pollution”, Express reported.
