Hello,

A carbon credit is a kind of token that a polluting company can buy from a renewable energy project. When the latter uses this revenue to generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases, it is said to offset the harm that the former does to the environment.

In India, renewable energy projects have sold millions of such credits to companies from industrialised nations. Many of these projects are situated in the Himalayas, and harness its rivers to generate electricity.

But, as Vaishnavi Rathore reports from Himachal Pradesh, there are significant problems with the way this system has been functioning. Recent analysis has shown that some of these projects offset far less carbon than they claim to. And on the ground, they have done considerable damage to the local environment.

“People in Kinnaur who had been impacted by dams had not heard of carbon credits before,” Rathore said. “Many of them had crucial concerns to raise when they understood the mechanism. These interactions showed that companies had not included communities in carbon-credit discussions.”

You can read the story here.

How hydropower projects in Himachal sold dubious carbon credits

A recent report found that several of these projects had offset no carbon dioxide or less than the amount they were supposed to offset.

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Ajay Krishnan,
Senior Editor