New Delhi, July 1 -- The union environment ministry has issued a draft notification on greenhouse gases emission intensity (GEI) targets for industries under India's carbon credit trading scheme. These emission targets are for 2025-26 and 2026-27 for a range of industries under the carbon trading market and suggest that the carbon market will become operational during the period. The Union government notified the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme in 2023 under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 which defined the Indian carbon market framework, established for trading of the carbon credit certificates to reduce or remove or avoid the greenhouse gases emissions. The targets have been issued for three companies in aluminium; 253 in the iron and steel sector; 21 in petroleum refining; 11 in petrochemicals; 11 naphtha ; and 173 spinning/textile units which have registered under the scheme. The draft notification also states that the obligated entity shall achieve the GEI targets in the respective compliance year as per the schedule provided in the draft notification. They can meet their GEI target for the respective compliance year by purchasing carbon credits certificates from the Indian carbon market, in case they do not achieve the prescribed GEI target. The GEI Targets will be calculated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. BEE in a 2023 report said that India has been at the forefront of climate action to meet the global climate goals through its ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions. A single market at the national level, as opposed to having multiple sectoral market instruments, would reduce transaction costs, improve liquidity, enhance a common understanding and targeted capacity development, and streamline the accounting and verification procedures, it said. "With the recent announcement of greenhouse gas intensity reduction targets for entities within four more sectors, India is getting closer to the operationalisation of its carbon market," said Vaibhav Chaturvedi, senior fellow at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water....