India, Aug. 26 -- India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), formally introduced in June 2023 through amendments to the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, provides a foundational legal framework for a unified Indian carbon market. Structured around two key components, the compliance mechanism and the offset mechanism, it represents a major shift in India's climate governance. The compliance mechanism evolves from the Perform-Achieve-Trade (PAT) scheme into a more robust, market-based emissions trading system, while the offset mechanism marks India's first official baseline-and-credit programme, facilitating the issuance of credits for voluntary mitigation actions beyond regulatory obligations.

With this architecture in place, India has beg...