AMSTERDAM, SWITZERLAND: India can become one of the biggest sellers of greenhouse gas credits under the Kyoto Protocol, a government official said on Wednesday.

"India has the potential to supply more than 30 percent of global demand for Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) under the Clean Development Mechanism," said S.K. Joshi, an offical at India's ministry of environment and forestry.

Joshi told a carbon trading conference that India was one of the most attractive host countries for Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

"The government is fully supportive of CDM rojects," he said, adding that India creates about three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

CDM allows richer nations with emissions reduction targets under Kyoto to buy CER credits from poorer countries which have signed up to Kyoto but do not have reduction goals.

Under the mechanism, which was designed to promote the transfer of environmentally friendly technology to poor countries, all credits bought and sold must be linked directly to projects that reduce emissions in the developing, or host, country.

India's first CDM project to gain full approval was waved through last week by the CDM Executive Board, which is accountable to Kyoto Protocol parties, said Joshi.

India has approved 54 projects but they need backing from the executive board, he said.

Joshi said there was huge potential for CDM projects in the Indian energy sector. India reckoned it could potentially operate about 45,000 megawatts of wind power capacity, compared to an existing capacity of only 1,870 megawatts, he said.

Source:
PlanetArk

Reuters (03 Mar 2005 8:48 PM GMT+05:30)