Which of the following statements about 'Green Credit Initiative' is/are correct? 1. It is a response to the challenge of climate change. 2. It promotes plantations on wasteland and river catchment areas. 3. It is a scheme of the Government of India to replace the kerosene oil with solar power used by the rural poor. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a)1, 2 and 3
- (b)1 and 2 only
- (c)2 only
- (d)1 and 3 only
Correct — B, 1 and 2 only. The Green Credit Programme, notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 12 October 2023, is a market-based mechanism that rewards voluntary environmental action with tradable credits, and it grows directly out of the Lifestyle for Environment idea India has pressed at the climate conferences — so statement 1 is correct. Statement 2 is correct as well: the rules require State and Union territory Forest Departments to identify degraded land parcels, including open forest and scrub land, wasteland and catchment areas, of five hectares or more, which are then made available for tree plantation to earn green credits. Statement 3 belongs to a different policy area altogether; replacing kerosene with solar power for rural households is the business of rural electrification and solar schemes, and has nothing to do with green credits.
- (a)1, 2 and 3 — Sweeps in the kerosene-and-solar statement. Green credits are earned for environmental activities such as plantation, water conservation and waste management, not for household lighting substitution.
- (c)2 only — Accepts the plantation description but denies the climate framing, when the programme is presented by the environment ministry as part of India's climate response and traces its origin to the Lifestyle for Environment initiative announced at COP27.
- (d)1 and 3 only — Keeps the false statement and drops the true one. The plantation-on-degraded-land activity is the best-defined part of the whole scheme.
A green credit is a unit of measurement issued for a specified environmental activity, which the holder can trade on a designated platform. The Green Credit Rules, 2023 set out eight activity heads — tree plantation, water conservation, sustainable agriculture, waste management, air pollution reduction, mangrove conservation and restoration, eco-mark labelling and sustainable building and infrastructure. Tree plantation was the first head to be operationalised: a methodology notified on 26 February 2024 fixed one green credit per tree grown, subject to a minimum planting density of 1,100 trees per hectare, certified by the Forest Department concerned.
The item is decided by statement 3, and the way to see through it is to ask what a credit is for. Green credits reward an action that improves the environment and can be measured and certified — a tree grown, a wetland restored. Swapping a household's kerosene lamp for a solar lantern is a real and worthwhile intervention, but it is delivered as a subsidy or a scheme, not as a tradable credit, and it belongs to the energy ministry rather than to the environment ministry. A note on the printed wording: the rules speak of 'catchment areas' rather than 'river catchment areas', so the paper's phrasing is a small gloss on the notified text and does not change the sense. It is also honest to record that the programme has drawn criticism — conservationists have argued that planting on land classified as degraded can affect existing open forest and grassland ecosystems, and that a credit market should not become a route to offset forest diversion.
- The Green Credit Rules, 2023 were notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 12 October 2023.
- Forest Departments identify degraded land parcels — open forest and scrub land, wasteland and catchment areas — of five hectares or more for plantation.
- Eight activity heads are covered, from tree plantation and water conservation to mangrove restoration and sustainable building.
- The tree-plantation methodology notified on 26 February 2024 gives one green credit per tree, at a minimum density of 1,100 trees per hectare.
- Assuming any scheme with 'green' in the name covers renewable energy at the household level.
- Treating green credits and carbon credits as the same instrument — they measure different things and are issued under different rules.
- Reading a paraphrase in the question as a quotation from the notification.
As a three-statement item in which one statement is drawn from an entirely different scheme. Learn what unit each credit measures and which ministry issues it.
Regarding “carbon credits”, which one of the following statements is not correct?
- (a) The carbon credit system was ratified in conjunction with the Kyoto Protocol
- (b) Carbon credits are awarded to countries or groups that have reduced greenhouse gases below their emission quota
- (c) The goal of the carbon credit system is to limit the increase of carbon dioxide emission
- (d) Carbon credits are traded at a price fixed from time to time by the United Nations Environment Programme
Answer(d) Carbon credits are traded at a price fixed from time to time by the United Nations Environment Programme
The older instrument that green credits are modelled on and most often confused with. Both are tradable environmental credits; carbon credits measure emissions avoided, green credits measure a certified environmental activity such as a tree grown.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Green Credit Rules, 2023 were notified by which ministry?
- (a)Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
- (b)Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
- (c)Ministry of Rural Development
- (d)Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
Answer(b) Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change — the rules were notified in October 2023.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the tree-plantation methodology for green credits, credits are calculated at the rate of
- (a)one credit per hectare planted
- (b)one credit per tree grown, subject to a minimum planting density
- (c)one credit per tonne of carbon dioxide absorbed
- (d)one credit per rupee invested
Answer(b) one credit per tree grown, subject to a minimum planting density — set at 1,100 trees per hectare.