The Hindu Business Line : EEPC plan for clean development mechanism for members

Kolkata, July 18 Recognising carbon trading as an essential tool for SMEs to shore up their turnover and operating profits, the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) has taken up a programme to familiarise members with the nuances of green house gases emission reduction norms for sustainable development.

The council intends to act as a facilitator, and has planned to create a Special Purpose Vehicle for this purpose.

Talking to Business Line on the sidelines of a technical workshop on ‘Clean Development Mechanism and Carbon Trading Opportunities’, Mr Rakesh Shah, Chairman of the council, said EEPC has already initiated a dialogue wi th Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co Ltd for a consultancy arrangement to extend the process further.

(Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, following the merger of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ Financial Group, has now become the largest financial group in the world.)

Mr Shah, however, clarified that everything would depend on the response from members, and whether they see an opportunity here for both increasing the bottomline and also adhering to global sustainability guidelines.

Making a presentation on the subject, Mr V.K. Duggal, CDM Consultant, Clean Energy Finance Committee of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, said Indian companies can earn over Rs 15,000 crore through carbon credits sale by 2012. CDM, he said, presented an opportunity to attract both public and private investment from developed countries in environmentally and socially sound projects in countries like India.

According to a background paper presented at the EEPC workshop, India (as on March 2006) had 310 eco-friendly projects awaiting approval by the UN Committee, and once cleared, these can fetch nearly Rs 29,000 crore in the next seven years.

Mr Duggal said some 731 CDM projects have been registered globally, out of which more than 60 per cent fall in the energy sector. Indian projects have a share of 35 per cent (255 registered projects), followed by China (13 per cent) and Brazil (14 per cent), he added.