The Hindu Business Line : PwC India advising over 130 potential carbon credit projects

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS (PwC) India is currently advising more than 130 potential clean development mechanism (CDM) projects that can sell carbon credits. The projects are at various stages of development - from conceptual to implementation.

While some of them can use approved methodologies (at the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change or UNFCCC), there are several for which a new methodology has to be proposed, Ms Bharti Gupta Ramola, Executive Director, PwC India, told Business Line.

On the expected total value of earnings from these projects if they get the UNFCCC clearance, she said that since they are at various stages of approval, it would be difficult to evaluate "the total value of the emission reductions and therefore, the value of the projects."

PwC stated in a release that it was the financial advisor to SRF Ltd with regard to the potential production, management and monetisation of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) for a recent deal between SRF Ltd and Shell Trading International for sale and purchase of 500,000 CERs to be delivered on or before April 1, 2007.

(Each CER stands for reduction of one tonne equivalent of carbon dioxide and can be traded globally.)

This follows an earlier deal where PwC arranged for the sale of 500,000 CERs from the same project to ICECAP Trading Ltd, an UK-based trading firm.

The SRF project is expected to reduce approximately 38 million tonnes CERs over a 10-year period. The CERs would be generated from SRF's Rajasthan-based HFC-23 thermal oxidation project.

This is the first HFC-23 oxidation project to be commissioned in India and the second in the world under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.

Ms Ramola, however, refused to disclose the value of SRF-Shell deal citing strict confidentiality requirements.

The project is at a validation stage at the UNFCCC and has "strong sponsor and an approved methodology."

It has already been commissioned and has obtained required approvals from the designated national authorities of India, Germany, and the UK, and is expected to file for registration next month.

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