Ranchi: The state forest department on Tuesday organised its first-ever workshop to identify and develop potential carbon credit projects in the state, in a bid to help govt departments monetise their ongoing carbon-reduction initiatives.The initiative aims to provide a structured roadmap for departments that are already reducing carbon emissions but have so far failed to register or claim carbon credits.State nodal officer for climate change, Ravi Ranjan, said various state departments are implementing programmes such as the forest department’s Jan Van Yojana, the rural development department’s Birsa Harit Gram Yojana, and biogas production schemes, all of which contribute to lowering carbon emissions. However, the absence of a clear framework has prevented these initiatives from being converted into carbon credit projects.“But the departments are not claiming the credit for the reduced carbon, due to the absence of a proper roadmap in front of them. So the forest department, as a nodal agency for climate actions in the state, holds the workshop with various stakeholders in the state that have potential for carbon credit projects, to develop viable projects,” he added.The forest department has partnered with a Jharkhand-based organisation, Climatex, to identify and design carbon credit projects for different stakeholders.“Developing carbon credit projects is a costly exercise and requires technical expertise as well. It is important to assess whether the carbon credit projects can compensate for the expenses incurred in developing the projects. Climatex will organise workshops with the stakeholders, visit the places where their various projects are ongoing and design department-specific carbon credit projects,” Ranjan added.
