India's carbon credit market is projected to grow from $33.7 billion in 2025 to $405 billion by 2034, driven by the new Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) covering nine energy-intensive industries including steel, cement, and aluminium. The framework combines compliance carbon credits with green credits for ecological actions, creating a layered market structure. Technology plays a key role through monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems, blockchain-based tracking via Grid-India, and AI tools that flag emission spikes in real time. The 2026 Union Budget allocated Rs 200 billion for carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), with steel and cement sectors testing on-site carbon reuse and mineralisation pilots. These efforts aim to reduce emissions from hard-to-abate sectors while building investor confidence through transparent data and verified reductions.
