Centre to boost carbon credits for biogas sector: Jal Shakti Minister

New Delhi: Union Minister for Jal Shakti C R Paatil has said that the government will strengthen its commitment on a national programme to promote compressed biogas, a green fuel, and streamline mechanisms for carbon credits in the sector.

The Minister reviewed the progress of the “Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan” or GOBARdhan programme, meeting producers and key stakeholders along with representatives from multiple ministries.

During the interaction with CBG (Compressed Biogas) operators, the Minister highlighted excessive use of chemical fertilizers and the lack of a well-defined mechanism for promoting the system of trading in carbon credits in the CBG sector in the country.

The CBG industry talked about the excessive use of chemical fertilizers, specifically drawing attention to the deficiency of carbon in the soil and the role of FOM (Fermented Organic Manure)/ LFOM (Liquid Fermented Organic Manure) in restoring this carbon balance.

Industry representatives suggested that by promoting bio-fertilizers, this degradation in soil health could be restored. Accordingly, they requested for more farmers educational programmes in this regard as well as to look into the possibility of bundling fertilizers, said a statement from the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

The industry talked about the carbon credit system as being a substantial revenue earner for the sector and requested the Government to quickly establish mechanisms so that this fledgling sector could be further incentivized. This would not only support India's vision of achieving net zero but also enhance the economic viability of these projects, said the statement.

In June 2023, the government launched a unified registration portal for ‘GOBARdhan’, which acts as a one-stop repository to assess investment and streamline the process of setting up biogas plants in India.

The GOBARdhan initiative is aimed at transforming organic waste into valuable resources such as compressed biogas and organic manure to cut down the use of chemical fertilisers and blending with petrol.

The Union Budget 2023-24 announced the setting up of 500 waste-to-wealth plants, which was a boost for the GOBARdhan plan.

Currently, the country has 113 compressed biogas plants, with another 667 plants in various stages of development, the review showed. Moreover, 171 plants are planned to be constructed. However, in 2020, the number of functional plants was only 19, the statement said.