Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pitched for a more “holistic” Green Credit at a high-level event on the Programme at the World Climate Action summit at COP28 in Dubai.

He said that the purview of carbon credits is very limited and plagued by a commercial element.

He said the Green Credits Programme has been conceptualised to incentivise voluntary efforts to address the challenge of climate crisis.

“I have always felt that the purview of carbon credit is very limited. In a way, this philosophy is influenced by the commercial element. I have seen a major lack of a sense of social responsibility in the system of carbon credit. We will have to emphasise on a new philosophy in a holistic manner and that is the foundation of Green Credit,” he said.

“The manner in which we give importance to our Health Card in life, we have to similarly start thinking in the context of environment. We will have to see what is to be done to add positive points to Earth’s Health Card. I think this is what Green Credit is,” he said.

Modi together with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of UAE, co-hosted the event, which also saw the participation of Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Sweden, Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique and Charles Michel, President of the European Council.

“The Green Credit Initiative has been conceptualised as a mechanism to incentivise voluntary pro-planet actions, as an effective response to the challenge of climate change. It envisions the issue of Green Credits for plantations on waste/degraded lands and river catchment areas, to rejuvenate and revive natural ecosystems,” he said.

He also invited all nations to join the initiative.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that the global initiative aims to facilitate global collaboration, cooperation and partnership through exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices in planning, implementation and monitoring of environment positive actions through programs/mechanisms like Green Credits.

During the event, a web platform to serve as a repository of policies and best practices was also launched.

During the event, PM Modi and Swedish PM Kristersson also co-launched the Phase-II of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT 2.0) for the period 2024-26. India and Sweden had co-launched LeadIT at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in 2019.

To achieve global net-zero emissions, government and industrial partnership is critical, Modi said.
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