Abstract Book of the 5th World Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming
Year: 2025
DOI:
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Truth or Greenwashing: A Spatial Analysis of Carbon Credits in Indian Forest Projects
Dhruv Repuriya, Dr. Ankhi Banerjee
ABSTRACT:
Carbon instruments are pivotal for decarbonizing the global economy, especially as developing countries require climate finance and investments in green technologies to reduce emissions. Currently, 75 carbon market instruments are implemented globally, covering 24% of global emissions. Carbon credits, among these, are instrumental in allowing entities to offset emissions through investments in climate-mitigating projects. Forest-based carbon credits, in particular, have dominated the market by value and volume in 2022 and 2023. However, the credibility of these credits rests on their quality, assessed by factors such as additionality, transparency, leakage, permanence, and integrity. Rising concerns over greenwashing have raised questions regarding their legitimacy, highlighting the need for rigorous verification.
This study addresses a critical gap in the lack of quantitative assessment and verification of forest-based carbon credits. Focusing on India, it examines the actual contribution of forest carbon credits to conservation, identifying instances of greenwashing. Projects registered on prominent carbon registries and verified by leading organizations were analyzed. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing techniques were used to assess changes in forest cover and compute the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a measure of carbon sequestration. Temporal analysis was conducted to track forest cover changes over these projects’ lifecycles.
The research contextualizes India’s role in the global carbon market, with an emphasis on the forest sector. By integrating advanced spatial analysis, it aims to address transparency gaps, enhance carbon credit authenticity, and inform policy discussions, promoting stringent verification in the carbon market.
keywords: Carbon Credit Integrity, Carbon Sequestration, Forestry & Land-use, GIS & Remote Sensing, Temporal Analysis