Carbon credit rate in India: prices, markets and how to buy or sell

A carbon credit is a certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) that has been kept out of the atmosphere or removed from it. Projects earn credits by reducing emissions (for example, replacing diesel with solar power) or by removing carbon (for example, growing trees or applying biochar to soil).

A credit only exists once an independent verifier has checked the project against a published methodology and a registry has issued it with a unique serial number. When a company uses a credit to count against its own emissions, the credit is retired on the registry so it cannot be sold again.

In India, two kinds of credit matter today: credits issued under international voluntary standards such as Verra and Gold Standard, and Carbon Credit Certificates (CCCs) under India's own Carbon Credit Trading Scheme^[2][3].

There is no single official carbon credit rate in India. India's compliance market, the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), has started setting obligations but has not yet started trading^[2][4]. Until it does, credits from Indian projects are sold mainly on the global voluntary carbon market, where prices are set deal by deal and quoted in US dollars.

The most widely used public benchmark is Ecosystem Marketplace's annual market report. It found an average voluntary market price of US$6.34 per tonne in 2024, about ₹540 at ₹85 per dollar, with the overall average down about 5.5% on the year and transaction volume down about 25%^[1].

Averages hide a wide range. Two credits for the same tonne can sell at very different prices depending on how the carbon was saved or removed, how well it is verified and who is buying.

Ecosystem Marketplace reports these average prices for 2024 transactions^[1]:

Rupee values are converted at ₹85 per US$ for reference only. Forestry and land-use credits stayed above US$9 on average even as overall prices fell, and buyers paid clear premiums for removals and for projects with strong co-benefits such as agroforestry and blue carbon^[1].

Credits from older renewable energy and similar avoidance projects have generally traded at the lower end of the market, because many buyers now prefer newer projects and carbon removals^[1].

1. Removal or avoidance

Removal credits (tree planting, agroforestry, biochar) take carbon out of the air. Avoidance credits stop emissions from happening. Buyers increasingly pay more for removals.

2. Standard and verification

Credits issued under recognised standards, with transparent monitoring and third-party verification, sell above credits with weaker evidence. Labels such as the Integrity Council's Core Carbon Principles (CCP) are now used as a quality signal^[10].

3. Vintage

The vintage is the year the reduction or removal happened. Recent vintages usually fetch higher prices than old ones.

4. Permanence and risk

Forest carbon can be lost to fire, felling or drought, so standards require buffer pools and long-term monitoring. Projects with lower risk and longer commitments are valued more.

5. Co-benefits

Projects that also raise farmer incomes, support communities or restore biodiversity attract a premium from buyers who report on more than carbon.

6. Authorisation under Article 6

Credits authorised by a host country for international transfer under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, with a corresponding adjustment to that country's own accounts, can be used for national climate targets and may sell at a premium^[11].

7. Volume and buyer

Large, long-term purchase agreements are usually priced differently from small spot purchases.

Voluntary carbon market

Companies buy credits verified under international standards such as Verra's Verified Carbon Standard or Gold Standard to meet their own climate goals. Indian project developers are among the largest suppliers to this market. Prices are in US dollars.

Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS)

India's compliance market, created under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022 and notified in 2023^[5][6]. It sets greenhouse-gas emission-intensity targets for energy-intensive industries. Entities that beat their target earn Carbon Credit Certificates; those that miss must buy and surrender them^[2][3]. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency administers the scheme^[5].

Offset mechanism

Alongside the compliance side, the Indian Carbon Market includes an offset mechanism under which projects outside the obligated sectors can register and earn credits^[3][5].

Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT)

India's earlier energy-efficiency trading scheme, in which industries traded Energy Saving Certificates (ESCerts) on power exchanges. The CCTS builds on this experience and moves from energy savings to greenhouse-gas intensity^[5].

Green Credit Programme

A separate scheme under the Green Credit Rules, 2023 that rewards environmental actions such as tree planting on degraded land identified by forest departments with green credits. Green credits are not carbon credits and measure different things^[7].

Once trading starts, CCTS certificates will have their own market price in rupees, set on the power exchanges. That price may differ from voluntary credit prices because the two are used for different purposes.

The basic sum is simple:

Value = verified tonnes of CO₂e × price per tonne − project and transaction costs

Illustrative example (not a quote): an agroforestry project that has 1,000 verified and issued credits, sold at the 2024 agroforestry average of about US$14, would earn about US$14,000, roughly ₹11.9 lakh at ₹85 per dollar, before costs^[1].

Costs to subtract usually include project design, validation, monitoring, third-party verification, registry and issuance fees, and any broker margin. For tree projects, the number of tonnes depends on species, growth, survival and the methodology used, and credits arrive only after the trees have grown and been verified.

To estimate tonnes for a planned tree project, use our carbon credit estimator.

Tree projects are removal projects: the trees take carbon dioxide out of the air as they grow. To turn that into credits, a project follows a published methodology, for example Verra's VM0047 for afforestation, reforestation and revegetation, or Gold Standard's afforestation and reforestation rules^[8][12].

1. Eligibility: the land and activity must qualify, and the project must be additional, meaning it would not have happened without carbon finance.
2. Design and validation: a project document sets the baseline, species, monitoring plan and risks; an independent body validates it.
3. Planting and monitoring: trees are planted, mapped and measured over time.
4. Verification: an independent verifier checks how much carbon has actually been stored.
5. Issuance and sale: the registry issues credits, which can then be sold and retired.

Because trees grow slowly, the first verified credits typically come several years after planting. Biochar projects, which turn crop residue into stable carbon added to soil, follow their own methodologies such as Verra's VM0044^[9].

At Grow Billion Trees every tree is geo-tagged and tracked on GreenTrack, with 85% survival across our programmes, which is the kind of monitoring record these methodologies require. See agroforestry and biochar.

1. Set your goal: offsetting residual emissions, a net-zero claim, or supporting impact. This decides the type of credit you need.
2. Choose the credit type: removals or avoidance, nature-based or technology, and whether you need credits authorised under Article 6.
3. Check quality: the standard, methodology, vintage, verification reports and any CCP label^[10].
4. Buy through a registry account, a broker or directly from a project.
5. Retire the credits on the registry in your company's name and keep the retirement record for your reports.

Companies that want their own project rather than market credits can fund plantation built for future verification. See carbon credits for companies.

Selling credits means first having a project that a standard will credit:

1. Confirm the activity and land are eligible under a methodology.
2. Prepare the project document and get it validated.
3. Register the project with a standard such as Verra or Gold Standard, or under the Indian Carbon Market's offset mechanism once it is open to your project type^[3][5].
4. Monitor, then get each period verified.
5. Receive issued credits in your registry account and sell them to buyers, directly or through brokers.

For industries covered by the CCTS, certificates earned by beating targets will be sold on the power exchanges once trading starts^[4].

Can farmers earn carbon credits? Yes, usually through a project developer that groups many farms into one agroforestry project, because measurement and verification are costly for a single small plot.

• Issued under a recognised standard and methodology.
• Validation and verification reports are public.
• Additional: the project would not have happened without carbon finance.
• Conservative baseline and measurement.
• Permanence risk handled with buffers and long-term monitoring.
• No double counting: credits are retired once, and Article 6 authorisation is clear where needed^[11].
• Real benefits for communities and nature, with safeguards.
• Recent vintage and a traceable serial number on the registry.

tCO₂e

One tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent; the unit for one credit.

Voluntary carbon market

Where companies buy credits for their own climate goals, outside any legal obligation.

CCTS

Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, India's compliance carbon market.

CCC

Carbon Credit Certificate issued under the CCTS.

ESCert

Energy Saving Certificate under India's PAT scheme.

Green credit

A credit under India's Green Credit Programme for environmental actions; not a carbon credit.

Removal / avoidance

Taking carbon out of the air versus preventing emissions.

REDD+

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

ARR

Afforestation, reforestation and revegetation projects.

Blue carbon

Carbon stored in mangroves and other coastal ecosystems.

Vintage

The year in which a reduction or removal happened.

Retirement

Permanently using a credit on a registry so it cannot be resold.

MRV

Measurement, reporting and verification.

Corresponding adjustment

An accounting step under Article 6 that stops a credit being counted by two countries.

CCP

Core Carbon Principles, a quality label from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market.