India needs a people’s green movement: Let’s open up carbon trading for everyone

Meeting national commitments warrants every citizen’s active participation in carbon-reducing endeavours. Innovative thinking and the application of fintech, with built-in financial rewards, could inspire a people’s movement to complement government efforts and create a self-sustaining economic stimulus without any subsidy. We argue that a Jan Van programme, combined with the Jan Dhan scheme, can be a game-changer.

The world has become more perilous since Eunice Newton Foote alerted people in 1856 to the warming effect of carbon dioxide (CO2). Recent UN reports highlight some critical points: the planet will be warmer by 2.6° Celsius (against the Paris target of 1.5° Celsius); current national commitments would reduce emissions by only 7.5% by 2030, against 55% needed to meet the 1.5° goal; and renewable energy is an economic opportunity, as it creates jobs and boosts growth.

The results of the government’s efforts are discernible. India’s clean-energy capacity through solar, wind, hydro and nuclear power projects has tripled over the past decade to 232 gigawatts (GW) in 2024, nearly 50% of the country’s installed power capacity as of June 2025. The participation of people could support this endeavour.

We should enable individuals to earn credits from carbon-reducing activities like green-cover plantation, organic farming, local solar and wind energy adoption, stopping crop-residue burning, etc. This can enthuse people to take climate action and play the role of a catalyst. Financial rewards from the popular trading of carbon credits would raise the scheme’s profile and create a social buzz.

India’s Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) of 2023 created a framework for obligated entities to meet emission targets and earn carbon credits or plug shortfalls by buying equivalent credits from the carbon market. The scope of this scheme could be enlarged to include individuals.

Carbon trading markets could use blockchain technology as their basis. This will attract people’s participation and ease integration with the wider global market, which, according to Grand View Research, is estimated to grow 39.4% annually from $ 479.4 billion in 2023 to $4.7 trillion by 2030.

Carbon credits are issued by certified organizations for quantifiable carbon reduction. Blockchain technology could tokenize these credits and convert them into digital assets for trading. Blockchain enables peer-to-peer transactions between buyers and sellers, eliminating intermediation costs. Transactions are encrypted for security and recorded in decentralized ledgers. The exchange of currency is built into such a system.

Enabling such trades will require a policy and regulatory framework that allows fintech innovators and venture capitalists to work together on developing vibrant and accessible carbon trading exchanges, user-friendly decentralized mobile applications and reliable credit verification (and retirement) systems.

Innovations like smart contracts powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can establish systems capable of striking the best deals globally. Imagine a farmer in an Uttar Pradesh village being able to sell carbon credits earned from planting trees in his backyard at the best offer price from a carbon emitting unit in Brazil!

This isn’t a pipe-dream. Pilot projects in China involving Hubei Carbon Emissions Exchange and Shanghai Exchange show that blockchain can effectively address traditional carbon market challenges like trust deficits, low efficiency and restricted cross-platform circulation (Zhang, et al, 2024 and Lin, 2025).

The European Commission promotes the application of blockchain technology in various fields, including carbon trading. Singapore, South Korea and several EU members have established regulatory sandboxes for innovation in blockchain carbon trading.

CTX, the world’s first carbon trading blockchain platform, collaborates with the UN’s CDM registry. Several other platforms have emerged, including KlimaDAO, Toucon Protocol and CarbonPlace. Nori is dedicated to removing carbon from agricultural lands.

Given the criticality and long-term benefits of the endeavour, India, with its large tech base, should lead developments on this emerging frontier. Public-private cooperation will be essential to create the requisite architecture. But if we hesitate, we risk missing this bus.

The system should be aligned with international standards on fighting money laundering and terror financing. Unique identifiers under India’s JAM trinity would help address ‘know your customer’ concerns and risks of anonymous trading. However, this experiment must begin cautiously, with public education efforts running alongside it.

People’s participation in a Jan Van programme (‘jan’ for people and ‘van’ for forest) is not utopian for a civilization deeply rooted in reverence for nature. Think of the Yajurved hymn invoking peace across the universe, the earth, water, herbs and trees; and of Krishna’s message in the Gita on the divine acceptance of the leaf, flower, fruit or water. Both exhort environmental protection. Civilization values can join fintech and economic incentives to pave the way for a self-sustaining movement that does not need any fiscal commitment by the government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Jan Dhan scheme has been a watershed in financial inclusion. A Jan Van scheme that offers financial benefits from carbon trading could ride on that success to become a game-changer for the decarbonization of our economy. Importantly, it would democratize the economic benefits of greening India.

The authors are, respectively, former chairman, Sebi and LIC, and former deputy comptroller and auditor general.