The Hindu Business Line : Gujarat Fluoro, SRF top players in emissions market

Potential gains to be made from trading in emissions have tickled the popular imagination. More and more companies climb onto the bandwagon with each passing day.

But there are only two really large players in India, SRF Ltd and Gujarat Fluorochemicals. While a handful of the rest have set themselves a target of 5-lakh tonnes or more, most are small timers. And all, without exception, are many years away from getting their credits certified. This is clear from data on progress and prospects available from what is popularly known as the UN's `Climate Secretariat'.

As shown in the table, as of April 8, 2006, actually certified emissions for Indian companies added up to 7.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year. Of these, 3.8 mt were grabbed by SRF, whose project was formally cleared on December 24, 2005, and another 3 mt by Gujarat Fluorochemicals, on March 8, 2005.

Average certified emissions for the 26 other Indian projects that have been approved so far are less than 30,000 tonnes.

Formal claims

In addition to emissions that have been cleared so far, worldwide, formal claims have been admitted for only three other projects, adding up to 1.7 mt. All three relate to India; one of them to SRF, which may soon have another 1.3 mt in its kitty. There is, however, one bright star on the horizon. Though the UN Secretariat has cleared only 52 mt of CO2 equivalent so far, the number and nature of the proposals that have come knocking at its doors have raised expectations of another 750 mt getting cleared by 2012.