Creating carbon sinks in India: a law and policy perspective

Creating carbon sinks – technologies or processes that absorb more carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere than they release – is a significant part of India’s journey to tackle the challenges of climate change. The Economic Survey of India for 2023–24 noted that India has already created a carbon sink of 1.97 billion tons of CO₂ between 2005 and 2019, and that its ambition is to create carbon sinks equivalent to 2.5 to 3 billion tons CO₂ by the year 2030 through forest and tree cover. In comparison, the UK plans to capture and store 20–30 megatons (million tons) of CO₂ each year by 2030.

India’s natural carbon sinks

India’s natural carbon sinks are a key part of these plans. The country’s existing carbon sinks are primarily in the form of forests and mangroves, as well as the soil and oceans. India has a rich tradition of preserving forests and their biodiversity and this value as enshrined in the Constitution of India and measures like the National Forest Policy of 1988, which requires that at least one-third of India’s land area should be under forest or tree cover and also provides for the protection of forests.

Since 1980, India’s Forest (Conservation) Act, has protected the country’s forests

Trees are a great tool to sequester additional carbon and stabilise the climate. The process of photosynthesis allows trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store that carbon in the tree’s biomass. The growth of trees and forests helps create carbon reservoirs. Healthy forests can pull in more greenhouse gases than they release during natural decay.

Carbon sinks are not limited to forests. They include other natural sinks like plants, oceans and soil as well as artificial ones like landfills or carbon capture and sequestration systems. Globally, oceans act as the largest carbon sink by absorbing almost one-fourth of the Earth’s carbon emissions. Oceans also help absorb the excess heat.

Tools to combat climate change

Any process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and retains it in long-term stores, possibly permanently, is a Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) mechanism. This storage could be in geologic formations underground, or in vegetation or aquatic environments.

India has traditionally identified forests and oceans as natural carbon sinks. However, it is pertinent to note that the trees outside forests (TOF) also play a crucial role as carbon sinks. Research published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), states that TOF are crucial natural and renewable resources which help enhance agro-ecology, improve socio-economic conditions in rural areas and ameliorate urban environments.

The objective of the India’s amended Forest Act is to achieve one-third green cover

To achieve its target of carbon sinks equivalent to 2.5–3 billion tons CO₂ by the year 2030, expansion of TOF through agro-forestry and on culturable wastelands would be key to meeting India’s climate change commitments.

A recent research paper published by the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras also concluded that Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal could be used as carbon sinks or potential storage sinks to store vast amounts of carbon dioxide as liquid pools and solid hydrates. The storage has to be done beyond the depth of 2800 metres so that it does not cause any adverse impact on the marine ecosystem. The Bay of Bengal alone has the capacity to sequester hundreds of giga tonnes of anthropogenic carbon dioxide which would be equivalent to several years of total greenhouse gas emissions by India.

Law and policy initiatives

Since 1980, India’s Forest (Conservation) Act, has been the law to protect the country’s forests. This statute prohibits the use of forest land for non-forest purposes and was followed by the National Forest Policy in 1988 which provides that at least a third of the country’s land area must be under green cover to ensure environmental stability and to maintain ecological balance.

Last year, the Forest Act was amended to strengthen forest conservation efforts in India. The amendment added a number of objectives which would facilitate the creation and conservation of carbon sinks in the country. These state that the importance of forests is to be realised to enable the achievement of national targets of Net Zero Emission by 2070 and maintain or enhance the forest carbon stocks through ecologically balanced sustainable development. It also highlights India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets, which envisage creating carbon sinks of an additional 2.5–3 billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2030.

The objective of the amended Forest Act is to achieve one-third green cover and ensure forest based economic, social and environmental benefits, including improvement of livelihoods for forest dependent communities. The forest laws were amended to create provisions relating to conservation management and restoration of forests, maintaining ecological security, sustaining cultural and traditional values of forests and facilitating economic needs and carbon neutrality. The Forest Act promotes carbon sinks through various measures like afforestation and reforestation projects, encouraging private sector involvement and mandatory compensatory afforestation for diversion of forest land.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has initiated various schemes at the national and state levels wherein financial and technical assistance is being provided to promote trees, forest and thus carbon sinks. National Mission for Green India is one such mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Nagar Van Yojana and the Nagar Vatika Yojana are also schemes aimed at enhancing TOF. To add to these there is the Compensatory Afforestation Fund which is meant to promote afforestation and regeneration activities in order to compensate for forest land diverted towards non-forest purposes. Therefore, thanks to its afforestation initiatives India is well on its way to honour its international climate change commitments.