The Andhra Pradesh government will fully support the Government of India’s carbon credit trading scheme, a market-based approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the environment and mitigate adverse climate change effects, said an official on Thursday.
Welcoming the scheme, State Chief Secretary K S Jawahar Reddy noted that new opportunities will be created for individuals, companies, and other organisations, including ushering in the benefits of carbon offsetting projects such as ecosystem management, forest preservation, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy generation, and others.
"The carbon credits trading would undoubtedly be a great boon to deal with global warming and will be a win-win situation for the sustainable environment with multiple benefits," said Reddy in a statement, following the 11th executive committee meeting of the AP State Energy Conservation Mission (APSECM).
According to an estimate by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), the southern state has an energy saving potential of around 17,000 MU or 25 per cent of its total energy demand.
Considering this quantum of saving potential, Andhra Pradesh has decided to take steps to achieve at least 10 per cent of it per year in the first phase at 1,700 MU worth Rs 1,200 crore by adopting an integrated approach, involving all the departments under one umbrella, including reducing electricity bills of government departments.
The Chief Secretary directed energy officials to fast-track efficiency measures in all government departments and transform government buildings into star-rated ones, including working out a time-bound state energy efficiency action plan.
He advised that this plan should encompass all the departments such as municipal administration, panchayat raj, medical and health, endowments, industries, social welfare, school education, and agriculture among others to achieve the target of 6.68 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) set by BEE.
The Chief Secretary patted APSECM for implementing IoT-based energy efficiency technology in 65 MSMEs, mandatory energy conservation building codes in 123 urban local bodies, energy conservation cells in 42 government departments, and others.
