Integrating Government Schemes for Carbon Incentives and Farmers’ Benefits
摘要
Climate change necessitates all nations to make efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to limit the rise in global average temperatures to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Governments globally adopted various policy measures such as carbon tax, emission trading mechanisms, voluntary carbon markets, and compliance mechanisms to regulate emissions in their respective countries. Carbon markets that allow the trading of carbon credits became prominent as an opportunity for all the stakeholders to sequester and reduce GHG altogether, earning additional income. While carbon markets are open to all sectors, the participation of the agricultural sector is still lacking, given the magnitude of emissions arising from the sector. Farmers can also participate in such markets by adopting various sustainable agricultural practices that reduce emissions. Currently, farmers in India organized through private entities participate in voluntary carbon markets. To make the markets more inclusive to all, the Indian government has notified the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme to establish a national marketplace. While the implementation takes time, there is a need to understand the global experience in such markets and mold the policy to be more efficient. This chapter addresses this by explaining various carbon pricing mechanisms followed globally, agricultural practices that reduce GHGs, policies of carbon markets in India, learnings from global policies, and prospects of integrating government schemes with carbon incentives.