Desideratum of the Life Mission in India: Exploring the Need, Requisites, and Implications of Water Green Credits

Although water enwraps three-fourths of the earth’s surface, only 3% of this water can be categorized as drinkable, non-saline, fresh water. Of this fresh water, 69% is stored in the form of glaciers and ice caps, and only 31% of it is accessible. In the context of India, though the region is a peninsula but it still has to deal with scarcity of water and generation of wastewater. India constitutes 17% of the global population, i.e., about 146 crores, and has 2.4% of the global landmass that consumes around 4% of the world’s water resources. As per the last census, the per capita water availability is 1544 cubic meters, which is declining every year, signaling a threat to water sustainability. Over and above the scarcity of water, there lies concerns for wastewater disposal that is around 38,000 million litres per day generated from urban centres alone as per the last census. To vouch responsible water stewardship in the long run and hold individuals accountable for their wastewater generation and water usage, the Government of India introduced the Mission LIFE in 2021 at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) that has water conservation through green credits as one of the focus areas among other environmental sustainability domains. It focuses on transitioning from the “use-and-dispose” economy to a “circular economy” whereby individuals and organizations would be able to save, trade, and earn water green credits with a threshold being standardized for water consumption. The water green credits would work in a similar mechanism to carbon trading. To dive deep into the understanding of the water green credits mechanism, this research would assess the need, the requisites, and its implications for India by analyzing it from the perspective of the carbon trading mechanism.