India Puts A Plant-Wise Carbon Target On Iron And Steel
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued a revised draft notification on June 26, made public on July 2, setting plant-wise greenhouse gas emission intensity targets for 255 iron and steel units under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme. The list spans integrated plants, electric arc furnace units, induction furnace producers, sponge iron units, and ferroalloy makers, with JSW Steel, Tata Steel, SAIL, and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel among the named entities. Each unit gets a 2023-24 baseline and a compliance target for 2026-27, expressed in tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of product.
What Changes On The Ground
The compliance year 2026-27 is the fiscal year already underway, so baseline mapping and metering decisions belong to this quarter, not next year.
Units that beat their target earn carbon credit certificates tradable on the Indian Carbon Market; units that miss pay environmental compensation set at twice the average carbon credit price.
A 60-day objection window from gazette publication is open, the formal channel for sponge iron and ferroalloy units to contest their assigned numbers.
What Is Already Moving
This is a re-issue: the first iron and steel draft appeared in June 2025, other sectors received final targets in January 2026, and the steel draft has returned with marginal changes.
With earlier notifications, the compliance mechanism now covers 490 obligated entities across India's most emission-intensive industries.
Indian steelmaking averages 2.55 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel against a global average of 1.9.
The Bigger Trade Picture
India is building a domestic compliance carbon market on the same emissions-intensity logic as the EU's trading system. For exporters, the plant-level verified data this framework forces into existence is the same paperwork European buyers now request under CBAM, so the compliance cost and the export credential arrive together. Similar frameworks are under development across Asian and Gulf markets, which makes India's rollout the regional template to watch.
Read The Draft
The full amendment, issued under the Environment Protection Act, is covered with schedule details here.