Archive · 7 Oct 2026
India Urged to Turn BRICS Carbon Cooperation into Influence
Countries are starting to treat pollution like something that can affect trade and business.
The article says India should help developing countries take part in this changing system, rather than only objecting to rules made elsewhere.
Under a Paris Agreement rule, countries can cooperate and transfer verified emissions reductions.
But countries need reliable records so the same reduction is not counted twice.
The article suggests that BRICS create a permanent technical group to help build those records and other shared tools.
India could also help other countries learn how to measure and verify emissions reductions.
Carbon projects could bring investment, but India should carefully decide which reductions to keep for its own climate goals.
The broader aim is for developing countries to help shape carbon-market rules and retain more value from their climate efforts.
The article argues India should turn BRICS summit commitments on carbon markets into practical cooperation under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.
It proposes a permanent BRICS technical group to develop shared principles for registries, reporting, verification and interoperable systems.
India’s existing carbon market framework and expertise in digital services could support carbon-market capacity building and services exports.
The article warns that transferred carbon reductions may no longer count toward India’s own climate commitments, so credits should not be sold indiscriminately.
It says credible carbon infrastructure could help developing countries attract climate finance and better navigate carbon-related trade measures.
- Who
- India and BRICS members, with developing countries in the Global South as potential participants.
- What
- The article urges India to establish a permanent BRICS technical group for carbon-market infrastructure and Article 6.2 cooperation.
- When
- Following the BRICS summit in New Delhi.
- Where
- Within BRICS cooperation and international carbon markets.
- Why
- To help developing countries build capacity, attract climate finance and influence carbon-market rules while protecting their own climate commitments.
Build and Trade
Protect Domestic Climate Value
International carbon-credit transfers
Build and Trade
Transfers could attract international capital for emissions-reduction projects and support climate investment.
Protect Domestic Climate Value
Transferred reductions may no longer count toward India's own climate commitments, so the country should decide carefully which outcomes to retain.
Carbon-market rules and trade measures
Build and Trade
Developing countries should build credible measurement and verification systems to participate in carbon markets and respond to carbon-related trade requirements.
Protect Domestic Climate Value
The article says developing countries have legitimate concerns that climate-related trade measures could impose extra costs on exporters, and that carbon infrastructure cannot eliminate those disputes.
- Proposed focus
- Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement and carbon-market infrastructure.
- Suggested BRICS mechanism
- A permanent technical group focused on registries, reporting, verification and system interoperability.
- India's existing framework
- The Indian Carbon Market and its Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, covering compliance and offset mechanisms.
- Potential cooperation sectors
- Renewable energy with storage, green hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel, green ammonia and energy efficiency.
- Accounting concern
- A transferred mitigation outcome may require an adjustment in national accounting and may no longer be available for India to count toward its own target.
- Trade context
- The article cites the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism as making carbon intensity increasingly relevant to trade.
- Article's central recommendation
- Build credible, connected systems that let developing countries participate in carbon markets and help shape their rules.