The Delhi Metro became the world’s first railway awarded UN carbon credits. The credits are worth INR 470M (USD 9.5M) annually for seven years to operating body Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The average 1.8 million daily journeys recorded reduce pollution in New Delhi by 630,000 tonnes a year.
A UN scheme called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) awards credits as a financial incentive to cut greenhouse gas emissions. A DMRC spokesman added, “This is the second CDM project from DMRC to be registered with the UN body in the last three years. DMRC’s first CDM project on regenerative braking had also achieved many international firsts.
“Every passenger who chooses to use Metro instead of car/bus contributes in reduction in emissions to the extent of approximately 100g of carbon dioxide for every 10km.”
The spokesman added, “No other Metro in the world [qualified for] carbon credits because of the very stringent requirement of the UN body to provide conclusive documentary proof of reduction in emissions. It is difficult to give documentary proof of the difference of energy consumption [both with and without a metro system].
“DMRC proposed an innovative method of proving the emissions using sampling techniques. After rigorous persuasion the UN body finally agreed with this technique.”
