Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA)

67 Implementation of the New GoI's CCTS Scheme in the Cement Industry Prof (Dr.) Mainak Ghosal MAINAK GHOSAL ENTERPRISES OPC Private Limited 09 Abstract India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) is a landmark market-based climate instrument designed to decouple industrial growth from greenhouse gas emissions. In the cement sector, which is both energy-intensive and process- emission-heavy, CCTS creates a compliance framework that rewards lower emissions intensity and imposes costs on underperforming plants. The scheme is especially relevant for cement because the industry contributes a significant share of India's industrial emissions and faces structural decarbonisation challenges from clinker production, thermal fuel use, and electricity consumption. This paper examines the implementation of CCTS in the cement industry, focusing on the legal framework, sectoral coverage, monitoring- reporting-verification architecture, compliance obligations, operational implications, and decarbonisation pathways. It also evaluates the practical enablers needed for successful implementation, including alternative fuels, clinker substitution, performance-based standards, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage. The analysis shows that CCTS can accelerate low-carbon transition only if regulatory certainty, quality assurance, and infrastructure readiness advance in parallel. Keywords: Compliance; Decarbonisation; Emissions; Sustainability; Verification 1. Introduction The cement industry is essential to India's infrastructure expansion, urban development, and housing growth, but it is also one of the most emissions-intensive manufacturing sectors. India is the world's second-largest cement producer, with installed capacity exceeding 620 Mtpa and annual production in FY2024 of roughly 427 million tonnes. Cement manufacturing emissions arise from both fuel combustion and limestone calcination, making the sector difficult to decarbonise through energy efficiency alone.