Green hydrogen gets official stamp as India notifies certification scheme

Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi on April 29 launched a scheme to measure, monitor, report, verify on-site, and certify green hydrogen. To boost India’s green hydrogen exports and encourage energy-intensive sectors to adopt the emerging fuel, the Centre has introduced a certification scheme under the National Green Hydrogen Mission and notified rules for claiming emission offsets under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS).

Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi on April 29 launched a scheme to measure, monitor, report, verify on-site, and certify green hydrogen based on a standard introduced by the Ministry in 2023.

“This will help to ensure that the hydrogen produced in India truly qualifies as green. A lot of greenwashing tends to happen these days, which is why certification is most important. With the certification in place, our green hydrogen will carry a mark of quality and credibility, making it globally desirable and export-ready,” Joshi said about the scheme.

On April 27, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), nodal agency for the Green Hydrogen Certification Scheme, also announced an offset mechanism for hard-to-abate sectors using green hydrogen under CCTS, to allow them to earn and trade credits.

While CCTS does not yet include sectors like steel, refineries, and shipping, where there is a use case for switching to green hydrogen, the latest guidelines will provide industry greater clarity on compliance before the ambit of CCTS eventually widens.