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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<link>https://india.mongabay.com/list/carbon-finance/</link>
		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 08:22:37 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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					<title>The carbon market bets on an invasive tree</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-carbon-market-bets-on-an-invasive-tree/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-carbon-market-bets-on-an-invasive-tree/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2026 16:21:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yash Sadhak Shrivastava]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prosopis]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/12135149/IMG_8312-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40072</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Hype and Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gujarat]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biofuels, Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Carbon Offset, Carbon Trading, Climate Change, Climate Change Mitigation, Ecosystem services, Energy, Grasslands, Green Energy, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Industry, and Plants]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Decades ago, in the Banni grasslands of Kachchh, an invasive tree was planted to solve one environmental crisis. Today, big companies are paying to convert the same trees into a charcoal-like substance to solve another problem. In January 2025, Google announced one of the largest biochar carbon removal deals to date, agreeing to purchase 1,00,000 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Decades ago, in the Banni grasslands of Kachchh, an invasive tree was planted to solve one environmental crisis. Today, big companies are paying to convert the same trees into a charcoal-like substance to solve another problem. In January 2025, Google announced one of the largest biochar carbon removal deals to date, agreeing to purchase 1,00,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide removal credits from Varaha ClimateAg Private Limited, a Gurugram-based climate tech startup. Biochar is a carbon-rich charcoal produced by heating organic matter in low-oxygen conditions, which can store carbon in soil for hundreds of years. By January 2026, Varaha had added Microsoft to its roster of corporate buyers, with Lufthansa, Swiss Re, and Capgemini also signing offtake agreements. Among Varaha&#8217;s initiatives is a project in Kachchh, Gujarat, combining carbon sequestration with ecosystem restoration. The problem the credits are meant to solve Prosopis juliflora was introduced to Kachchh around the 1960s to arrest desertification. The Banni grassland now has around 50% of its area dominated by this single invasive species, according to Khyati Thacker, a botanist who has spent over five years working on community-led ecosystem restoration in Kachchh and Saurashtra. Research shows the grassland produced up to 4,000 kg of fodder per hectare in the 1960s; by 1999, that had fallen to around 620 kg. &#8220;This Prosopis juliflora has destroyed the jungle, the native trees (such as Vachellia nilotica, Prosopis cineraria, Senegalia senegal) and the grazing grass,&#8221; said Kaiyan Rabari, a herdsman from Sangnara village, Kachchh. Around late 2022, a private&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-carbon-market-bets-on-an-invasive-tree/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>India’s carbon market sets weak emissions targets, analysis finds</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-carbon-market-sets-weak-emissions-targets-analysis-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-carbon-market-sets-weak-emissions-targets-analysis-finds/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 16:51:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/31160627/pexels-yajna-s-r-55953015-20591230-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39764</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, Green Business, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Pollution, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A critical evaluation of emissions reduction targets set under the country’s carbon market framework has deemed the targets “modest and unambitious” — unlikely to drive changes in operations that would reduce emissions substantially. Between October 2025 and January 2026 India notified greenhouse gas reduction targets for nine industries. Under the framework, industries can earn carbon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A critical evaluation of emissions reduction targets set under the country’s carbon market framework has deemed the targets “modest and unambitious” — unlikely to drive changes in operations that would reduce emissions substantially. Between October 2025 and January 2026 India notified greenhouse gas reduction targets for nine industries. Under the framework, industries can earn carbon credits if they surpass these reduction targets, with each credit signifying an additional tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent reduced per unit of production (emissions intensity). The industries covered include cement, aluminium, iron and steel, paper and pulp, chlor-alkali, petroleum refinery, petrochemical units, fertilisers, and textiles. The evaluation of the targets by Climate Risk Horizons (CRH), a research organisation, finds that in addition to the targets being “readily achievable,” over the two-year compliance period, the cost of non-compliance is too low to incentivise the kind of systematic operational changes needed to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. India is the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter, with emissions from industrial processes and product use accounting for approximately 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. In August 2022, the Indian government pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 45% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. It also pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2070. According to the CRH analysis, the cost of purchasing credits for major companies in the steel, aluminium, and cement sectors is between 0.6% and 7% of profits, assuming credit prices are $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, as indicated by S&amp;P Global, which tracks&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-carbon-market-sets-weak-emissions-targets-analysis-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Measuring development through wellbeing, sustainability and more [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/measuring-development-through-wellbeing-sustainability-and-more-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/measuring-development-through-wellbeing-sustainability-and-more-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 15:05:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Oliver King EDISoumya Swaminathan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GDP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Accounting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[resilience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainability]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/20143843/pexels-equalstock-20527529-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39466</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance, Climate Change Adaptation, and Conservation finance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[India&#8217;s development story, like much of the world, continues to be told through a single number: Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Every quarter, GDP growth dominates headlines, shaping perceptions of economic success and influencing policy priorities. Yet GDP measures only the value of goods and services produced within an economy. It does not reveal whether soils [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[India&#8217;s development story, like much of the world, continues to be told through a single number: Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Every quarter, GDP growth dominates headlines, shaping perceptions of economic success and influencing policy priorities. Yet GDP measures only the value of goods and services produced within an economy. It does not reveal whether soils are becoming more fertile, biodiversity is recovering, water resources are being replenished, diets are becoming healthier, or communities are becoming more resilient. While GDP remains indispensable for measuring economic activity, it was never designed to capture the quality, equity or sustainability of development. Recognising these limitations, the recently released report of the United Nations High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, Counting What Counts: A Compass of Progress for People and Planet, urges countries to complement GDP with a broader framework that measures well-being, equity, sustainability and resilience. Rather than replacing GDP, the report recommends integrating these measures into planning, budgeting and accountability systems so that governments assess what truly matters for long-term human progress. For India, this call is particularly timely. Over the past three decades, the country has achieved remarkable economic growth, lifting millions out of poverty and becoming one of the world&#8217;s largest economies. Yet this progress has coincided with ecological degradation, groundwater depletion, biodiversity loss, climate vulnerability, nutritional insecurity and growing pressure on rural livelihoods. Economic output can continue to rise even as the natural and social systems that sustain it are steadily weakened. Relying solely on GDP therefore risks encouraging policies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/measuring-development-through-wellbeing-sustainability-and-more-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why feasibility matters for land use projects in India [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-feasibility-matters-for-land-use-projects-in-india-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-feasibility-matters-for-land-use-projects-in-india-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jul 2026 15:37:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[J.V. SharmaSayanta Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[land management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihoods]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/07142040/AP274368273581-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39054</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Carbon Offset, Carbon Trading, Climate Change Mitigation, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystem services, Forestry, Forests, Grasslands, Green Business, and Reforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[India’s carbon market conversation is widening beyond energy and industry. Forests, farms, grasslands, wetlands, mangroves and rice fields are increasingly being viewed as spaces where climate action, ecological restoration and rural livelihoods can converge. Carbon credits are expected to help bring private finance into these landscapes. But the global experience of the voluntary carbon market [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[India’s carbon market conversation is widening beyond energy and industry. Forests, farms, grasslands, wetlands, mangroves and rice fields are increasingly being viewed as spaces where climate action, ecological restoration and rural livelihoods can converge. Carbon credits are expected to help bring private finance into these landscapes. But the global experience of the voluntary carbon market shows that a project can be registered, verified and even generate credits without necessarily delivering the climate or community outcomes that buyers assume. After evaluating 2,346 carbon-crediting projects and nearly one billion tonnes of issued credits, a 2024 study in Nature Communications estimated that less than 16% of the credits examined, represented real emission reductions. The study does not mean that every carbon project has failed, but it shows how badly results can diverge from claims when baselines, additionality or monitoring are weak. Specific cases make the warning harder to ignore. In 2025, the carbon certifier Verra reviewed Zimbabwe’s Kariba REDD+ project and found that actual deforestation in the reference area was far lower than originally projected. Verra identified 15.22 million excess credits among 26.82 million credits already issued and said these could no longer be corrected through future monitoring periods because the project had withdrawn from its registry. Similarly, in 2024, Verra rejected 37 rice-cultivation projects in China. It sanctioned project proponents and validation bodies and required compensation for overissued credits after concerns were raised about project areas, additionality and emission-reduction calculations. Community governance can be equally decisive. The Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon Project&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-feasibility-matters-for-land-use-projects-in-india-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Trade liberalisation meets carbon tariffs as India eyes EU market [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/trade-liberalisation-meets-carbon-tariffs-as-india-eyes-eu-market-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/trade-liberalisation-meets-carbon-tariffs-as-india-eyes-eu-market-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jun 2026 13:19:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isha SharmaSoutrik Goswami]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steel Industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trade]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/06/30112819/AP459830664323-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38847</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Green Business, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Industry]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The India-European Union Free Trade Agreement was agreed upon in early 2026 after more than two decades of negotiations. Recently, the Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said India and the EU are expected to sign the FTA in December, and it is likely to come into force early next year. The agreement signalled [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The India-European Union Free Trade Agreement was agreed upon in early 2026 after more than two decades of negotiations. Recently, the Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said India and the EU are expected to sign the FTA in December, and it is likely to come into force early next year. The agreement signalled cooperation amid geopolitical tensions, but it also came amid contestation over the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which imposes a tax on the greenhouse gas content of imported goods, which became fully operational in January this year. As the union minister Goyal said, the FTA will give India the opportunity to increase exports to European countries, but export-oriented industries will also face pressure to reduce the emission intensity of their exports to comply with CBAM. The opposing impacts of tariff liberalisation and carbon tariffs on exports call for a closer look at the interaction between the CBAM and the FTA, especially in the Indian iron and steel sector, which remains one of the most exposed to the CBAM. It raises the question: how will the interaction between the FTA and the CBAM impact India&#8217;s export opportunities compared to those of its competitors? Moreover, is India’s long-term export competitiveness increasingly being tied to its industrial emissions? Climate action or trade-protectionism CBAM currently targets six carbon-intensive sectors, including iron and steel. These sectors account for around 10% of India’s exports to the EU and about 1.64% of total Indian exports. However, the EU is planning a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/trade-liberalisation-meets-carbon-tariffs-as-india-eyes-eu-market-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Financing the green shift remains a hurdle for steel MSMEs</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/financing-the-green-shift-remains-a-hurdle-for-steel-msmes/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/financing-the-green-shift-remains-a-hurdle-for-steel-msmes/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2026 15:55:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rohini Krishnamurthy]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steel Industry]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/06/24140405/AP20270312356413-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38792</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Climate Change, Environment, Green Business, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Industry]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly a decade after independence, one of India’s first public sector steel plants was established in Bhilai, Durg district, Chhattisgarh — a region rich in iron ore, coal and other natural resources. In the ensuing decades, several scattered steel units, dominated by micro, small, and medium-enterprises (MSMEs), began to mushroom some 40 km away in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly a decade after independence, one of India’s first public sector steel plants was established in Bhilai, Durg district, Chhattisgarh — a region rich in iron ore, coal and other natural resources. In the ensuing decades, several scattered steel units, dominated by micro, small, and medium-enterprises (MSMEs), began to mushroom some 40 km away in Raipur, helping Chhattisgarh become the third-largest producer of crude steel in the country. Meanwhile, about 1,100 km away, a slightly different story unfolded in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur during the 1960s — one where the region’s industrial journey was shaped by its agricultural roots. The demand for agricultural machinery paved the way for a local foundry industry. Foundries use metals like iron to produce castings that are used widely, from irrigation pumps to automobiles. Now, Kolhapur is one of the country’s largest foundry clusters, dominated by MSMEs, contributing 7-8% of India’s casting production. Together, Raipur and Kolhapur, along with other MSME clusters across India, drive India’s secondary steel production — where steel is made by melting scrap metal and other processed forms of iron in electric furnaces, rather than producing iron from iron ore first. The secondary steel sector, which contributes 30-35% of the country’s crude steel capacity, is dominated by MSMEs and relies on coal and inefficient technologies. In contrast, the primary production route is also energy-intensive but dominated by large players with higher capital investment. Notably, the secondary route of steel production accounts for more than 50 million tonnes (MT) of greenhouse gas emissions annually, according&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/financing-the-green-shift-remains-a-hurdle-for-steel-msmes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Urban finance reforms gather pace, but key gaps persist [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/urban-finance-reforms-gather-pace-but-key-gaps-persist-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/urban-finance-reforms-gather-pace-but-key-gaps-persist-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2026 17:24:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ravikant Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Finance Commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban climate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Urban governance]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/04/21153931/AP23081265413428-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=37788</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, Environment, and Environmental Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The finances of Urban Local Governments (ULGs) are constrained by multiple structural issues. Since the 74th Constitutional Amendment, the Central Finance Commission (FC) has been mandated to review urban finances and recommend devolution from the centre to ULGs through state governments. The funds and reforms proposed by successive FCs have shaped the evolution of municipal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The finances of Urban Local Governments (ULGs) are constrained by multiple structural issues. Since the 74th Constitutional Amendment, the Central Finance Commission (FC) has been mandated to review urban finances and recommend devolution from the centre to ULGs through state governments. The funds and reforms proposed by successive FCs have shaped the evolution of municipal finance in India — sometimes producing unintended outcomes. The XVI FC marks a decisive step toward strengthening ULG fiscal empowerment and accountability. Through systemic incentives — linking grants to own source revenue (OSR) performance, state co-financing, and transparent reporting — the Commission has internalised the logic of fiscal responsibility across tiers. By raising the share of ULGs to 45% that includes 40% grant (60% to rural area) and also special grants of ₹661 billion to urban sector, XVI FC restores balance between tied and untied grants. It supports rural — urban transition, and prioritises environmental infrastructure and sets a new benchmark for cooperative urban federalism. However, it has missed some reforms that could have added depth and dynamism. Enabling local bodies through incentives and reforms A persistent issue across FCs, reiterated by the XVI FC, is the inadequacy of OSR and the underutilisation of property tax, the mainstay of OSR. The Commission noted that heavy dependence on higher levels of government weakens local autonomy and accountability. Among available local tax sources, property tax has the greatest potential but remains severely underexploited. Building on this concern, the XVI FC introduced a major shift in the criteria&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/urban-finance-reforms-gather-pace-but-key-gaps-persist-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>The climate finance numbers did not add up in 2025</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-climate-finance-numbers-did-not-add-up-in-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-climate-finance-numbers-did-not-add-up-in-2025/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2025 09:30:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adaptation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adaptation finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COP29]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COP30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Survey]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/12/26122054/AP23095525941712-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=36252</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Carbon Finance, Climate Change, Climate Change Mitigation, Conservation, and Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since 2017, the union government has tabled the annual budget on February 1. When union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman finished presenting the 2025 budget, a familiar pattern emerged. Allocations for renewable energy, irrigation, disaster response and resilience had increased. None of these heads were labelled as climate finance. Yet all of them paid for climate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since 2017, the union government has tabled the annual budget on February 1. When union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman finished presenting the 2025 budget, a familiar pattern emerged. Allocations for renewable energy, irrigation, disaster response and resilience had increased. None of these heads were labelled as climate finance. Yet all of them paid for climate action. Together, these heads account for billions of rupees in public spending. This domestic expenditure on climate action far exceeds the climate finance India receives from international sources. It highlights a core reality. In India, and countries like it, climate action is financed mainly through local resources rather than global funds, despite the country&#8217;s limited role in causing the climate crisis and its high vulnerability to climate impacts. This has caused frustration among developing countries. This was evident during COP29, held in Baku in 2024. It was described as a “finance COP,” and was expected to deliver a new climate finance goal- the financial support from developed to developing countries for meeting climate goals. India, along with other developing nations, argued that the scale of finance must reflect real needs. It also stressed that public finance, not loans or private capital, should form the backbone of support. But the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), agreed at the last minute, drew criticism from developing countries. India formally registered concerns, both over the way the agreement was reached and over the final figure of $300 billion. Indian Navy personnel clear a fallen tree from a road after&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-climate-finance-numbers-did-not-add-up-in-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>India sharpens equity and finance demands as COP30 draft text raises new concerns</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/india-sharpens-equity-and-finance-demands-as-cop30-draft-text-raises-new-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/india-sharpens-equity-and-finance-demands-as-cop30-draft-text-raises-new-concerns/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2025 12:35:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manish Chandra Mishra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CBAM]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COP30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COP31]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NCQG]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainable development]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/11/22184317/54938746556_cec544a02e_c-e1763817212664-768x401.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=35702</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, Environment, and United Nations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With negotiations at the 30th United Nations Climate Conference (COP30) entering the final phase, India intensified its messaging on equity, finance and national circumstances on November 20, using two high-level platforms to highlight what it considers essential for implementing the Paris Agreement. These interventions came as negotiators began examining the COP30 Presidency’s draft “Global Mutirão” text. Several [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With negotiations at the 30th United Nations Climate Conference (COP30) entering the final phase, India intensified its messaging on equity, finance and national circumstances on November 20, using two high-level platforms to highlight what it considers essential for implementing the Paris Agreement. These interventions came as negotiators began examining the COP30 Presidency’s draft “Global Mutirão” text. Several observers say parts of the document risk weakening the climate justice principles that India has been emphasising in Belém. The draft retains several options for unilateral trade measures, adaptation finance, and the execution of the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance (NCQG), which was agreed upon in Baku, for parties to iron out and agree upon. For example, it proposes four options to address unilateral trade measures, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which has been a concern for many countries, including India. One option is to organise technical workshops on trade-climate linkages, in coordination with the COP31 Presidency. Other options include convening a dialogue or establishing a platform to examine the nature, scope and cross-border impacts of such measures. The draft also suggests launching an annual dialogue to facilitate discussions among Party and non-Party stakeholders. However, during the Third Ministerial Roundtable on the UAE Just Transition Work Programme, India&#8217;s environment minister Bhupender Yadav emphasised that climate-related unilateral trade measures by developed economies are damaging the trust within the UN climate process. Unilateral trade measures are discussed within the UNFCCC&#8217;s Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP). He further said that a just transition&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/india-sharpens-equity-and-finance-demands-as-cop30-draft-text-raises-new-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>A radical new proposal to raise funds for climate damages</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-radical-new-proposal-to-raise-funds-for-climate-damages/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-radical-new-proposal-to-raise-funds-for-climate-damages/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 15:51:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COP30]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/11/18153549/Damage_from_floods._Leh-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=35640</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections and Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance and Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After years of debate, countries agreed to establish a fund for losses and damages from climate change at the 27th Climate Conference of Parties (COP27), under the UNFCCC that took place in 2022. At the time, its establishment was hailed as a recognition of the unequal impacts of global warming on poorer countries. Three years [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After years of debate, countries agreed to establish a fund for losses and damages from climate change at the 27th Climate Conference of Parties (COP27), under the UNFCCC that took place in 2022. At the time, its establishment was hailed as a recognition of the unequal impacts of global warming on poorer countries. Three years later, however, the Fund for Responding to Losses and Damages (FLRD) is still finding its feet and struggling to raise money. Currently, the FLRD has accepted voluntary pledges amounting to $768 million from 28 countries. Of these, 22 countries have signed contribution agreements, and 19 have released initial funding commitments. But these pledges are woefully inadequate: The actual cost of disasters is estimated to be over $2.3 trillion annually when cascading and ecosystem costs are taken into account. A fresh round of funding requests for FLRD will open in mid-December, with disbursals expected to start by June 2026. A new proposal by Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, and Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, Michael Greenstone, attempts to reimagine how climate finance for loss and damage, as well as climate adaptation, can be raised. It proposes combining taxation, direct benefit transfers, and insurance to raise funds, disburse them swiftly and equitably, and incentivise mitigation in poor countries. Called the “grand bargain for climate mitigation, adaptation and compensation,” the proposal seeks to address multiple concerns in climate finance governance, including curbing future emissions in developing countries, making sure money goes where it’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-radical-new-proposal-to-raise-funds-for-climate-damages/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>The Green Credits Programme needs to move beyond its tree-centric approach [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/10/the-green-credits-programme-needs-to-look-beyond-its-tree-centric-approach-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/10/the-green-credits-programme-needs-to-look-beyond-its-tree-centric-approach-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Oct 2025 15:38:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gautam Aredath]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COP28]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Credit Programme]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Credit Rules]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green credit scheme]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/10/23152611/pexels-equalstock-20356946-scaled-e1761217352522-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=35176</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Carbon Offset, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Economics, Green Business, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Government of India’s Green Credit Rules, 2023, established the Green Credit Programme (GCP) as a market-based mechanism to incentivise “environmentally-positive actions”. Under the law, green credits can be generated from a range of activities such as tree plantation, water conservation, sustainable agriculture and more, and traded on a domestic platform to meet legal obligations [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Government of India’s Green Credit Rules, 2023, established the Green Credit Programme (GCP) as a market-based mechanism to incentivise “environmentally-positive actions”. Under the law, green credits can be generated from a range of activities such as tree plantation, water conservation, sustainable agriculture and more, and traded on a domestic platform to meet legal obligations or encourage voluntary action. The political pitch went further. At its launch during COP28 in Dubai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the GCP as more than a market: a moral initiative to “add positive points to the Earth’s health card”, he claimed, breaking from the commercialised philosophy of carbon credits. Both claims — market and moral — falter under scrutiny. Two years on, only the tree plantation component has moved forward. A draft framework for water conservation remains stalled, and other activities lie dormant. Even for plantations, the legal framework has undergone multiple revisions, and has narrowed in both scope and ambition. What began as a broad-based methodology, envisaging a variety of actors and multiple land tenures, has been pared back. In its latest iteration, credits are generated solely from plantations on land controlled by forest departments. These credits are explicitly non-tradable, and their primary, if not, only viable, use is as offsets for statutory compensatory afforestation requirements. In effect, growing trees in one place permits cutting down forests in another. To be clear, the initial methodology for plantations was not without concerns. Its tree-centric focus overlooked other ecosystems, while questions of forest rights and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/10/the-green-credits-programme-needs-to-look-beyond-its-tree-centric-approach-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Green credit rules tweaked to favour canopy cover, remove trade provision</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/09/green-credit-rules-tweaked-to-favour-canopy-cover-remove-trade-provision/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/09/green-credit-rules-tweaked-to-favour-canopy-cover-remove-trade-provision/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2025 16:45:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Credit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Credit Programme]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Credit Rules]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green credit scheme]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/09/04155541/1024px-Afforestation_at_Kanakakunnu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=34479</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections and Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance and Environmental Economics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[India&#8217;s environment ministry has revised the methodology to calculate “green credits” from planting trees, more than a year after the programme was criticised for promoting potentially damaging practices. The scheme seeks to incentivise corporations and other entities to participate in eco-restoration activities by awarding them green credits. The credits can then be used to meet [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[India&#8217;s environment ministry has revised the methodology to calculate “green credits” from planting trees, more than a year after the programme was criticised for promoting potentially damaging practices. The scheme seeks to incentivise corporations and other entities to participate in eco-restoration activities by awarding them green credits. The credits can then be used to meet compliances under corporate social responsibility (CSR) or environment social governance (ESG) frameworks. As per the original notification, a range of activities – including water conservation and green buildings – are covered by the scheme, but so far, only regulations for tree planting-related activities have been specified. Apart from CSR and ESG, green credits generated from tree planting can also be used to fulfil compensatory afforestation obligations under the Forest Conservation Act, which requires project proponents to offset the loss of forest land caused by infrastructure development activity. While the new methodology addresses some of the concerns previously raised by experts, gaps still remain. It also appears to rule out a fundamental component of the scheme when it was first introduced – the trade of green credits. The government had introduced the scheme in 2023 as an “innovative market-based mechanism designed to incentivise voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors”. The idea was to set up a green credit market similar to the voluntary carbon market, where individuals, corporations, farmers unions, and others could buy and sell green credits to aid restoration activities. The new methodology, however, specifies that green credits from tree planting “shall be non-tradable&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/09/green-credit-rules-tweaked-to-favour-canopy-cover-remove-trade-provision/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global REDD+ standards fail local forests [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/08/indias-redd-dilemma-as-global-carbon-standards-fail-local-forests-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/08/indias-redd-dilemma-as-global-carbon-standards-fail-local-forests-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2025 14:20:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jitendra Vir SharmaSayanta Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Credit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carbon sink]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indian Carbon Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[REDD+]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/08/20102250/Ground-truthing-exercises-for-forest-degradation-mapping-integrating-field-data-with-satellite-based-analysis-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance, Forest Carbon, and Forestry]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[India’s forests, spanning over 80 million hectares, are one of the richest repositories of biodiversity and ecological services in the world. From the rain-drenched Western Ghats to the deciduous tracts of central India and the alpine ecosystems of the Himalayas, these forests are more than green expanses — they are carbon sinks, climate buffers, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[India’s forests, spanning over 80 million hectares, are one of the richest repositories of biodiversity and ecological services in the world. From the rain-drenched Western Ghats to the deciduous tracts of central India and the alpine ecosystems of the Himalayas, these forests are more than green expanses — they are carbon sinks, climate buffers, and life-support systems for over 300 million people, especially tribal and forest-dependent communities. As India reaffirms its global climate commitments, aiming to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge, and enhance carbon sinks by 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO₂-equivalent under its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the spotlight is firmly on REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus conservation and sustainable management of forests). It is a framework developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). REDD+ promises a financial mechanism to reward countries for avoiding forest loss and enhancing forest carbon. Yet, despite strong domestic momentum and political will, India’s REDD+ potential remains largely untapped in global carbon markets. The reasons are systemic: the international carbon credit methodologies that govern REDD+ were designed with tropical deforestation hotspots such as the Amazon and Congo Basin in mind, not India’s fragmented, degradation-prone, publicly owned forests. As a result, even scientifically sound and community-supported REDD+ proposals from India often fail to qualify under prevailing standards. Global REDD+ vs. India’s uniqueness In much of Latin America or parts of sub-Saharan Africa, forest loss is drastic and detectable; satellites capture&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/08/indias-redd-dilemma-as-global-carbon-standards-fail-local-forests-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Bridging the climate finance gap in emerging markets [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/bridging-the-climate-finance-gap-in-emerging-markets/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/bridging-the-climate-finance-gap-in-emerging-markets/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2025 13:36:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shantanu SrivastavaSoni Tiwari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clean Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clean energy finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate adaptation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate mitigation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Just Transition]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/07/23094243/1280px-Coal_Miners_2001-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andhra Pradesh, Global, and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance, Climate Change Adaptation, and Climate Change Mitigation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The International Monetary Fund, in a 2024 report, estimates that Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) in the Asia-Pacific region require at least $1.1 trillion annually for climate mitigation and adaptation. However, actual investments fall short by more than $800 billion every year. With fiscal space constrained by public debt accumulated during the global pandemic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The International Monetary Fund, in a 2024 report, estimates that Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) in the Asia-Pacific region require at least $1.1 trillion annually for climate mitigation and adaptation. However, actual investments fall short by more than $800 billion every year. With fiscal space constrained by public debt accumulated during the global pandemic and other geopolitical factors, mobilising private capital for climate action is critical to bridge the financing gap in emerging economies. At the same time, there is growing recognition that the energy transition must be rooted in principles of justice, equity, and fairness, underlining the importance of a just transition. While private investors are expected to fund “hard” or fixed assets such as clean energy infrastructure, which has a commercial return, managing the socio-economic impacts of the transition, such as job losses and community resilience, will primarily need to be addressed through public financing. A just energy transition in emerging markets will therefore require a “co-investment” approach that channels capital towards both physical infrastructure and social priorities. This capital must be mobilised from a diverse set of capital providers with varying mandates, capital structures, and risk-return expectations. It must include contributions from both public and private sources, including concessional and commercial, in order to reduce reliance on government budgets. Enabling investment Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, many EMDEs, such as South Africa, India, and Indonesia, have introduced supportive policies to move towards low-carbon pathways. In recent years, their energy and climate policies have increasingly prioritised&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/bridging-the-climate-finance-gap-in-emerging-markets/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Carbon markets fund plantations and livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/carbon-markets-fund-plantations-and-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/carbon-markets-fund-plantations-and-livelihoods/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2025 14:23:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vishal Kumar Jain]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shailesh Shrivastava]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon offsets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fruits]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/07/08123916/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8C%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF-TRIF-2-1200x800-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=33517</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Jharkhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Carbon Trading, Plantations, Plants, Timber, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Last year, while countries and organisations from across the world gathered in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku for COP29 and discussed carbon trading rules, about 3,800 km away, farmers living in Jharkhand were excited on learning that they would receive carbon finance funds in a few months. Farmers in Childari village in Bedo block of Ranchi, famous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Last year, while countries and organisations from across the world gathered in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku for COP29 and discussed carbon trading rules, about 3,800 km away, farmers living in Jharkhand were excited on learning that they would receive carbon finance funds in a few months. Farmers in Childari village in Bedo block of Ranchi, famous for peas and other vegetables, have chosen to avail the benefits of carbon finance — financial resources like loans, investments and subsidies given to acquire greenhouse gas emission allowances. Carbon financing will be done through growing fruit-bearing trees under the Birsa Harit Gram Yojana (BHGY) — a state government scheme that aims to conserve barren land and make it cultivable to amplify livelihoods. According to the Economic Survey of Jharkhand (2023-24), the BHGY scheme has been running since 2016-17 under MNREGA with an aim to increase employment opportunities in the state. Under this scheme, 135,122 farmers have planted mango and other fruit-bearing trees in 1,16,637 acres. Eligible farmers with a maximum of one acre of land are provided with financial help as well as assistance for five years. It is estimated that thanks to the scheme, each family has managed to earn profits of more than ₹50,000 annually. There, however, was a catch. It wasn’t clear how marginal farmers would continue maintaining their plantations after five years. To overcome this problem, the BHGY scheme has been linked to the carbon finance scheme, which will provide additional income to the beneficiaries for the next 20 years.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/carbon-markets-fund-plantations-and-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Nine projects in India produced ‘problematic’ carbon credits in 2024, says report</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/nine-projects-in-india-produced-problematic-carbon-credits-in-2024-says-report/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/nine-projects-in-india-produced-problematic-carbon-credits-in-2024-says-report/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2025 14:45:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Credit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Corporate Social Responsibility]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/07/02124450/4800492023_bf16b1968b_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=33451</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Carbon Trading, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An analysis of the global voluntary carbon market found that despite efforts to improve their integrity, millions of carbon credits retired in 2024 were unlikely to result in additional emissions reductions. Nine out of the 47 largest projects which produced “problematic credits” were located in India, the report, released by the civil society organisation Corporate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An analysis of the global voluntary carbon market found that despite efforts to improve their integrity, millions of carbon credits retired in 2024 were unlikely to result in additional emissions reductions. Nine out of the 47 largest projects which produced “problematic credits” were located in India, the report, released by the civil society organisation Corporate Accountability, found. The voluntary carbon market (VCM) allows companies to trade carbon credits in an effort to drive down emissions. In the VCM, each carbon credit represents a reduction of 1 tonne of carbon dioxide or its equivalent. These reductions are supposed to be “additional,” meaning they would not have occurred without the support of funding from carbon credits. In simple terms, if a project would have come up in a business-as-usual scenario without being financed by carbon credits, the project does not have additionality. According to the report by Corporate Accountability, however, 80% of carbon credits issued from 47 of the biggest projects “could not be reliably counted on to deliver the promised emissions reductions.” This, despite reforms introduced into the VCM to improve transparency and accountability of projects promising reductions. These shortcomings include credits being non-additional, non-permanent, over-crediting or having a risk of leakage (where reductions achieved are counteracted by emissions elsewhere). The voluntary carbon market “still cannot be relied on to deliver the promised (and urgently needed) global emissions reductions,” the report noted. A factory in Chennai. Despite efforts to improve the integrity of global voluntary carbon markets, millions of carbon credits&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/nine-projects-in-india-produced-problematic-carbon-credits-in-2024-says-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Blended finance can help power India’s climate future [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/blended-finance-can-help-power-indias-climate-future-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/blended-finance-can-help-power-indias-climate-future-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2025 13:45:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suresh Seshadri]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clean Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Greenhouse gas emissions]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/05/28090103/Rayalaseema_thermal_power_station_2022-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=32805</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Today, India is at a crucial inflection point. As the fastest-growing major economy in the world, it must continue to expand its infrastructure, generate jobs, and improve the quality of life for more than a billion people. At the same time, it is under intensifying pressure to rapidly reduce carbon emissions, protect vulnerable communities from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Today, India is at a crucial inflection point. As the fastest-growing major economy in the world, it must continue to expand its infrastructure, generate jobs, and improve the quality of life for more than a billion people. At the same time, it is under intensifying pressure to rapidly reduce carbon emissions, protect vulnerable communities from climate impacts, and uphold its global climate commitments. Achieving these twin goals of development and decarbonisation is no longer optional — it is existential. Already, climate change is affecting everyday life across India. Heat waves are longer and more frequent. Floods and droughts are more severe and less predictable. Rising sea levels are threatening coastal settlements, while erratic monsoons are hitting farmers hard. Several assessments suggest climate-related risks could shave off around 2.6% of India’s GDP annually by 2100 if emissions continue unchecked. In response, India has laid out an ambitious climate agenda. It has pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2070, install 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by the same year, and meet 50% of its energy needs from non-fossil fuel sources. These targets represent a bold shift toward a cleaner, more sustainable growth trajectory. But translating these promises into real-world results will require unprecedented levels of investment — particularly in clean energy, resilient infrastructure, low-carbon transport, green manufacturing, and nature-based solutions. According to the Climate Policy Initiative, an independent non-profit research group, India will need more than $10 trillion in investment&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/blended-finance-can-help-power-indias-climate-future-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Community buy-in, economic gains drive voluntary carbon market success</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/economic-well-being-and-community-engagement-key-to-successful-voluntary-carbon-market-projects/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/economic-well-being-and-community-engagement-key-to-successful-voluntary-carbon-market-projects/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 May 2025 13:33:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharmila Vaidyanathan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Market]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/05/23104831/Bagepalli-Project_6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=32747</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon emissions and Carbon Finance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Long-term carbon benefits can be obtained from tree-planting projects in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) when these initiatives bolster the economic well-being of local stakeholders and establish lasting relationships with them, finds a new study. Published in April 2025 in the Environmental Research Letters journal, the study looked at the changes in tree cover, project [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Long-term carbon benefits can be obtained from tree-planting projects in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) when these initiatives bolster the economic well-being of local stakeholders and establish lasting relationships with them, finds a new study. Published in April 2025 in the Environmental Research Letters journal, the study looked at the changes in tree cover, project longevity, and the changes in income and assets for participating households in select tree-planting projects, that received carbon credits till 2022. The voluntary carbon market mechanism allows corporations to meet their carbon neutrality goals by investing in initiatives that offset or reduce carbon emissions. According to a report by the non-profit organisation Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group, India’s VCM market has seen phenomenal growth in recent times and is worth more than $1 billion as of 2021. These projects are certified by programmes such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) by Verra and the Gold Standard. VCM projects broadly focus on energy efficiency, carbon sequestration, methane capture, forest conservation, and renewable energy. Tree planting projects fall under the &#8216;afforestation and reforestation&#8217; category. Based on five tree-planting projects across 21,767 farmer plots, the study found that tree cover increased by 48% in participating plots compared to a 26% increase in non-participating plots. For two of the above projects, the researchers also conducted household surveys to understand the impacts on household incomes and asset acquisition (such as concrete houses, gas connections, mobile phones, cycles, motorbikes, etc). The results show almost a 95.6% increase in income for participating&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/economic-well-being-and-community-engagement-key-to-successful-voluntary-carbon-market-projects/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Limited climate finance shifts focus on startups and local innovation</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/limited-climate-finance-shifts-focus-on-startups-and-local-innovation/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/limited-climate-finance-shifts-focus-on-startups-and-local-innovation/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2025 15:30:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Navya P.K.]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extreme weather events]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/05/09110303/A-deserted-Metro-station-during-the-2018-Kerala-floods-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=32534</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Kerala]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance, Climate Change Adaptation, Governance, and Green Business]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With limited climate finance coming its way, Kerala is seeking less bureaucratic routes to raise funds, such as collaborating with climate tech startups. The state also plans to push for policy changes at the national level to make access to climate finance easier. In recent years, hundreds have died in Kerala from floods, landslides, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With limited climate finance coming its way, Kerala is seeking less bureaucratic routes to raise funds, such as collaborating with climate tech startups. The state also plans to push for policy changes at the national level to make access to climate finance easier. In recent years, hundreds have died in Kerala from floods, landslides, and heat waves, underlining the urgency for climate investment. Extreme rainfall killed 433 people in 2018 and 57 in 2021; in 2024, landslides in Wayanad alone claimed 359 lives. The state aims to fully shift to renewable energy by 2040 and be carbon neutral by 2050, but accessing finance remains a challenge. The Kerala State Climate Change Adaptation Mission (KSCCAM), set up in 2023 to steer climate action, is preparing “a platter full of multiple projects that will be palatable to different funding sources,” says Chief Resilience Officer Shekar Kuriakose. Meanwhile, the state government and its line departments have been incorporating climate action as a component in their multilateral loan proposals, raising some funds. Local bodies, which often directly feel the impact of climate change, have also been finding creative ways to fund small projects. However, the state is likely to fall short of its requirement of raising over ₹900 billion for climate action till 2030. According to the State Action Plan for Climate Change (2023-2030), Kerala needs ₹522.38 billion for mitigation activities such as reducing emissions, and ₹384.07 billion for adaptation in various sectors like farming, forest, health, and water resources. The action plan has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/05/limited-climate-finance-shifts-focus-on-startups-and-local-innovation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Shipping industry sets sail towards carbon accountability</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/04/shipping-industry-sets-sail-towards-carbon-accountability/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/04/shipping-industry-sets-sail-towards-carbon-accountability/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2025 12:45:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biofuels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Emission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carbon tax]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fossil fuel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Hydrogen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IMO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[International Maritime Organization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LNG]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Net-zero]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/04/21101326/1280px-Evergreen_Tokyo_terminal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=32271</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy and Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Finance, Clean Energy, and Climate Change Mitigation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the first time, cargo ships transporting goods around the world will be required to pay for their carbon emissions. The move follows an agreement by member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency that regulates global shipping. Shipping plays a critical role in global trade, transporting nearly 11 billion tonnes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the first time, cargo ships transporting goods around the world will be required to pay for their carbon emissions. The move follows an agreement by member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency that regulates global shipping. Shipping plays a critical role in global trade, transporting nearly 11 billion tonnes of goods each year &#8211; about 80% of world trade by volume. However, it also responsible for around 3% of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These emissions have escalated by 20% in the past decade, prompting calls for urgent decarbonisation across industries. During a meeting held at the IMO headquarters in London from April 7 to 11, a majority of member states — 63 countries, including India — approved a proposal to introduce carbon pricing for international shipping from 2028. Sixteen countries, mostly oil-producing nations, opposed the move, while 24 abstained. The newly agreed IMO Net-Zero Framework introduces two performance standards for ships above 5,000 gross tonnage, a measure of a ship’s total internal volume, not its weight. These standards include a base target and a more ambitious direct compliance target. Both targets are benchmarked against the 2008 average of 93.3 grams of CO₂ per megajoule of fuel energy used by ships, measured on a “well-to-wake” basis, which accounts for the entire lifecycle of the fuel, from production to its final use in a ship’s engine. From 2028, shipping vessels will be required to cut emissions by 4%, reaching a 30% reduction by 2035.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/04/shipping-industry-sets-sail-towards-carbon-accountability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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