Yes Bank, CarbonDesk Set up Venture to Sell UN Emission Credits in India

Yes Bank Ltd., a privately owned Indian lender, and CarbonDesk Group Plc agreed to cooperate on emissions-cutting projects to generate offset credits.

The venture aims to increase the amount of Certified Emissions Reduction credits produced in India, help curb greenhouse gases and give European factories and power stations a less expensive way to meet pollution caps.

“We are looking at projects at all stages,” Harry Beamish, a London-based emissions broker at CarbonDesk, said today by e-mail. The venture may sell so-called CERs, emission credits overseen by the United Nations, later this year. He didn’t specify how many credits CarbonDesk may handle.

Yes Bank and CarbonDesk will focus on projects that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants and factories, increase energy efficiency or promote alternative fuels such as biomass, Beamish said. The partners would provide funding in exchange for tradable credits under the UN Clean Development Mechanism, the world’s second-largest carbon market.

India has the world’s second-highest number of UN emissions projects after China. Almost 80 million credits have been issued to Indian projects, with nearly 570 million to be handed out by 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Nations that signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol can use CERs to meet emissions limits under the treaty. Japan has been the main government buyer of offsets. European power stations and factories can use a portion of CERs to meet emissions caps under the EU’s carbon-dioxide cap-and-trade program, the world’s largest.