Before a business budgets for carbon credits, it needs to ask what the purchase would allow. That question matters alongside the price. In the compliance system, a business that beats its emissions-intensity target can qualify for certificates; one that misses its target must cover the shortfall with certificates.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency’s October 19 consultation invites comments by November 2, 2026. Its draft transaction procedure covers the compliance mechanism of India’s Carbon Credit Trading Scheme. After consultation, the procedure must go to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) for approval.
The Breakdown
Under the draft, purchased compliance-market credits could not be resold. An obligated entity—one subject to targets for emissions per unit of output—could bank excess purchases for future compliance. A non-obligated purchaser would have to retire its credits, removing them from use, rather than bank or resell them.
Credits issued to an obligated entity are treated differently: the recipient could bank or sell them within their validity. The distinction is between credits issued to the seller and credits it bought.
The draft also rules out bilateral trading, including within a corporate group, and inter-sector transfers. It would carry portal registrations into the registry automatically; that does not remove separate exchange-registration requirements.
What already exists
CERC’s regulation dated February 27, 2026 already provides for trading through power exchanges unless the commission permits another route by order. It separates compliance and offset markets. A voluntary buyer participating in the compliance market should therefore not be confused with a project issuing credits under the offset mechanism.
Existing regulations also require the registry to check combined sale bids across exchanges against available holdings. Bids that exceed those holdings become ineffective. These controls predate the October consultation.
Why This Matters
For a business evaluating a purchase, the intended use matters: meeting future compliance requirements differs from acquiring something to sell later.
The Crunch
The consultation is a chance to examine how the proposed transaction process would work. It is not evidence that trading has begun, that a market price exists, or that this procedure has received final approval.