First metro rail system gets UN carbon credits

Delhi's metro system has become the first in the world to win United Nations (UN) certification for carbon credits opening the door to millions of pounds in potential funding.


The UN said yesterday (September 25) the city’s metro will get carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions as it has helped to reduce pollution levels in the city.

About 1.8m people ride the system everyday removing an estimated 91 thousand vehicle journeys from the roads of Delhi daily.

The UN’s administering body the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol has certified the metro has reduced emissions and earned the system more than £6m in carbon credits.

A spokesman for the system said: “No other Metro in the world could get carbon credit, because of the very stringent requirement of the United Nations to provide conclusive documentary proof of reduction in emissions.

“We proposed an innovative method of proving the emissions using sampling techniques.

“After rigorous persuasion the UN finally agreed with this technique as the technique is very scientific in nature.”

Under the agreed measurement system every passenger who chooses to use Metro instead of car/bus contributes to reduction in emissions of about 100 gm of carbon-dioxide for every trip of 10km.

Luke Walsh

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