The global carbon credit market comes up with a huge potential, especially for those countries, that are not a major contributor to greenhouse emission. No doubt, the real culprit is the excessive production of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases, which, in turn, is to blame for global warming and its far-reaching implications for mankind and the ecosystem. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) executive board of United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCC) has registered Nepal’s two projects on biogas support programme recently. In lieu of Nepal’s carbon credit, the industrialised nations have agreed to compensate it to the tune of Rs. 36,500,000 annually for emitting greenhouse gases. These two projects alone are estimated to reduce equivalent of around 94,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The two projects have helped in displacing conventionally used but highly polluting fuel sources like wood and kerosene by switching over to biogas technology for cooking and other purposes. It is time we explored similar environment-friendly innovations that could be brought under the Clean Development Mechanism.

This is for the first time that Nepal is getting such a compensation in the international carbon credit market. The government would do well to explore the possibility of taking full advantage of this facility. To expand the use of such energy sources, there is a need to replicate such experience in other areas, involving the masses. But questions such as whether this switchover could be made on a cost-effective basis over a larger area needs to be examined. There is no denying that the supply of biogas could be increased considerably in Nepal, a chiefly agricultural country. To motivate more and more people to opt for such environment-friendly sources as solar and bio energy, it is necessary to demonstrate their clear benefits as well as their practicality. There is a lot more that needs to be done in this regard.