How can Indian carbon removal startups get a stamp of approval on their carbon credits?

India has emerged as a major exporter of carbon credits in the global market, accounting for 17% of credits being issued every year. Recent times have seen many startups emerge in the space, setting up carbon removal projects in India. Some of these startups, like Alt Carbon and Varaha, have also gone on to sign offtake agreements with US-based tech giants, Microsoft and Google, among others. 

The voluntary carbon markets run on rigorous verification and testing to ensure that the credits are credible. These startups have to follow methodologies and standards that are set by agencies, constantly measuring their progress and testing their results in labs so as to generate certified carbon credits. 

As of 2026, the Indian government is also setting up a Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), which will be the country’s first national framework designed to put a price on carbon emissions. 

Meanwhile, Indian startups can verify their credits and list on a range of registries that are available globally. Many of these registries have their own checks and balances in place to evaluate the credibility of the carbon removal project and carbon dioxide removal from it. 

Choices, choices, choices

The first step is to identify a methodology or a pre-approved rulebook for measuring carbon for your specific sector. At this stage, companies can look to register with firms like Verra, Gold Standard, Puro.earth, Climate Action Reserve or India-based RenewCred. 

Each of these organisations has developed methodologies for specific projects. Verra is the world’s largest registry and has developed methodologies for a range of projects from Blue Carbon—a project by which carbon dioxide is captured and stored by coastal and marine ecosystems— to Improved Forest Management. 

Gold Standard is known to have the strictest requirements and focuses on community-based projects like clean cookstoves and water filtration. Meanwhile, Nasdaq-owned Puro.earth is considered a leader in engineered carbon removal and has pioneered methodologies for biochar, enhanced rock weathering, and carbonated building materials. US-based Climate Action Reserve specialises in agriculture and landfill gas methodologies. 

However, if one is looking to register with an Indian player, Bengaluru-based RenewCred operates its own standard and registry. Founded in 2024, the firm offers standards for electric vehicles, artisanal biochar, industrial biochar, livestock methane, renewable energy, compressed biogas, and clean cookstove projects. 

If a startup is developing a brand-new project, one can write their own methodology and submit it to a registry for approval. However, this process might typically take up to one to two years and deep pockets. 

These startups have to then approach third-party auditors called validation and verification bodies (VVBs). A startup has to ensure that it has core project documentation, which includes a project description, a monitoring report, evidence of land tenure—legal documents proving the project developer has the rights to the carbon credits generated—and evidence that local communities and stakeholders were informed and consulted for the project. 

VVBs will take a look at the documents submitted by the startup and confirm whether the project design meets the requirements of the standard chosen by the startup. If there are corrective actions flagged by the verification team, then the startup has to submit documents proving that it has resolved these issues. 

The startup will also have to submit technical supporting documents, which include baseline emission data reports. This includes data showing how many emissions would have been emitted without this project. Other reports include methodology and calculation sheets, projected financial models. 

After hiring an accredited independent auditor, the company has to submit a registration application or a request form. The VVB also has to sign off on a document ensuring that they are independent of this project. 

Registries get to work

Today, Indian carbon credits face a credibility problem, noted RenewCred’s Founder and CEO, Abhimanyu Rathi. “There have been instances where a project was verified, but it was not even set up. Solar projects that promised over 25 years of credit get verified only for three years, or there is an apartment constructed on the land where the project was set up.”

Rathi noted that RenewCred was set up to solve four main problems: quality of project, credibility of the credits issued, lifting the financial burden of paying registries from the supplier to the buyer, and increasing transparency in the market. 

The Bengaluru-based company operates as a standard registry for the voluntary carbon market, certifying, verifying and issuing carbon credits as well as providing technology to monitor these credits. 

RenewCred is looking to tackle the credibility problem plaguing the carbon credit market through data and methodologies that are specific to India. It is also one of the few registries that do not charge a supplier to list its carbon credits on its registry. Instead, the company derives revenue through charging an amount from the buyer when they purchase credits on the platform. 

The company also has certain guardrails in place to ensure they onboard the right projects onto its platform. For instance, the company only issues credits to projects that have a minimum 10-year cycle. It also looks at technical additionality, which means that the revenue from these carbon credits should have made the project viable. “So if you were doing something in the normal course of action in a normal business, that wouldn’t normally fetch carbon credits. You need to actually do something out of your business line to generate credits. There is one caveat over there that if your project is very innovative enough, then it can still get credits in spite of that,” Rathi noted. 

RenewCred also looks at how permanently the carbon credit has been removed. For instance, today, renewable energy credits only fetch $1 because it does not remove CO2. It is only a substitution. However, a project such as biochar, where the CO2 from the atmosphere is being removed, can cost about $200. 

The company has sketched out a list of about 40-50 parameters by which it identifies projects to be verified and credits to be sold on its registry. RenewCred operates data banks that collect data from these projects on a real-time basis to avoid data manipulation. It does this by installing IoTs and sensors onto the machine being used for the project. 

What are the steps to register your project on RenewCred?

The first step for any company looking to verify and list its carbon credits on RenewCred’s platform is to approach the company. Then the firm will send across a list of 10 questions, or a feasibility test, and give the firm seven days to respond. 

After going through these responses, it will decide whether it will work with the project developer or not. 

The second step is to then ask for a project design document or PDD. The company has collated a list of 50-60 questions regarding data and numbers from the results, methodologies and technology being used. 

Then the firm will integrate its technology into the project. For instance, sensors are attached to EVs to give the firm real-time data on how many kilometres it has travelled. A biochart will give the firm data on the temperature inside a certain machine. RenewCred has a plug-and-play model whereby it can make an API (Application Programming Interface) call to gather data. 

This means that the firm is not installing any heavy software, hardware or increasing server costs through this integration. It is simply using an existing connection to talk to the machine, Rathi explained. 

“We believe that the work we are doing will generate high-quality credits that buyers will automatically buy. So that’s why we take the upfront costs, and that’s why we raised funds.”

RenewCred raised Rs 4.25 crore in seed funding in January, led by Campus Angels Network, with participation from Kairos Early Opportunity Fund, build3 Startup Studio, VentureStudio Ahmedabad University, Ideashacks Investor Network, ACT Capital Foundation, Social Innovation Lab by Citi Bank–IIT Kanpur, and angel investors.