Creating carbon sinks in India: a law and policy perspective

Creating carbon sinks – technologies or processes that absorb more carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere than they release – is a significant part of India’s journey to tackle the challenges of climate change. The Economic Survey of India for 2023–24 noted that India has already created a carbon sink of 1.97 billion tons of CO₂ between 2005 and 2019, and that its ambition is to create carbon sinks equivalent to 2.5 to 3 billion tons CO₂ by the year 2030 through forest and tree cover. In comparison, the UK plans to capture and store 20–30 megatons (million tons) of CO₂ each year by 2030.