Should India Join the Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets?
India's own carbon market, the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), is now working with binding targets. On 31 July 2026, nearly 500 companies in seven industrial sectors filed their first compliance reports. The first carbon credits are due in October 2026, with trading on power exchanges expected between November 2026 and January 2027.
In May 2026, the European Union, China and Brazil formally launched the Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets (OCCCM) in Florence, Italy. Its aim is to make the world's government-run carbon markets work in more similar, compatible ways.
Germany and New Zealand joined first. Canada, France, Norway, Singapore, Türkiye and the United Kingdom have joined since. In September 2026, at a meeting in Wuhan (China), the coalition adopted its first work plan.
India has not joined so far. A recent policy analysis argues that India should join, because carbon pricing is spreading worldwide and border carbon taxes like the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) are growing.
The analysis says the coalition does not impose emission targets on members. The bigger risk, it argues, is staying outside while the rules are written.
Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets (OCCCM)
The Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets (OCCCM) is a group of countries that run government-made carbon markets and want those markets to work in compatible ways. It was proposed by Brazil at the COP30 climate summit in Belém (November 2025) and formally launched by the European Union, China and Brazil in Florence, Italy, on 7 May 2026. It does not set emission targets for anyone. Instead, it is a platform where members share methods, agree on common standards and slowly move towards markets that can "talk" to each other.
With its own carbon market now live, India faces a choice: join the OCCCM and help write the global rules for carbon markets, or stay outside. The analysis argues that membership would help India link its market to others and prepare for border carbon taxes, while the coalition places no emission targets on members.
Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), India
The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) is India's domestic carbon market. Big industrial plants get a target for how much greenhouse gas they may release per unit of product. Those that do better than their target earn Carbon Credit Certificates (CCCs), and those that fall short must buy and surrender certificates. It was notified in June 2023 under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 (as amended in 2022).
The CCTS moving from paper to practice, with first reports filed and credits due, is the main reason the analysis argues India is now ready to engage with global carbon market coalitions like the OCCCM.
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): The EU's Carbon Charge on Imports
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a European Union rule that charges importers for the carbon released while making certain goods abroad. The idea is that a foreign producer should pay a carbon price similar to what EU producers pay under the EU Emissions Trading System. If the exporter has already paid a carbon price at home, that amount can be deducted.
The analysis argues that joining the OCCCM would help India prepare for a world of CBAM-like border taxes, because the coalition's work on measuring and accounting for emissions is exactly what exporters need to prove the carbon content of their goods. A domestic carbon price under the CCTS could also, in future, be counted against such charges.
- CCTS first compliance reports: 31 July 2026, by nearly 500 companies in seven sectors
- First CCTS credits due in October 2026; trading expected November 2026 to January 2027
- OCCCM launched in Florence in May 2026 by the EU, China and Brazil
- First new OCCCM members: Germany and New Zealand; later Canada, France, Norway, Singapore, Türkiye, UK
- OCCCM first work plan adopted at Wuhan in September 2026
- India's targets: 45% cut in emissions intensity of GDP by 2030 (from 2005 levels); net zero by 2070
- Over 50 countries have carbon pricing measures; World Bank counted about 80 instruments covering about 28% of global emissions (2025)
- EU CBAM definitive phase began 1 January 2026