2 months ago
1
A important argumentation announcement successful the Union Budget 2026, involving a monolithic ₹20,000 crore outlay for a c recognition programme, has sparked a question of disorder and conflicting reports, pitting a clear-cut governmental roadworthy representation for dense manufacture against a burgeoning communicative of a caller income watercourse for India’s farmers. At the bosom of the statement is simply a cardinal question. Is this Budget allocation designed to money Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technologies for smokestack industries? Or is it a pioneering strategy to assistance farmers gain c credits done sustainable agriculture? Evidence from authoritative documents suggests the first, but a persistent parallel narrative, echoed successful respective media reports, insists connected the second.
The archetypal is the CCUS for “Hard-to-Abate” Industries. The unambiguous anchor for the Budget announcement is the “R&D Roadmap for CCUS”, released by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) successful December 2025. This method document, which forms the ground of the budgetary provision, leaves small country for ambiguity regarding its scope and intent. The roadworthy representation explicitly identifies its people sectors, power, steel, cement, refineries, and chemicals. These are labelled arsenic “hard-to-abate” industries wherever process emissions are concentrated, measurable, and technically challenging to destruct done renewable vigor alone. The projected ₹20,000 crore implicit 5 years is earmarked for large-scale deployment of CCUS technologies, fundamentally capturing c dioxide from mill flue gases and either utilizing it industrially oregon storing it underground.
Not connected the list
Crucially, agriculture is conspicuously absent from this database of CCUS sectors. The roadworthy representation acknowledges agriculture arsenic a root of greenhouse gases (primarily methane and nitrous oxide) but lone successful an inventory context. It explicitly excludes agriculture from CCUS strategies due to the fact that cultivation emissions are diffuse, biologically mediated, and not suited to the point-source seizure exertion that defines CCUS. The roadworthy representation draws a wide enactment betwixt CCUS (preventing caller concern emissions) and Carbon Dioxide Removal oregon CDR (drawing down existing atmospheric CO2), wherever agriculture, done ungraded c sequestration, biochar, and agroforestry, plays a starring role.
The 2nd is the persistent counter-narrative of farmers arsenic clime solutionists. Despite this wide concern focus, articles and societal media sermon person propagated a antithetic story. This communicative posits that the budgetary outlay volition straight alteration farmers to enactment successful c markets by adopting regenerative practices, turning “farms into clime solutions”.
The basal of the confusion
This mentation appears to conflate 2 chiseled concepts. The Budget’s CCUS money (for concern c capture) and the broader, evolving voluntary c marketplace successful India, wherever agriculture and forestry projects are already opening to make credits for planetary and home buyers. Proponents of the “farmer” communicative constituent to the increasing planetary and home request for nature-based c credits. Several backstage assemblage initiatives and State-level programmes are already piloting models wherever farmers are compensated for practices that heighten ungraded integrated carbon. The disorder apt stems from the Budget’s usage of the word “carbon recognition programme” successful a broader sense, portion its elaborate architecture, arsenic per the DST roadworthy map, is exclusively industrial.
Analysts accidental the disorder highlights a connection spread and a argumentation opportunity. The DST roadworthy representation is is simply a technically sound, sector-specific document, but the Budget’s usage of the much acquainted word ‘carbon credit’ has blurred lines. Mention of a “programme” amid treatment of cultivation c credits has led immoderate to expect a funded strategy for farmers. This anticipation is plausible, arsenic the Agriculture Ministry has been exploring ungraded wellness and climate-resilient farming for years. A structured c farming programme is simply a logical adjacent step, but it would request abstracted policy, funding, and organization frameworks chiseled from the costly, tech-heavy CCUS initiative.
The authorities faces the task of clarifying this favoritism to negociate expectations. The ₹20,000 crore CCUS programme is simply a captious pillar for decarbonising industry, a assemblage captious for maturation but besides liable for a 4th of India’s emissions. Its occurrence is non-negotiable for gathering net-zero goals.
Simultaneously, the almighty communicative astir farmers and c credits highlights a monolithic parallel opportunity. India’s immense cultivation lands clasp immense imaginable for c sequestration. A separate, well-designed argumentation to make a trusted home c marketplace for agriculture could unlock tremendous economical and biology benefits, genuinely creating a “new income stream” for farmers.
A multi-sectoral attack is needed
The existent statement underscores a pivotal infinitesimal successful India’s clime strategy. Budget 2026 has firmly placed its ₹20,000 crore stake connected concern decarbonisation done CCUS. The “farmer c credit” story, portion not funded by this circumstantial outlay, reflects a almighty and increasing world successful the voluntary c abstraction and a compelling request for a parallel argumentation initiative. The way up requires the authorities to intelligibly demarcate these 2 important fronts successful the clime combat — smokestack and ungraded — portion advancing some with adjacent ambition. The disorder whitethorn beryllium calved of conflation today, but it points to the comprehensive, multi-sectoral attack India volition request to forge a sustainable future.
Arkalgud N. Ganeshamurthy is Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), the Indian Society of Soil Science (ISSS), erstwhile Emeritus Scientist, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, and erstwhile Dean, Central Agricultural University, Imphal, Manipur
