Published Online:January 2026
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Accounting Research & Audit Practices
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJARAP150126
DOI:10.71329/IUPJARAP/2026.25.1.317-349
Author Name:Sohom Banerjee and Sumanta Dutta
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Finance
Download Format:PDF
Pages:317-349
This paper presents a systematic review of the development, makeup, and challenges of Indian carbon credit market with a strong focus on project types, policy frameworks, market dynamics, and governance mechanisms. Using PRISMA methodology, 35 peerreviewed studies from 2000 to 2023 were assessed. The review finds that despite the great progress on the part of India in the areas of renewable energy and CDM participation, fundamental challenges continue to exist: regulatory doubts, price instability, and fears about additionality and benefit-sharing. The paper also indicates thematic gaps in literature in the form of lack of publications on agriculture, microenterprises, and socioeconomic effects of carbon projects. Particularly, it brings together views on accounting, audit, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure frameworks, indicating the need for harmonization of standards and third-party assurance. Making an inventory of unsettled debates and suggesting practical policy recommendations like establishing an independent regulator and updating of ICAI’s carbon accounting rules, the study provides a timely knowledge base for the development of Indian carbon market. This review is useful for both academic discussion and policy change, providing a synthesized critical evaluation of India’s carbon credit landscape and its preparedness for future compulsory and voluntary markets.
Governments globally are placing an unprecedented emphasis on lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With the main aim of ensuring that the rise in temperature from preindustrial times is less than 2 ?C and a supplementary aim of substantially limiting the rise to less than 1.5 ?C, the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 (Anjos et al., 2022; Dwivedi et al., 2022).