The India Module marks the Reserve’s first protocol applicable in India

LOS ANGELES – The Climate Action Reserve today adopted the Nitric Acid Production (NAP) Protocol along with the jurisdiction module for India, setting the foundation for significant reductions in nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) and climate superpollutant. The India Module marks the Reserve’s first protocol applicable in India and its second in Asia, expanding the Reserve’s high-integrity carbon market development in the region.

Under the Reserve’s modular protocol structure, the NAP Protocol provides guidance for GHG emission reductions associated with the installation of N2O abatement technology at nitric acid plants, applicable across jurisdictions. The India Module provides jurisdiction-specific guidance for project registration in India.

N2O is a potent GHG and climate superpollutant with a global warming potential 265 times greater than CO₂ over a 100-year timescale. N2O abatement is not standard practice in the sector, and the Reserve’s NAP Protocol can drive significant emission reductions at facilities where N2O abatement is not required by law and emissions would otherwise continue to be released into the atmosphere.

“N2O abatement technologies can achieve immediate, significant, and permanent climate benefits. The Nitric Acid Production Protocol provides transparency and certainty around the quantification and verification of emission reductions, giving carbon market participants confidence in the quality of reported reductions.” – Robin Rix, President, Climate Action Reserve

The NAP Protocol and India Module incorporate rigorous requirements and conservative accounting designed to uphold environmental integrity. They were developed with input from a multidisciplinary technical expert review group, local stakeholder engagement, and an open public comment period. The protocol features stringent additionality requirements, conservative baseline setting, exclusion of reductions required by regulation, robust monitoring and verification requirements, safeguards against production-related perverse incentives, and mechanisms to stop crediting if regulatory requirements are introduced.

“N₂O emissions from nitric acid production in India are estimated at more than 2 million tonnes of CO₂e annually. The NAP Protocol can bridge the period before regulations exist by financing early deployment, creating operational experience, demonstrating feasibility, and developing the infrastructure to support broader implementation,” said Komal Sinha, Regional Head, Market Development (Asia) of the Climate Action Reserve. “Deploying this technology now is critical to achieving reductions at the scale and speed necessary to address the climate crisis.”

The Reserve’s modular protocol structure combines a sector-specific protocol that provides guidance applicable across jurisdictions with jurisdiction-specific modules that address location-specific conditions and requirements. This system continues the Reserve’s contextualized approach that takes into account local policies and practices, while enabling more efficient protocol development, adaptation, and updates as we expand our impact across the world. The Reserve previously adopted a U.S. NAP Protocol, which informed the development of the modular NAP Protocol and its jurisdiction modules. The U.S. Module was previously approved on July 16, 2026. To date, the Reserve has registered 23.9 million carbon credits for nitric acid production projects.

The Reserve welcomes market participants to submit concepts for additional jurisdictional modules for the NAP Protocol.

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The Climate Action Reserve develops and implements trusted market-based programs to advance climate action for people and planet. A leader in high-integrity carbon accounting, we serve global carbon markets, envisioning a world cooperating to solve climate change at speed and scale.

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