India's JSW Steel [Get Quote] has been awarded more than 5.4 million carbon credits, including four million carbon credits in the single largest issuance of emissions permits to a Kyoto Protocol project, by the United Nations.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change said the Certified Emissions Reductions certificates were issued to two projects owned by JSW Steel for reducing greenhouse gas emissions between 2001 and 2006.

The projects, registered in January under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism, cut gases emitted through power generation from imported coal and waste gases from JSW's steel manufacturing operations.

According to the company's web site, the four million credit issuance accounts for 6.5 per cent of the total 62 million CERs allocated by the UN so far, with 42 per cent of all issued credits going to projects in India.

The CDM project by JSW Steel consisted of setting up a 100 MW power plant (JPL unit 1), for generation of electricity by combustion of waste gases from their Blast Furnace and Corex units in their plant in Torangallu, Karnataka.

CERs, each equivalent to the reduction of one tonne of carbon dioxide, trading on a secondary market are currently valued at around 14.50 euros.

The CDM is a scheme under the Kyoto Protocol that allows rich countries to meet emission targets by funding clean energy projects in developing nations.

The CDM project by JSW Energy involves putting in place systems and infrastructure for the generation of power using corex gas and other waste gases that were otherwise being flared off in JSW Steel Limited (JSW)1. The input fuel to the JSW Energy power plant is sourced from JSW, which is generating waste gas from its process and sourcing imported coal.

JSW Steel is a fully integrated steel plant with plants across Karnataka and Maharashtra producing from pellets to colour coated steel.