India is a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the objective of the Convention is to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

To strengthen the developed country commitments under the Convention, the Parties adopted Kyoto Protocol in 1997, which commits developed country Parties to return their emissions of greenhouse gases to an average of approximately 5.2% below 1990 levels over the period 2008-12.

The Kyoto Protocol provides for quantified emission limitations and reduction commitments for the developed countries and mechanisms to facilitate compliance with these targets, reporting and review and it lists six greenhouse gases - Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous Oxide (N2O), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

India acceded to the Kyoto Protocol in August 2002 and one of the objectives of acceding was to fulfill prerequisites for implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (hereinafter referred to as CDM) projects, in accordance with national sustainable priorities, where-under, a developed country would take up greenhouse gas reduction project activities in developing countries where the costs of greenhouse gas reduction project activities are usually much lower with the purpose to assist developing country parties in achieving Sustainable Development and in contributing to the ultimate objective of the Convention and to assist developed country Parties in achieving compliance with their quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments.