MANISH DABKARA, the 38-year-old chairman and MD of EKI Energy Services, the largest carbon credit specialist company in the developing world and one among the top five globally, had faced lots of ups and downs in business. Dabkara says the first seven years were a big struggle since carbon credits was a new business concept for most Indian firms in 2008 when he began a carbon credit consultancy. Today, EKI Energy Services has 3,500-plus customers across 40 countries. It helps firms enroll green projects to get carbon credits, trade these credits and earn revenues. Out of 493 MtCo2e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent — a measurement for carbon pollution) credits generated globally, EKI accounts for 78 MtCo2e and has 15% market share globally.
Carbon credits are used to reward ‘greener’ projects for reducing carbon emissions. Polluting industries can also purchase carbon credits to reduce pollution.
From ₹7 crore in revenue in FY18, EKI has grown to ₹191 crore in FY21. The company debuted on the BSE at a valuation of ₹96 crore. Today, it is valued at ₹1,263 crore. In FY22, revenue rose to ₹1,800 crore.
From an end-to-end solution provider in carbon consulting, EKI is now evolving into a leading carbon market developer. It has floated a joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell, which will invest billions of dollars to create 120 million carbon credits annually by 2030. The company has also launched India’s maiden ₹1,000 crore Climate Impact Fund to develop GHG mitigation projects in partnership with Impact Capital Asset Management, Singapore.
“We have done about 200 million credits and another 300 million are in the pipeline. Our credits are valued around ₹2,100 crore and are expected to increase to ₹6,000-7,000 crore within a year,” says Dabkara. — P.B.Jayakumar