The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change has reduced the mandatory requirement of greenbelt or green cover for new industrial estates, parks and individuals under environmental clearance conditions, as per an office memorandum issued on October 29, 2025.
The revised greenbelt norms in new greenfield industrial projects mandate a minimum of only 10 per cent of the area of the industrial estates to be designated as common green area with dense plantation (2,500 trees per hectare), which is to be developed by the owner of the industrial estate.
“This area could be developed by the project proponent either at one location or be earmarked at different locations within the premises in such a manner that it is clearly demarcated and adds up to 10 per cent of the area of the industrial estate,” the Ministry said.
For individual member industries in an industrial estate, the minimum green belt requirement is 15 per cent for red category industries, and 10 per cent for orange category industries, within their premises. Further, if an individual unit sets up a project outside an industrial estate, it must ensure 25 per cent green cover if it falls under the red category, 20 per cent for orange, and 10 per cent for green category.
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The Ministry has also asked the industries to locate the greenbelt as close as possible to the pollution source.
Industrial sectors with a pollution index score of 60 and above are categorised as red, and industries with a pollution index score between 41 and 59 are classified as orange.
Environmentalists have raised strong objections to such a revision, saying the government favoured the corporate sector over combating pollution.
“The order clearly shows that green norms are guided under pressure from industries,” said Prafulla Samantara, an environmentalist and a Goldman environmental prize winner.
The conditions for the projects were earlier covered in the schedule of the Environment Impact Assessment notification, 2006, and standardised by the Ministry to compulsorily include a minimum of 33 per cent separate green belt for development projects, including industrial estates.
In office memoranda of 2018 and 2019, the Ministry had stipulated 33 per cent separate green cover requirement for most sectors. In 2019, 40 per cent green belt criteria were introduced for potential red and orange category industries located in Critically Polluted Areas and Severely Polluted Area.
Subsequently, in 2020, 33 per cent mandatory green cover requirement was retained in industrial estates, parks, complexes, export processing zones and special economic zones.
However, as per the office memorandum, a committee was constituted to “rationalise” the requirements between the requirement of land for the projects and environmental needs. It submitted a report to the Ministry for revising the criteria for developing a greenbelt, which was then referred to the Expert Advisory Committee for examination. After deliberations, the committee recommended the revised greenbelt.
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