Centre Revises Green Belt Norms for Industrial Areas

Ziraat Times Team Report

New Delhi, Dec 4: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued revised guidelines for green belt and green cover requirements across industrial estates and individual industrial units, aiming to align land-use norms with pollution potential and environmental needs. The new standards supersede the earlier Office Memorandum issued on October 27, 2020.

According to an Office Memorandum dated October 29, 2025, the Ministry has mandated that all industrial estates must earmark at least 10% of their total area as a common green space. Within these estates, red-category industries—those with the highest pollution potential—must develop 15% green cover, while orange-category industries are required to maintain 10% green cover within their premises.

For industries operating outside designated industrial estates, the green cover requirements are higher:

• Red-category units: 25% green belt (reducible by 5% for non–air-polluting units)

• Orange-category units: 20% green belt (reducible by 5% for non–air-polluting units)

Green and white category industries have been exempted from mandatory green belt development, except for green-category units with an air pollution score of 25 or above, which must develop 10% green cover.

The Ministry stated that the revision was necessary to strike a balance between industrial land requirements and environmental safeguards, especially considering existing pollution-control norms under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006. The rationalization was based on recommendations of an expert committee that examined international benchmarks for green belt development.

The updated framework reflects a “scientific and pollution-potential–based approach,” ensuring that industries with greater environmental impact undertake higher mitigation measures.

This information was provided by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.