Ease of doing business at core of environment ministry’s reforms in 2025

The Union environment ministry, in its year-end review on Wednesday, listed several schemes introduced in 2025 as major reforms aimed at promoting ease of doing business

These include a change in the environment clearance framework for building and construction projects, where the ministry has permitted changes in design and planning without requiring environment clearance (EC) amendments. The government has also made way for offline forest clearance proposal submission for “defence/strategic/emergency” projects, the ministry said.

The ministry has made provisions for mining projects of certain minerals reclassified from ‘minor’ to ‘major’ by the Ministry of Mines, with lease area up to 5 hectares, shall be apprised as Category ‘B2’ under the EIA Notification, 2006. Category B2 projects do not need a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report or public hearing, and are often assessed at the state level.

Further, green belt and green cover requirements for industrial estates/parks and individual industries have been rationalised based on pollution potential. HT had reported on October 20 that the Union environment ministry has changed the mandatory common green cover requirement for industrial estates from 33% to 10%, while introducing differentiated norms for individual industries based on their pollution potential, people aware of the matter said on anonymity. Further, HT had also reported that on November 27 that the ministry has clarified a ‘specific condition’ in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) notification, 2006, in order to facilitate the establishment of industrial estates/complexes where individual industrial units within those estates do not require separate environmental clearance.

The ministry, in its year-end achievements, said that it has addressed delays arising from court or National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) proceedings are now excluded from EC validity period.

Through the Environment Audit Rules, 2025, the Centre has introduced a cadre of certified third-party environmental auditors to conduct on-site verification and compliance audits under major environmental laws, “reinforcing the government’s Trust Based Compliance – Ease of Doing Business”, the ministry said.

PARIVESH 2.0, the website through which environment, forest and wildlife clearances are processed, achieved complete automation in clearance management, providing an integrated digital platform for environment, forest, wildlife, CRZ clearances, the ministry said. It now integrates Geographic Information System (GIS) for real-time decision support, improves transparency through online tracking, and facilitates Ease of Doing Business while ensuring accountability and environmental safeguards.

“By offering a single-window interface for project proponents, appraisal committees, and regulatory authorities, PARIVESH 2.0 strengthens the government’s commitment to ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ and promotes sustainable development,” it added.

Further, the Centre has integrated Parivesh 2.0 with PM Gatishakti, NSWS (National Single Window System), CAMPA’s digital payment gateway, and QCI-NABET’s accreditation portal.

Under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Amendment Rules, 2025, the Centre has made provisions for expanded land bank creation in degraded/government/recorded forest lands (with ≤ 0.4 canopy density). Afforestation created under government schemes can be used for mandatory compensatory afforestation by infrastructure projects and other corporations in lieu of forest diversion.The Centre has also streamlined approvals for critical, strategic, deep-seated and atomic mineral mining, it added.

HT had reported on July 16 that in a bid to fast-track forest and environmental clearances for critical or strategically important minerals, including rare earth ones, the environment ministry is considering these proposals under a separate head in its Parivesh 2.0 portal. The ministry has made a provision for extension of in-principle forest clearance approval validity beyond 5 years.

Most importantly, it has made way for offline forest clearance proposal submission for defence/strategic/emergency projects. These are not accessible for public scrutiny on the Parivesh website.

Further, the Centre has revised industry classification (Red/Orange/Green/Blue/White) to encourage better compliance. States are now empowered to classify new sectors under the “White” or minimal pollution category. Around 86 industry sectors notified as White category are now exempted from both consent to establish and consent to operate permits of the pollution control boards.

Among other achievements, the environment ministry said it has planted 262.4 crore saplings planted under “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam” campaign since June 5, 2024; India has ranked 9th globally in total forest area by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025, and retained its position at 3rd position worldwide in terms of annual forest gain; and Project Cheetah expanded to Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary and that cheetah population reached 30, including 19 born in India.