Concern over the growing levels of greenhouse gases and climate change has been building up for the last decade. Any measure or project reducing the release of greenhouse gases would get a “credit”, regardless of the location of such measure or project since climate is a global phenomenon. The dependence of over 70 percent population in India on the biomass for their daily energy needs has accelerated the depletion of forest resources which according to some estimates now stand as low as 10 percent of the total area. At present there is hardly 0.4 percent forest below 25cm rainfall zone and 1.3 percent above 30 cm rainfall zone.

India has over 180 million of wasteland out of which 90 million ha is uncultivable. The degraded and denuded lands arise due to soil erosions as well as secondary salinizations. However Calotropis procera is a potential plant for bioenergy and biofuel production in semi arid regions of the country because it is able to grow on such lands. The plant has a growth potential of 2 dry tones to 40 dry tones per ha depending on the agro climatic conditions of it’s growth. The plant has high level of regeneration potential and could be harvested up to 4 times a year. The plant yields valuable hydrocarbons which could be converted into diesel substitutes. The bio-diesel derived from Calotropis procera is free from NOx gases, S02 and Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and has high cetane value.