51 cos participate in carbon emission disclosure programme

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PUNE: It’s a sign of the country’s increasing eco-awareness. A recent voluntary carbon emissions disclosure programme had 51 companies participating, of which more than 40 per cent were from Maharashtra.

In its second year in India, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has partnered with the Confideration of Indian Industries (CII) and WWF India to administer an eight-page questionnaire about the companies’ stand on climate change, their policies and finally, an accounting of their greenhouse gas emissions.

City-based Thermax industries was part of the project, and voluntarily provided information on its carbon output. “Since it does not have greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting measures in place, the company was unable to share its emissions data, but shared information on what they perceive. Thermax said it would provide detailed disclosures in the next process,” Shirish Sinha, director of the climate and energy programme of WWF, told TOI.

Speaking to TOI, M S Unnikrishnan, managing director of Thermax Industries, said that the company is making in-house efforts to estimate its carbon footprint, despite not being a high-emission outfit.

“The reduction in carbon footprint is relevant even from a business point of view. There could be the possibility of a carbon tax being levied in the future, green production could become mandatory and companies with a smaller carbon footprint will rise higher on the customer charts,” Unnikrishnan said.

He said that while in India disclosure is voluntary, it is in the best interests of the corporate citizenry to undertake the excercise. “Climate change is a reality we cannot ignore, and the sooner we take concrete steps to tackle it, the better our future will be.” he said.

Cummins India Ltd was also a part of the survey. Cummins officials said, “Over the long-term, we anticipate regulations in the US and tighter restrictions internationally. Due to the significant lead time associated with our products, we must minimise the risk of potential regulations by taking steps today. As a result of this work, we expect to be well positioned among our peers in the event of such regulations arising.”

M&M, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services and Godrej Consumer Products are some of the other companies from Maharashtra that provided comprehensive carbon-emissions data to the CDP.

Elaborating on participation in the report, Mahindra and Mahindra officials said that changes in the consumer priorities and growing awareness of green products and services had led to investment and development of more fuel-efficient vehicles as well as hybrid and biodiesel vehicles.

The first such disclosure report, done through a survey in 2007, had 31 participants, but the number has increased in 2008 and also includes public sector entities, Sinha said. “Release of a national action plan on climate change by the government in June 2008, induced a shift in response from the companies and acted as a catalyst in invoking response. We saw a difference in response and perceptions of the companies which responded before June 2008 and those which responded after,” he added.