V. Jayanth
Realises the import but fails to initiate
concrete action
While a number of companies expect to
contribute to mitigating their impact on climate change, few seem to be
approaching it in a structured, measurable manner.
From the G-8 summit to the regional gatherings of the industry
associations, climate change and its impact as well as regulations on
trade and industry are now dominating the discussions. There appears to
be a genuine concern on the issues raised, but very little when it
comes to follow up action relating to the environment. In other words,
industries are trying to comply with the regulations already in place,
but not enthusiastic about taking the process forward and plan ning for
the future.
After the abolition of the ‘license raj,’ identified sectors of
industry have in recent years only gone in for an environmental
clearance for projects involving either a certain investment, or
handling certain kinds of materials. Hardly a fourth of the businesses
measured their current carbon footprint.
In the wake of the mounting international pressure on the government
and Indian industry to provide leadership for developing countries in
the realm of climate change, leading consultants and global
professional service providers KPMG conducted a survey of Indian
industries to assess their preparedness for the approaching global
phenomenon. The report of the study throws light on India Inc’s
appreciation of the issues at stake as also its readiness to respond to
the change on hand.
“An overwhelming 83 per cent of the respondents claimed to have a fair
understanding of climate change issues. However, just under half of
these respondents said they had a clear strategy in place to tackle
these issues. Almost 60 per cent responded to climate change issues for
the need of complying with regulations. Only 21 per cent of the
businesses surveyed measured their current carbon footprint,” says the
report.
Global awareness
In contrast, global awareness appears far greater, and most companies
in the developed world have measured and announced their baseline
carbon footprint, and also their reduction targets over 5 to 10 year
period. According to the KPMG report, the picture in India appears
‘rather dismal.’ Just 41 per cent of the respondents indicated having
at least some quantified goals for carbon reduction to be achieved by
2010. But a significant 38 per cent have no goals whatsoever. By far
the most common response to climate change issues seems to be the
adoption of energy efficient appliances — 94 per cent have plans to do
that. The other major response may be to go in for environment friendly
practices (77 per cent).
Carbon footprint
So what should the companies be doing? The KPMG report says there seems
to be a significant gap between good intentions and appropriate actions
to back them up. While a number of companies expect to contribute to
mitigating their impact on climate change, few seem to be approaching
it in a structured, measurable manner.
A detailed carbon impact mitigation plan would typically start with a
measurement of the company’s present carbon footprint — as the baseline
against which improvements can be evaluated. In the absence of this
baseline data any initiative will lack credibility. This carbon
footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted over a full
life cycle of a process or product. The more progressive industries
have gone in to assess the total carbon footprint of their supply chain
itself.
Some interesting case studies have also been provided. For instance,
ITC has set itself the goal of becoming the first organisation of its
size to become carbon positive, water positive, and zero solid waste
discharge — it has achieved the first two and may be close to realising
the third. Besides going in for energy efficiency, it has adopted
renewable energy options, recycling of by-products, waste recovery, and
odour abatement systems.
Some of the measures that companies can engage in to tackle climate
change issues are: installing energy efficient appliances for lighting,
heating, and air conditioning, educating and training employees on
environment friendly practices, recycling products, reviewing and
updating global supply chain to improve energy efficiency, achieving
carbon neutral status, discontinuing high energy/carbon devices or
services, reducing air travel and using vehicles with cleaner
technologies.
Asked for a comment on the report and the state of preparedness of
industry to climate change, a former regional president of the CII
says: “We have been discussing these issues seriously, and we are also
in touch with the government. When the Centre itself has not spelt out
its detailed action plan in terms of emission standards or reductions,
industry may not be in a hurry to do that. But we are seriously
concerned and there is enough international pressure on us to respond
to these challenges. I believe that 2010 will be a turning point.”
http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/11/stories/2008081155941300.htm
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© 2008, The Hindu.
