Come clean, show your green, Khurshid tells India Inc

Big Brother will now watch Corporate India’s carbon footprint.The government is planning to make it mandatory for companies to disclose their “green initiatives” in their annual reports as part of a plan to sensitise them on arresting harmful climate change reports Mahua Venkatesh.

Big Brother will now watch Corporate India’s carbon footprint.

HT Image

The government is planning to make it mandatory for companies to disclose their “green initiatives” in their annual reports as part of a plan to sensitise them on arresting harmful climate change.

India has voluntarily committed to reduce carbon intensity by 25 per cent, by 2020, and India Inc’s adoption of green technologies would be vital to achieve the target, the government says.

It has already managed to reduce its emission intensity by 17.6 per cent between 1990 and 2005 despite high economic growth and a population boom.

“Companies may be asked to account details on measures taken by them to move towards green technology in their annual reports,” corporate affairs minister Salman Khurshid told Hindustan Times.

However, industry has already begun the process of making voluntary disclosures on green technologies to reduce harmful emissions.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has asked its 4,000-odd members to periodically disclose what emission-reduction initiatives they are adopting.

“We would see when to make it mandatory as they would need time to make the necessary preparations, as this would mean additional costs for companies,” Khurshid said.

However, the government may initially exempt the smaller companies from making such disclosures, he added.

As many as 746 Indian companies, representing over 40 sectors, account for 1,056 projects that have applied for the United Nations-mandated CDM (clean development mechanism) accreditation.