E-Paper
Govt-certified auditors can assess environment projects: Ministry
The audits will encourage self-compliance by industries and help monitor pollution levels.
Government-certified environment auditors can review projects and activities approved by the environment ministry, to ensure that norms and stipulated conditions are complied with, according to a draft notification issued by the ministry last month.
The audit, the draft notification added, will encourage “self-compliance” of environmental norms by industries and also keep a check on pollution.
“Authorized Environment Audit‖ means Environment Audit undertaken by registered Environment Auditor under the extant notification; and prior to the extant notification, Environment Audit undertaken by government recognized Environment Auditor, and/or by the Environment Auditor duly engaged by the Government or its agencies,” the draft notification titled “Environment Audit Notification” and published on January 29 said.
The notification also said that a registered environment auditor refers to a certified environment auditor who is registered with the ministry for undertaking such exercises.
However, it is not mandatory for entities to opt for government-certified auditors.
The proposed third party (first part is government, second party is the company) environment audit is exclusively a voluntary mechanism and not intended to be made mandatory for those entities who want to continue within the existing framework, the draft notification said.
“The proposed third party environment audit is not an alternate to the existing system of compliance and monitoring through government agencies but is only to supplement the efforts of the government agencies, which will continue with their existing role of random inspection and verification,” the ministry said.
According to Debadityo Sinha, lead - Climate & Ecosystems at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, “currently, companies receiving environmental clearances are required to submit self-compliance reports, but enforcement of this has been dismal”. “Introducing an independent audit mechanism for environmental compliance may help address this issue to some extent. However, the effectiveness of this mechanism will largely depend on the independence and diligence of these third-party auditors. The role of the ministry is crucial in ensuring that audit reports are of high quality, verifiable, and transparent. It should not be used by project proponents to simply ease the process of doing business, as has been observed with the quality of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports,” he said.
CURRENTLY WHO DOES THE AUDITS?
“In cases where registered auditors provide false information or conceal non-compliance issues, project proponents should also be held accountable,” he added.
In the draft notification, the ministry said that “regular audit of such projects, activities or processes w.r.t. environmental conditions and safeguards incorporated in associated environmental approvals viz. Environmental Clearance (EC), Consent to Operate (CTO) etc. shall prompt and encourage self-compliance by putting in place internal control mechanism by the Project Proponent/Industry undertaking such projects, activities and processes, for the purposes of prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution, leading to increased overall environmental responsibility and resource productivity of the entities”.
It also said that an environmental audit of projects, activities and processes, approved under the Environment (Protection) Act, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, or Forest (Conservation) Act or Wild Life (Protection) Act, is important to ensure compliance of the stipulated conditions and environmental norms prescribed by regulatory authorities.
The audit by independent empanelled agencies will help “fulfill the obligations of Government of India on Climate Action, including adoption of the principles of LiFE – Lifestyle for Environment – and is expected to support implementation of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) rating of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Sovereign Green Bond, climate financing, carbon trading etc”, the notification said.
According to the government, the environment auditors will be assigned to a particular project randomly through a computer-based online software programme integrated with the Parivesh portal of the environment ministry.
The draft notification will be taken into consideration on or after March 29, after the expiry of a period of 60 days since the draft was published (January 29).
