If what gets measured gets managed, then a majority of the Indian companies have begun well to take on the climate change challenges. More than half (55%) of Indian companies are maintaining either complete or partial greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, according to the trends emerging from the FE-EVI Green Business Survey. The inference is based on the responses of 200 firms.
GHGs like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride cause anthropogenic or human induced global warming. Corporations use GHG inventories to track the sources of their emissions to minimise them and comply with mandatory or voluntary caps. A GHG inventory also serve as a source for baseline data for companies engaged in emission trading under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
While 15% Indian companies claim that they have developed a complete GHG inventory, another 40% say that they maintain a partial GHG inventory. Most of the energy intensive power companies (84%) claim to keep either partial or complete GHG inventory. The remaining 45% organisations have not made any GHG inventory. PSUs lag Indian private sector companies and MNCs in developing GHG inventories.
Conducted by The Financial Express (FE) and Emergent Ventures India (EVI), a climate change mitigation advisory company, the survey aims to track the greening of Indian businesses, and showcase success stories for building a low-carbon economy.