Indian companies will soon be able to seek green ratings for the sustainable initiatives they practice.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will launch a green rating framework on Thursday that will enable companies to take stock of their environmental performance.

“It is voluntary for companies to seek the ratings,” said Mr K.S. Venkatagiri, Principal Counsellor at CII.

The industry body has developed the ratings frameworks on about eight parameters such as energy efficiency, water management, and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and use of energy from renewable sources.

“We expect to take about 25 Indian companies for the rating exercise this year to see how it works. By end of 2013, we see some 1000 companies going for it,” Mr Venkatagiri said.

Developed over the past 12-18 months, the framework has inputs from the US Environment Protection Authority and research agencies in Switzerland.

Further, CII expects to carry out the rating process for several foreign companies mainly as a benchmarking exercise and to see how they compare with Indian firms. “The rating system helps companies to know where exactly they stand with respect to their sustainability initiatives. It will further help them to plan ahead,” Mr Venkatagiri added.

CII has empanelled some 15 experts as assessors for the green rating exercise. Stating that awareness on sustainability was catching up with the Indian companies, Mr Venkatagiri said he expects more firms to be attracted to the ratings concept. Green ratings would help companies improve their image not only from an investors perspective but also with customers, especially overseas ones.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW