Big Firms Pass ESG Test...

...but smaller Indian corporates still to follow high standards in ESG reporting and action.

- P.B. JAYAKUMAR

SEVERE POLLUTION from stubble burning haunts many north Indian cities during winter. The biggest reason: India produces nearly 230 million tonnes of non-cattle feed biomass every year, a big chunk of which is burnt. Agriculture residue is seen as a major hurdle in India's quest for net zero carbon emissions by 2070. India's largest corporate Reliance Industries took up the challenge to use the biomass in the country's first commercial-scale compressed biogas (CBG) plant set up at Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh in just 10 months right after two demo bioenergy units validated the technology at Jamnagar. At the 46th annual general meeting on August 23, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani says: "We will rapidly scale this up to 25 CBG plants across India. Our target is to establish 100 CBG plants in next five years, consuming 5.5 million tonnes of agro-residue and organic waste, mitigating nearly two million tonnes of carbon emissions and producing 2.5 million tonnes of organic manure annually." This would save about 0.7 metric million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas. Ambani targets making Reliance a net zero company by 2035 and is spending ₹75,000 crore in new energy, climate technologies and materials.

Like Reliance, most leading private corporations in India-Tata, Adani, Birla, JSW, Godrej and big public sector enterprises such as ONGC, NTPC, IOC, BPCL and HPCL-have set in motion several projects to meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. But beyond the top tier of India Inc., Indian companies as a whole are yet to seriously include climate actions and ESG goals in their business plans, say experts. While an 'ESG market' is evolving, there are many issues-from awareness and data to regulatory framework and funding--that must be addressed to help companies integrate ESG norms into investment and business plans, they say.

Evolving Ecosystem