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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for
the assessment of climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide
the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and
its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts. It reviews and assesses the most
recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to
the understanding of climate change. Thousands of scientists from all over the world
contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis.
IPCC released its latest report ‘Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and
Vulnerability’ in March 20141
. The report starts with restating the conclusion from its earlier
editions ‘Human interference with the climate system is occurring and climate change poses
risks for human and natural systems’.
The observed impacts of climate change include
(1) changing precipitation or melting snow and ice are altering hydrological systems,
affecting water resources
(2) impact on many terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species
(3) reduced yields on of crops across regions
(4) impact on human health – increased deaths due to heat; local changes in temperature
and rainfall have altered the distribution of some water-borne illnesses and disease
vectors
(5) increase in the frequency and severity of climate-related extremes, such as heat
waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, and wildfires
(6) Climate-related hazards affect lives of most vulnerable people directly through
impacts on livelihoods, reductions in crop yields, or destruction of homes and
indirectly through, for example, increased food prices and food insecurity
(7) Possible large scale violent conflicts due to large scale displacements/ relocation etc.
for access to infrastructure, institutions, natural resources, social capital, and
livelihood opportunities.
1
http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/
Business case for carbon mapping and carbon
roadmap development by Indian Businesses
– RSM GC, Mumbai
Climate change is a reality

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Indian Government acknowledges climate change as global challenge and has formed a
‘Climate Change Division’ in The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to
deal with this issue. Also, in 2008, Dr. Manmohan Singh (then Prime Minister) released
‘India's National Action Plan on Climate Change’2
. Through this, India has identified specific
sectors for the GHG emission mitigation. In 2014, the ‘Expert Group on Low Carbon
Strategies for Inclusive Growth’3
under the Planning Commission has also published pathway
to reduce the emission intensity of country’s GDP by 20 to 25 percent, over 2005 levels, by
2020.
Further, India has started many policies and programs to reduce the GHG emissions including
renewable energy promotion, energy efficiency rating and market mechanism scheme like
PAT for energy intensive sectors such as Thermal Power plants, Iron & Steel, Cement,
Fertilizer, Aluminum, Textile, Pulp & Paper, Chlor-alkali4
. Many Indian companies have also
started voluntary GHG emission reduction plans under corporate pledges to CDP5
and India6
GHG Program.
The link between greenhouse
emissions and global warming is
scientifically established. The
global warming contributes to and
accelerates, aggravates the climate
change impacts. Thus, as
responsible businesses, it is
desirable to monitor and take
efforts to reduce the GHG
emissions from business operations.
Ministry of Corporate Affairs,
Government of India has notified
the “National Voluntary Guidelines
for Business Responsibility” and
expects the businesses to follow these guidelines. National Voluntary Guidelines (NVG) for
2
http://pib.nic.in/release/rel_print_page.asp?relid=39898
3
http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/Inter_Exp.pdf
4
http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=85182
5
https://www.cdp.net/en-US/WhatWeDo/Pages/India.aspx
6
http://indiaghgp.org/
Why carbon emission calculation and reporting?
India’s response to climate change

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Business Responsibility are based on nine principles covering Business ethics, Product
responsibility, Well being of employees, Stakeholder engagement, Human rights,
Environment, Public policy, Inclusive development and Customer relations.
Keeping with the NVGs, demands of transparency and accountability of business by the
investor community in general and calls by UN Principles for Responsible Investment and
Rio+20, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has amended the listing agreement
and made Business Responsibility practice and disclosure mandatory for top 100 companies
listed on the security exchanges7
. Business Responsibility Reporting is applicable to all
types of companies including manufacturing, services etc.8
A survey published in 20129
concluded that 64% of the top affected companies were not
prepared to submit their reports in line with the requirements of this SEBI circular. The
survey further analysed reporting by companies on their climate change initiatives (a
principle 6 requirement as per NVG guidelines). Only 36% of affected companies had
disclosed their baseline carbon footprint and 20% of the companies had stated their carbon
emission reduction targets. Non compliance with such regulatory requirements can affect
business adversely.
The international community is
negotiating an international
climate change agreement for
post 2020 world10
. Here,
developing countries including
India are under pressure from
developed countries to take active
role and reduce their GHG
emissions. Some of the
international experts believe that
developed countries will have to
take emission reduction targets in
some or other form under this
deal11
.
The emission reduction targets / plans of any country will percolate to individual emission
intensive industries and those businesses with capacity (financial or otherwise). Thus,
7
http://www.sebi.gov.in/cms/sebi_data/attachdocs/1344915990072.pdf
8
http://www.sebi.gov.in/cms/sebi_data/attachdocs/1368184343037.pdf
9
http://www.eco-business.com/press-releases/are-top-indian-companies-ready-for-sebis-business-responsibility-
reporting/
10
http://unfccc.int/meetings/lima_dec_2014/meeting/8141.php
11
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/15/lima-deal-represents-a-fundamental-change-in-global-
climate-regime
Changing international climate change regulation

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businesses that start early with the GHG emission measurement and identifying pathways to
move ahead in the carbon constrained economies will be at an advantage.
The likely impacts of carbon constrained economy (in case of carbon tax or voluntary GHG
emission reduction plans are taken by Governments), on businesses include
• Emission intensive fuels like coal, oil will go up and future energy mix will favour
cleaner and renewable fuels
• Transportation modes will be regulated and choice of modes will shift to greener and
sustainable ones
• Impact of potential national / international carbon tax and emission trading plans on
production and export
This, in turn, will affect the business advantages and costs significantly. Also, if the predicted
impacts of climate change come into reality in future, it will also affect businesses including
• increase in the energy cost (fuel and electricity)
• access to and cost of some raw materials
• potential physical impacts on operation (manufacturing plant/s, raw material suppliers
and export infrastructure like port)
• availability of water for process / plant operations
• as impacts of climate change increase, the demand for some products will increase
(e.g. those related to adaptation, micro irrigation, climate control, renewable and
hybrid energy generation, storage etc.). Similarly, with increasing global temperature,
demand for some products may decrease e.g. infrastructure projects in low lying
coastal areas
Thus, businesses will have to prepare in advance for regulations addressing mitigation and
adaptation preparedness (including accessing international funds available for mitigation and
adaptation).
There is increasing awareness among the stakeholders and company shareholders about
climate change. The consumers demand green, environment friendly products12
. The rise of
electric and hybrid cars; demand for environmentally / socially certified products from local /
sustainable sourcing are a testimony of this fact. From 2010, Walmart requires all its
suppliers to measure their carbon footprint and publish / communicate that to Carbon
12
http://blog.walmart.com/top-10-eco-friendly-features-of-walmart-stores
Increasing stakeholder awareness and pressure from NGOs
Impacts of climate constrained economy on businesses

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Disclosure Project (CDP)13
. About 30 companies including L’Oréal, Sodexo and Unilever
have committed, through CDP, to set emissions reduction targets14
. Many companies have
started encouraging internal carbon pricing / trading to prepare for future regulated carbon
tax. Some pension funds are divesting from fossil fuel based projects due to uncertainty over
their operations in carbon constrained world15
. This trend will continue with increasing media
coverage on products and environmental education in colleges.
Similar trend is observed in the shareholders
and major lenders preferring sustainable
product lines. The likely impact of carbon
taxes in developed countries is already
included in the project appraisals. Few
examples of such cases are recent campaigns
against lending to coal mines in Australia16
and international funding to coal based
supercritical power plants17
in India, China.
13
http://blog.walmart.com/cdp-and-walmart-a-partnership-to-reduce-suppliers-greenhouse-gas-emissions
14
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/jan/02/business-needs-to-play-the-long-game-on-
climate-action?CMP=share_btn_tw
15
(a) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/11277546/Fossil-fuel-investing-a-risk-to-
pension-funds-says-Ed-Davey.html
(b) http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/07/05/norwegian-pension-fund-divests-from-financially-worthless-
fossil-fuels/
16
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/25/big-four-banks-under-pressure-to-rule-out-funding-
queensland-coal-projects
17
(a) http://focusweb.org/content/citizens-groups-and-peoples-movements-stall-world-banks-civil-society-
consultations
(b) http://action.foe.org/t/3877/content.jsp?content_KEY=4168

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Extract from ‘SEBI Circular No. CIR/CFD/DIL/8/2012 dt. 13/08/2012 “Business
Responsibility Reports”
Pg. 8 of 15
Note: (following subpoints in above require climate change initiatives and its reporting)
About RSM GC Advisory Services:
RSM GC’s leadership team has over 60 years of consulting experience and expertise and
have led >500 sustainability service offerings. It has expertise in governance, economic,
environmental and social issues with working experience in diverse geographies and sectors.
With clients across India, South East Asia and Africa, we provide a range of services
including business responsibility reporting, sustainability business transformation, GHG and
water accounting services, climate/ water strategy development, community social
investment planning, climate friendly community initiatives, sustainability finance advisory,
renewable energy and energy efficiency advisory, CDM, VCS project and PoA development.
Contact: RSM GC Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd.
Phone: +91 22226 63301 www.general-carbon.com
2 – strategies / initiatives to address … climate change, global warming
4 – projects related to CDM
5 – clean technology, energy efficiency, renewable energy