downtoearth-subscribe

The rating game

  • 30/12/2005

The Green Rating Project (GRP) of the Centre for Science and Environment was designed to track environmental performance in key industries in India. It monitors the impact of industrial growth on environment and the natural resource base and tries to steer industry towards sustainability. Taking note of the pace of development in the cement industry, GRP started the job of rating this sector in 2004. It took a year and a half to complete it.

GRP uses an exhaustive process of assessment based on the internationally acknowledged life cycle assessment methodology. It starts from raw material sourcing, looking at mining practices and their environmental impact. The rating process then moves on to the shop floor, assessing efficiency of resource consumption and technology and benchmarking pollution generated by the plants. The project's ongoing environment rating project also takes into account the types of products produced by the companies and looks at transportation of raw materials and products, especially since they constitute a significant share of air pollution and energy consumption in the life cycle of cement production. To assess the impact of the plants on the environment and local communities, it does a survey of all those involved

Related Content