Analysing Greenhouse Gas Emission Trends of Indian Companies Through Their Disclosures

Abstract

With the increasing trend of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions worldwide and the subsequent evolution of new national and international commitments related to climate change, corporates have started to limit and disclose their emissions. This paper analyses the comprehensiveness of disclosures on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions of the top 100 Indian companies by market capitalisation and their trend compared to the previous reporting year through their publicly available reports/ websites. The analysis revealed that 66 of these companies reported their scope 1 & 2 emissions, whereas 48 reported on all three scopes, with 35 companies making emission reduction targets voluntarily. This shows that Indian companies are increasingly becoming self-aware of their responsibilities. The analysis of emission targets showed that companies with carbon reduction targets scored better in disclosures than those without foreseeable targets, suggesting that these targets motivate corporates to calculate emissions and report more transparently. Additionally, a rating score of 1 to 5 was assigned to all the National Stock Exchange Fifty (NIFTY) 100 companies to assess their GHG emission disclosure performance, which could be important for setting the benchmark for different sectors/industries on emission reduction targets in India. Furthermore, the study discusses the significance of such analysis in anticipation of India’s regulation on domestic and voluntary carbon markets