United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has awarded CII – Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (CII – Godrej GBC) to facilitate the “Pilot Application of Innovative Assessment Methods for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) in Selected Manufacturing in India”

The overall approach of ‘Pilot Application of Innovative Assessment Methods for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) in Selected Manufacturing in India” is designed to provide a holistic approach to the industry on verifiable GHG emissions accounting, Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) and GreenCo environmental rating system with a focus on creating awareness, capacity building and implementation of pilot studies in selected sectors as per internationally accepted methodology.

The overall aim of this project is to pilot the application of GHG accounting, MFCA and GreecCo Rating in selected manufacturing subsectors and, on basis thereof, appraise the applicability of these numerical assessment methods in the context of scaling up and mainstreaming RECP. The project activities include creating awareness, capacity building and implementation of pilot studies in selected industries per internationally accepted methodology. The following two sectors are pre-selected for implementing project activities: Pulp & Paper and Heavy Engineering.

The objectives of the GHG accounting part of the project are as follows:

• To complete GHG accounting for 10 medium to small scale enterprises from heavy engineering and pulp and paper sectors (5 enterprises in each sector)
• Upon completion of initial awareness raising and training of enterprise staff, GHG emissions for each enterprise will be quantified and mitigation options/techniques identified, evaluated and promoted for implementation
• The following activities were carried out as part of the project for the GHG accounting:
• Organized five training programs on GHG accounting for Engineering and Pulp & Paper sector, training more than 200 participants to carry out GHG accounting in their facility
• Recruitment of 5 industrial facilities each in Engineering and Pulp & Paper sector for GHG emission inventorisation studies
• Organized 10 ‘Pilot Companies Workshop’ on GHG Emission Inventorisation Methodology to discuss about the in-depth aspects of GHG accounting, data collection & quality assurance
• Carried out GHG inventorisation studies in identified 10 facilities in Engineering and Pulp & Paper Sector
• Developed an excel based tool for GHG Accounting to help SMEs carry out GHG accounting in their facilities on a sustained basis
• Identification of mitigation opportunities for each unit and submitting the detailed report highlighting major aspects of the GHG accounting

Two webinar were organized as part of the dissemination of the GHG accounting practices. The pilot companies also shared their experience of undertaking the GHG accounting during the webinar. The webinar was attended by more than 50 international and national participants

The GHG accounting practices demonstrated by pilot companies indicates there is a good business case for mainstreaming the GHG accounting practices. In India, mainstreaming such activities can be used for assessment of baseline, assessment of effectiveness of energy efficient technologies (against the baseline data), for continual development of emission reduction initiatives taken up by any proactive SME and for the assessment of overall emission reduction from clusters & manufacturing sector SMEs.