Key Points
As part of its Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR), Tata Power added a new parameter of freshwater consumption in the table while reporting on water withdrawal by source while GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals reported only the total volume of water withdrawal from different sources and deleted the row asking total water consumption...
An analysis of BRSR reports of 14 different companies (randomly picked) from 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2033-23 by the Centre for Science Environment (CSE) found that companies have often provided data selectively, as per their understanding, and added or deleted rows of information as per their convenience...
In the case of Tata Power, instead of providing information on total water consumption which the BRSR format asks for, it has introduced a new parameter called total freshwater consumption...
A review of the disclosure format shows that while it is easy to compare financial data or governance structures across different companies, comparison of environmental data throws up practical problems.. Calling for a sector-specific approach in the BRSR framework, the report pointed: A company may have different sectors having different pollution loads; another may have some air polluting units or a few units which pollute water sources, or both; a company also may have units sourcing energy from dirty fuels as well as those sourcing energy from renewables..
SEBI should clarify how energy intensity values can be used to assess the performance of a company and its contribution in achieving this national target especially as companies are expected to report on GHG emissions intensity separately under the BRSR format, it recommended..
