19
Dec 2008 - Delhi, India - Significantly
more of India’s leading companies have signed
up to voluntarily disclose carbon emissions
and climate policies, a second round of
reporting has shown.
The quality of reporting
is up as well as the quantity, project sponsor
WWF-India noted at the release of the India
Carbon Disclosure Project Report 2008. (CDP-India
2008)
“The report demonstrates
a positive and proactive attitude among
the Indian companies towards addressing
the challenges of climate change,” said
Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO, WWF-India.
“It shows an encouraging
trend that companies are not only aware
of the various threats and risks presented
by climate change, but are also becoming
increasingly sensitive towards its commercial
and financial opportunities.”
Among companies reporting
for the first time are HPCL, the Fortune
500 oil refining & marketing business;
the State Bank of India; Tata Power, India’s
largest private sector electricity generating
company; Tata Motors, one of the world’s
largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles;
Mahindra & Mahindra, India’s largest
SUV maker; and major cement maker Ambuja
Cements.
The disclosure process
was carried out by WWF-India in partnership
with The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
and the Confederation of Indian Industry’s
Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development.
The Global CDP project represents 385 institutional
investors with around $US 57 trillion in
funds under management who view corporate
responses to the climate challenge as a
significant investment variable.
But while reporting
by Indian companies is up from 37 in 2007
to 51 and includes some of the country’s
leading and highest climate impact companies,
overall reporting remains low. CDP invited
some 200 companies to participate and of
61 respondents, 10 refused.
The sectors with the
highest response rates were Household &
Personal Products (43% of the companies
contacted in the sector responded), Materials
(41%) and Banks and Diversified Financials
(39%), with the worst being telecommunications
and consumer durables and clothing companies.
Some 80% of the companies
saw existing regulatory mechanisms not as
a risk but rather as an opportunity for
triggering long term investment in energy
efficient technologies. However, these companies
do acknowledge that in future, the regulations
may affect their businesses.
Three quarters of the
organizations have either taken up or have
planned to manage or mitigate risks due
to climate change by formulating relevant
policies, changing operations, design and
consumption patterns as well as strengthening
supply chains and shifting to cleaner fuels.
However the report noted a “significantly
low or almost negligible (3.4%) use of energy
purchased or generated from renewable sources”
and said Indian corporate use of renewable
energy was “quite poor” compared to multinational
companies
Around 40% of the companies
acknowledge physical risks such as damage,
disruption and displacement resulting due
to climate change as major challenges that
could result in financial losses.
+ More
Ana’s journey opens
mystery of ‘oceanic superhighway’
19 Dec 2008 - The remarkable
journey of a green turtle from Indonesia
into Australian waters is helping conservationists
to track the migratory route of this species
to the Kimberley-Pilbara coast - one of
the few relatively pristine coastal areas
left on Earth.
Ana, a female green
turtle, was tagged in Indonesia in November
as part of a turtle tracking project by
WWF and Udayana University in Bali, Indonesia,
and has slowly made her way from a nesting
beach in East Java, across the Indian Ocean,
and is on track for the beaches of the Kimberley
in Western Australia.
Her journey, monitored
online by WWF, demonstrates the strong biological
ties between Indonesia and the reefs on
the west Australian coast.
“Ana’s journey is unique. She has revealed
an ‘oceanic superhighway’ that helps us
better understand how marine turtles navigate
around the world’s oceans as well as highlighting
the strong ecological and evolutionary connections
between Indonesia and Australia’s Kimberley-Pilbara
coast,” said Gilly Llewellyn, WWF Ocean’s
Program Leader.
“This new finding throws
the spotlight on the true natural values
of the magnificent Kimberley marine ecosystem
and its link to the Coral Triangle to the
north – the world’s epicentre of marine
biodiversity and the cross-roads of migration
routes and breeding grounds for whales,
turtles, dolphins and other precious marine
species.”
The Coral Triangle spans
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Solomon
Islands and Timor Leste, and contains critical
habitat for six of the world’s seven species
of marine turtles, including green, hawksbill,
olive ridley, leatherback, loggerhead and
flatback turtles.
All of these species
are threatened with extinction as a result
of pollution, long-line and trawl fishing
that results in the accidental catch of
marine turtles, and an illegal trade in
turtle eggs, meat, shells and skin.
“The tropical seas of
the Coral Triangle have global significance.
Decision makers need to keep this in mind
when weighing up the need to protect it
- and the millions of marine livelihoods
that depend on coral reefs across the regions."
WWF’s Coral Triangle
Program is currently working to ensure the
health of the region's wildlife in the face
of human threats in the Indian and Pacific
oceans that include long-line and trawl
fishing and pollution.
WWF’s marine conservation
efforts in the region include the development
of a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
to protect and conserve marine wildlife,
and to ensure that all fishing is carried
out in a sustainable manner. This includes
reducing marine animal bycatch, specifically
that of turtles, by fishing operations in
the Indo Pacific.
“Worldwide, hundreds
of thousands of marine turtles are caught
annually in the hooks, lines and nets of
fishing operations, while on land their
nesting beaches are increasingly under threat
from industrial development, human disturbance
and climate change.
"Ana’s journey
has shown us areas where we need to focus
our efforts. We need to tap into the secret
lives of species such as turtles, so we
can design networks of marine protected
areas that conserve the full range of plant
and animal life, and ensure their longevity
for years to come.”
Paula Schibeci, WWF Australia Press Office,
