There is stark inequity in India, characterized by worrying trends in climate change, global warming and environmental inequalities. Indian companies need to be held accountable for the damage that they have caused and are still causing to the environment.

In July 2011, that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs came out with the ‘National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business’ (NVG), in recognition of the role of businesses in improving the quality of life and the significance and long-lasting impacts they have on people and the planet.

To analyse public disclosures and policies of the top 100 companies listed on BSE on social inclusion based on the NVGs, Oxfam India, along with its partners, develops an annual index, India Responsible Business Index. To enable extension of this index to include environmental inclusion, Oxfam India, in partnership with WikiRate, is currently working on a pilot project to understand the environmental and climate disclosures, policies and mechanisms of Indian companies. The National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business (NVGs), and international standards such as the GRI metrics are being used for this purpose, to analyse public disclosures and policies of few top Indian companies on environmental issues.