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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Iron & steel industry struggling to meet green norms: CSE study

Iron & steel industry struggling to meet green norms: CSE study

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published Published on Jun 5, 2012   modified Modified on Jun 5, 2012
-The Times of India

The iron and steel industry might be recording an impressive 8% annual growth, but it is struggling to meet environmental norms, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) concluded while rating its performance. 

The results of the study were released by Union environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan and Planning Commission member Arun Maira here on Monday. 

After a two-year study, the Delhi-based green NGO concluded that Ispat Industries at Raigad in Maharashtra performed the best among the 21 plants of above 0.5 million tonne per annum capacity, followed by Essar Steel, Hazira, Gujarat; and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (Vizag Steel), Visakhapatnam. 

Even the best performers, CSE noted, scored only 40 on a scale of 0-100, with the industry performing on an average far below the global best as well as coming out as one of the worst performers compared to other large industries like cement, paper and pulp, which the NGO had rated earlier. A majority of the companies, the study found, did not meet green compliances even though the units had very often secured certification for high level of environmental and safety management systems. 

"For us, this rating has come as a bit of shock. We ourselves are shocked with the scale of non-compliance. This sector has the ability to fix it as it has money since most of the companies are profitable," said Sunita Narain, director general of CSE. 

The Bhushan Steel Limited, Dhenkanal in Odisha; Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh; and SAIL IISCO Burnpur, West Bengal, plants performed the worst in the rating that used 150-parameters to assess the green credentials. 

Narain pointed out to the lack of voluntary disclosure and participation in the process by all but one of the SAIL units, and said that it was mostly the poor performers that had hidden information during public audit. 

She said though the industry was making large profits and expanding rapidly, only the players that faced higher input and raw material costs were investing in efficiency that brought about environmental improvement as a collateral benefit. Narain said that the industry did not have a level-playing field, and the companies with the advantage of captive ores and low costs were performing worse than those with little cost headroom. 

Natarajan said, "Growth must be managed in a way that it benefits the poor and would not work in business-as-usual scenario." The minister said that the government would look to implement the roadmap CSE had recommended for improving the industry's environmental standards and norms. 

Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of CSE, noted that iron and steel plants were found to be using 1,200 hectares of land per million tonne of installed capacity on an average, while they could operate on 200 hectares per mtpa of steel. The additional land holdings, he suggested, should be utilized to ensure that no more controversial acquisition would be required for the next 20 years even if the sector continues to expand at the existing rate. 

Maitra said that the industry should get rated by credible watchdogs like CSE. 

The Times of India, 5 June, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/Iron-steel-industry-struggling-to-meet-green-norms-CSE-study/articleshow/13832247.cms


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