New Delhi, Indian firms must combat climate change by measuring their carbon footprints now and in the foreseeable future, and take preventive steps, says a report by the KPMG and CII released here Wednesday.

Indian firms should also avail business opportunities arising out of climate change, says the report, "Climate change: The impact and opportunities for Indian industry", brought out jointly by the consultancy firm KPMG and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The report suggests that the pressure from stakeholders for Indian companies to be more environmentally responsible is likely to increase, "thereby compelling delivery by firms across all industries on a triple bottom line of economics, social and environmental performance".

KPMG Executive Director Arvind Mahajan said: “Indian companies should take proactive measures to ensure adequate risk appraisal and management as well as leverage opportunities arising out of climate change.

"They need to do proper due diligence for clean development mechanism (CDM) projects to assess the quantum of carbon credits expected to be generated. Indian businesses also need to consider tax and regulatory issues and devise strategies to help ensure that they can maximise the benefit from the CDM process.”

CDM projects calculate the amount of carbon emission that can be saved - audited by a UN-licensed firm - and gives the project corresponding carbon credits that it can sell in the international market. The current price is around $30 per tonne of carbon emission saved.

India was the world's biggest beneficiary of CDM projects till 2007, when it was overtaken by China.

Carbon emissions into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide is the main cause of climate change, which is already leading to lowered farm output, more frequent and more damaging droughts, floods and storms and raising the sea level.

India has been identified as one of the global hotspots likely to be worst affected by climate change.

The KPMG-CII report suggests that individual businesses need to develop a structured eight-point approach to climate change:

* Measurement of the carbon footprint of the business

* Projecting the likely carbon footprint if the business continues to grow under the 'Business As Usual' scenario

* Analysis of the risk of climate change issues to the sector and the business

* Identification of opportunities within the business, and beyond (CDM projects, clean technologies, renewable energy generation and so on) to maintain growth, but with a different approach

* Preparation of time bound action plan for reducing the carbon footprint

* Institutionalise the action plan in business processes

* Institutionalize a measurement and verification system to monitor progress against the plan, and

* Periodically report progress to stakeholders.

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