Govt opens bids for 3rd party environmental auditors

India will soon have a cadre of private third party environmental auditors to ensure industries, processes, activities are meeting environmental norms, outsourcing a key responsibility of the State in an effort to cut delays and improve ease of doing business, although environmentalists are worried that this could end up giving industry a free rein.

- Jayashree Nandi

The Union environment ministry has published a request for a proposal (RFP) for selection of Environment Audit Designated ‘Agency (EADA), an autonomous organisation under the central government, which will specialise in conducting third-party environmental audits of projects, processes, and activities regulated under various environmental laws.

The processes to be audited include environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures by corporations and the implementation of the Green Credit Programme, a market-based system incentivising voluntary environmental actions such as tree planting.