Infy, HCL Tech, Wipro among the greenest in BRICS

New Delhi: Sixty-one per cent of the companies in the five BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - do not publicly disclose their carbon emission details, according to a survey by Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO), a UK-based climate change and finance think tank.

In the EIO survey, three Indian companies - Infosys (fourth), HCL Technologies (fifth) and Wipro (sixth) - have emerged among the top 10 companies with least emissions. This is part of a ranking of the 300 largest companies in the BRICS region, taking into account greenhouse gas emissions and transparency factors.

Brazil's alternative energy company, Cemig, tops the list of Environmental Tracking (ET) BRICS 300 Carbon Ranking, followed by Vodacom Group of South Africa and Lenova of China. The other firms among the top 10 list are Brazil's BMF Bovespa (seventh), China's Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (eighth), Brazil's Natura (ninth) and Chinese firm Hopewell Holdings.

The new study also shows that large quantities of emissions are not being accounted for. Public disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions among the leading BRICS companies is highly inconsistent, with less than 20 per cent of entities correctly adopting the basic principles of greenhouse gas emissions reporting, the study points out.

The other key finding is that no company in the BRICS 300 Ranking fully reports emissions across its entire value chain. Scope 3 (value chain) emissions include greenhouse gas emissions from sources not owned or directly controlled by the company, but over which it has influence. It includes categories such as business travel, transportation and distribution, and investments.

Among the 300 companies, Asian Paints has ended up last with no public data and with a high emission intensity, according to EIO. The other Indian companies that constitute the bottom 10 list are Jaiprakash Associates (293rd) and Grasim Industries (298th).

"This ought to be a wakeup call for companies. Since the majority of total corporate emissions often come from Scope 3 sources, large quantities of emissions are not being accounted for. Not only could this be a source of unmeasured risk for companies, but it also means we are not getting the full picture in terms of corporate emissions. This is precisely why the Carbon Rankings are designed to encourage Scope 3 disclosure," says Sam Gill, chief executive officer at the Environmental Investment Organisation.

These rankings are compiled from publicly available emissions data taken from company sustainability reports, annual reports, and websites.

WPIL to acquire pump business of PSV Holding of South Africa

MUMBAI: Pump manufacturer WPIL Ltd today said it will acquire the pump business of South African PSV Holdings Ltd for ZAR (South African Rand) 54 million (about Rs 35 crore) in an all cash deal.

The acquisition will be made through company's Singapore subsidiary WPIL International Pte Ltd and the deal is "subject to carrying out of necessary due diligence," it said in a filing to the BSE.

"With this acquisition, WPIL will be able to expand its reach in the vast developing African pump market," it added.

PSV Holdings Ltd, a listed company based in South Africa, is a specialised industrial engineering group focusing on pumps, spares, valves, engineering linings, industrial supplies, fuel pumps and dispensers and cryogenics.

On the other hand, WPIL is a Kolkata-based company, having presence in various segments of pump business, which are used in water supply, barge pump stations, irrigation, thermal power plants, fire fighting among others.

Shares of the company closed today at Rs 212.40 apiece on the BSE, up 2.88 per cent from the previous close.