GREEN RATING NETWORK
is a countrywide network of volunteers who undertake surveys and collect data on
industries. Their initiatives help provide crucial plant level information to the project.
When CSE launched its Green Rating Project with the target of rating all large scale
industries of India, the general view was that the scale of work - undertaking primary
survey and data collection exercise - would be an impossible task for an NGO to undertake.
However in 1997, in response to advertisements released leading newspapers, the Green
Rating Network (GRN), a network of volunteers, was established. The network involves
professionals, students, NGOs and concerned citizens.
In January 1998, GRP began its study on the pulp and paper sector. Thirty-two
large-scale industries, spread over 15 states, were selected for the pulp and paper
industry ratings study. To collect the information of these industries, 24 GRN volunteers
were short-listed by GRP team, based on their qualifications and proximity to the targeted
industries.
Since then, GRN members have actively participated in data collection and surveys for
the Automobile and Chlor-Alkali sectors as well. Often the task of a GRN member goes
beyond simple data collection. Members inspect plant operations, take photographs of
industries, and provide in-depth reports on industry operations. In all, GRN members have
collected data for more than 110 industries for all ratings projects.
While we attempt to collect data from industry
directly, we also collect data from government, media, NGOs and from citizens. You can
provide information about industrial firms in your area -- are there any exceptionally
responsible industries in your area whose performance needs to be publicly acclaimed? Are
there any industries that need to be chastised? And are you facing any problems due to
this?
As a network member, can you visit your local industrial area and check what the
neighbours, local communities, the pollution control board, local administration, local
media and NGOs have to say on their performance. As a teacher, are you prepared to
organise student teams to survey the opinions of local communities living around a plant?
Even those living outside India can inform us on changes in technologies and industrial
practices which improve the environmental performance of industries.
