Concept Note on GreenCo Rating

1. Introduction & Background

Organizations across the globe agree that Resource scarcity & Climate change megatrend will
transform their Businesses. They have to deliver the growing population who are constantly
seeking a better lifestyle, from a planet with finite resources, many of which are now rapidly
running out. Are the business models of today equipped to deal with this? So what will your
company look like?
Going Green is no longer a philanthropic afterthought or about installing low energy light-bulbs,
but an approach to embed more forward thinking and responsible business practice into how a
business produces and delivers its goods and services. It has become the new driver for
organizations towards growth, revenue and new opportunities.
Increasingly companies are taking energy efficiency and water conservation measures paying
off in both cost and reputation. But are these measures adequate? A holistic view of how to
make business practices more efficient and green opens several new opportunities that can help
companies manage costs and gain the much needed competitive edge. It extends into areas even outside
the enterprise like local communities, supply chain partners and customers.
As more and more companies appreciate the cost benefits of going green, a clear holistic
mechanism was not available for evaluating their performance and gaps along with a growing
need for expert insight.
A step towards this direction is the launch of GreenCo Rating by CII, a first-of-its-kind in the
world framework that provides guidance and leadership to organizations to tread the
green path

2. Objective
The objective of GreenCo, Green Company Rating System is to create a holistic framework to
define and assess how Green a company is and highlight the way forward to become globally
competitive. The rating adopts a cradle to cradle approach for evaluating the activities of the
company on ecological front.

Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

3. Benefits
The implementation of GreenCo rating offers the following benefits to companies:

Resource Conservation
World Class competitiveness in Green
Excellent tool for strengthening the bottom line
Builds Green image and reputation among its stakeholders
Improves existing practices & systems in green
Builds long term roadmap for resource conservation
Tool to monitor environment performance & reduce overall environmental impacts.
Equips to meet future environmental compliances & regulations
Drives global and latest green concepts
Drives innovation & employee involvement
Enhances credibility & creates transparency among stakeholders
Showcase Model Green facilities with the company
Helps companies to assess present status on environmental performance and
understand where it stands compared to its peers & competitors

GreenCo rating system provides a framework for improvement and drives excellence in the
following areas:

World Class Energy Efficiency drives the company to become

lowest Specific Energy Consumer within the sector

Water Neutral/Positive status provides road map for water

conservation activities both within & beyond the fence towards water
neutrality or water positive status

Green House Gas mitigation facilitates reduction of GHG emissions

and gradually progress towards carbon neutrality.

Zero Waste identifies ways to improve Solid, Liquid & gaseous waste
management and facilitates to achieve Zero Waste to landfill / Zero
Liquid discharge status
Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

Material Conservation & Recycling helps companies to improve

their efficiency on Raw material consumption, Consumables, Packaging
materials & encourage recycling & reuse of materials

Greener Supply Chains drives companies to minimize their

environmental footprint in supply chain. Promotes working with suppliers
& other stakeholders to reduce impact in Energy, Water, Waste, toxicity,
Emission, Logistics, Packaging & Material consumption

Renewable Energy encourages companies to maximize the use of

renewable energy through onsite generation or offsetting methods

Product Stewardship drives companies to take up extended

responsibilities such as Designing for Environment, Reducing Toxicity,
End of Life Management, Life cycle Management of their products &
influencing consumer behavior

Life within
Cyclethe
Assessment
Encourages companies to conduct LCA
Energy Consumer
sector
studies for their products or processes & reduce their environmental
footprint. Encourages Environment Product Declarations

Biodiversity & Innovation- Promotes eco friendly work environment,

Green building concepts, Biodiversity & Green innovations

To sum up, GreenCo helps to drive excellence in resource conservation, bottom-line

improvement, green corporate image and goes beyond compliance. It also helps to provide
strategies for long term competitiveness besides being an excellent tool for top management to
monitor their green performance.

Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

4. Applicability
GreenCo rating is applicable to both manufacturing and service sectors. The rating is
implemented at individual manufacturing unit / service facility which are in operation for a
minimum period of 3 years. In case of new plants/ facilities, a minimum of 2 years of operational
data is required. Almost all the industry segments are covered under the rating.
Manufacturing Sector

Service Sector

Automobile & Engineering

Airports

Cement

Banks & Financial institutions

Fertilizers

Corporate offices

FMCG

Hospitals

Foundry

Hotels

Glass

IT Services

Iron, Steel & Non Ferrous Metals

Logistics

Pharmaceutical & Chemicals

Pulp & Paper
Refineries & Petrochemicals
Textile
Tyre

The overall rating framework and the assessment program is same to both manufacturing and
service sector, but sectorial needs are carefully addressed in the system by considering only the
relevant parameters and also redistributing the weightage given to various parameters of the
rating.
For example in service sector, areas like product stewardship & Life cycle assessment are not
being considered. In the case of cement sector, energy efficiency & GHG emission reduction
parameters are given more weightage. Similar, fine tuning has been done for logistics and sugar
sector in consultation with sectorial experts.

Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

5. Rating methodology
The Green Company Rating System advocates a performance based approach. It aims to
provide leadership and guidance to businesses on how to implement green strategies. The
rating system evaluates green features of companies against the following performance
parameters:

Typical rating Model & Rating Levels

GreenCo provides the companies a framework to become globally competitive and

environmentally sustainable. A company pursuing GreenCo rating not only becomes a leader in
green but will also become cost competitive globally. GreenCo rating is unique as it is highly
performance oriented and significant weightage is provided for the performance / results
achieved (70 %). The company has to perform and achieve world class status in most of the
Green parameters to reach highest rating level.

The plant/facility is rated for overall points of 1000. Weightages (points) are assigned to varying
degrees of goals that are set for each of these parameters. For example, the points are awarded
for reducing energy consumption, but points awarded will be higher for a business that
demonstrates a higher degree of reduction in energy consumption compared to another
business that demonstrates a lower degree of reduction in energy consumption. The companies
at various levels of efficiency (for example; Top 5 energy efficient plants in the world) are also
suitably recognized in this rating system.

Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

6. Assessment Process
The implementation of GreenCo Rating System will involve the following activities carried at unit
level:
Registration: The Company availing the rating needs to register online through
www.greenco.in to validate the official process of registration. On registration; the company
will receive an automated reply validating the units registration. The total cost of certification
is based on the turnover of the unit / plant / facility as described in the payment terms in the
next section.
GreenCo Rating Training Program: Post registration, CII-Godrej GBC will conduct a Two
Day Training Program on GreenCo Rating System for the registered unit. The training
program helps the company in understanding the green concepts and the rationale behind
the various topics/parameter addressed in the GreenCo rating system.
The following are the objectives of the training program:
Impart training & awareness for the plant team on different parameters of GreenCo
rating
Share case studies from GreenCo rated companies as well as National & Global Best
Practices in Green
Discuss with functional teams within the unit to understand the facility and its
operations
Identify short term as well as long term improvement opportunities in GreenCo
parameters jointly with the plant team
Identify team members and form cross functional teams for GreenCo implementation
Set detailed time frame and action plan for GreenCo implementation
The training program will cover the following eleven modules:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

GreenCo rating introduction & methodology

Energy Efficiency
Water Conservation
Renewable Energy
GHG Mitigation
Waste Management
Material Conservation and Recyclability
Green Supply Chain
Product Stewardship
Life Cycle Assessment
Others Eco friendly environment, Green Belt development and Innovation
Confederation of Indian Industry
CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

 Data Collection & Handholding: Further to the completion of training program, the
company is required to submit the necessary data and documents as per the guidelines of
the rating. A detailed questionnaire will be provided to the company to understand the
data / document requirements. CII will provide the necessary institutional support to the
plant team through handholding site visit with the following objectives:

Suggest & guide the team in implementing short term improvement measures.
Facilitate by networking with service providers wherever applicable
Provide support to the team in data collection
Check & validate the data adequacy under GreenCo guidelines and communicate the
gaps to the team.

The progress of the rating exercise will also depend upon the speed of data submission
by the company.
On-Site Assessment Visit: Subsequent to data collection, the plant will undergo a site
visit assessment for the final rating. Site visit will be conducted by a team of independent
assessors and representatives of CII. The number of assessors will be based on the size
of the facility / unit being assessed. The objective of site visit is to validate the data
submitted by the company. The assessment team will highlight the company on further
opportunities for improvement in Green and way forward.
Certification: The assessor team will report their findings to the judges panel which will
review and award the rating to the company. There would also be an annual sustenance
review to revalidate the rating as well as guide the organization towards improvement.
The rating is valid for 3 years and at the end of 3 years the company has to apply for the
rating again. In the interim period, if the company feels that they have improved their
performance considerably, they can apply for Re assessment.
Feedback report: CII will submit a feedback report to the company on the findings of the
GreenCo assessment indicating the present green performance, current best practices
and opportunities for further improvement in green.

Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

7. Fee Structure
The fee for GreenCo rating is based on the turnover of plant/facility applying for the rating as
given below:
(Based on the Turnover of the unit in Rs Cr)
Small
Medium Medium Large
Large

Fee
Registration
Assessment &
Certification
Total Fee Rs.

Very Large

Below 50 Cr
40000
60000

51-100 Cr
100000
150000

101 - 500 Cr
200000
300000

501-1000 Cr
240000
360000

Above 1000 Cr
320000
480000

100000

250000

500000

600000

800000

The fee indicated above is exclusive of service tax , Travel & other incidental expenses

8. Suggested time line of activities

Registration for Greenco Rating with CIIGodrej GBC
Within 1 month of
Registration
Within 30 - 45 days from
Training

Training program by CII-Godrej GBC

Submission of Greenco Rating Assessment
Documents

Review Questionnaire and

understand the existing system
Check adequacy of data and
communicate to customer for gap in
data / additional information

Assessment by Assessment Team

Within 1 month from

receipt of Final
Document

Site Visit by Assessment Team

Verify and validate data

Discussion & presentation on where
they stand
Suggest improvement for
opportunities/ best practices

Submission of Assessor Report to Judges Panel

With Assessor Panel Rating / Remarks
Within 15 days from Site
Visit

Review by Judges Panel and Award of Rating

Company will be rated

Rating and Report would be
submitted with opportunities for
improvement

Award of Rating
Overall duration
3 to 4 months

Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

9.0. Industry response

As on July 2015,
More than 140 companies are working on GreenCo training, feasibility studies &
certification
80 companies have registered for GreenCo rating
48 companies are GreenCo rated
Rs 168 million/yr Savings have been reported from first 10 GreenCo rated companies
through the implementation of GreenCo rating

Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

Pursue Green and become globally competitive!

For Registration / to learn more about the GreenCo rating system, visit www.greenco.in

Confederation of Indian Industry

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre