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ACKNOWELDGEMENTS
The research effort presented in this dissertation was made possible through the contribution
of many persons.
I express my gratitude to Prof A.K. SINGH, Head of Department, Dr S. R. SAMADDER,
Assistant Professor & Course Coordinator, Department of Environment Sciences &
Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, for providing me necessary facilities and
cordial support with encouragement during the project period.
I express my deep sense of gratitude to my guide Dr BISWAJIT PAUL, Associate Professor,
Department of Environment Sciences & Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad for
suggesting the topic for research work, close guidance and taking interest in all activities in
this regard. His valuable suggestion and inspiration have encouraged me through the course
of investigation.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to other Professors, Librarian and Lab Attendants
of the Department of Environment Sciences & Engineering for helping in improvement of
my study.
Finally, I am extremely grateful to my parents, siblings, classmates and research scholars for
their help and support for carrying out the study.
Date:
VIVEK KUMAR
Place:
C E R T I FI C AT E
This is to certify that the interim dissertation entitled Sustainable Development of Coal
Mines of India is being submitted to Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad by Mr. Vivek
Kumar (Admission No.: 14MT000101) in partial fulfilment of his Master of Technology
degree in Environmental Science and Engineering of the same institution incorporates the
result of his own work, carried out under my supervision and guidance. This dissertation has
not been submitted for any other degree, elsewhere to the best of my knowledge.
D E C LAR AT I O N
3
I Vivek Kumar student of M.Tech, Environmental Science and Engineering III Semester
hereby declare that the project entitled Sustainable Development of Coal Mines Of India
done under the guidance of Dr. Biswajit Paul, Associate Professor, Department of
Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad is submitted in
partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of MASTER OF
TECHNOLOGY in ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING.
..........................................
Vivek Kumar
(14MT000101)
CONTENT
Page No.
1. Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction of sustainable development..7
1.2 Indias current coal scenario..8
1.3 Sustainable development of coal mining..11
Objectives of study...12
2. Chapter 2: LITREATURE REVIEW
2.0 General
2.1 Sustainable development and its significance......14
2.2 Emerging standards of sustainability reporting..20
3. Chapter3: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK AND
GRI
3.1 Sustainable development framework..23
3.2 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)...........24
3.3 The GRI approach to assessing and reporting sustainability...26
4. Chapter 4: FUTURE WORK32
5. Chapter 5: CONCLUSION....35
6. REFERENCES.......37
CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
that will enable this assessment. Thus far, a number of different approaches have been
proposed to define the indicators for different parts of the community, including industry [5-7].
However, there is still no standardized methodology with a generic set of indicators to enable
a consistent comparison and identification of more sustainable options.
(Figure 1)
Last year, around 6.1 billion tonne of hard coal and 1 billion tonne of brown coal were used
worldwide. Since 2000, the global consumption of coal has grown faster than any other fuel.
Currently, the five largest coal users are China, USA, India, Russia and Germany. They
account for 77% of the total global use.
India has the fifth largest coal reserves in the world. Of the total reserves, nearly 88% are
non-coking coal reserves, while tertiary coals reserves account for a meagre 0.5 % and the
balance is coking coal. The Indian coal is characterised by its high ash content (45%) and low
sulphur content. The power sector is the largest consumer of coal followed by the iron and
steel and cement segments.
(Figure 2)
Coal deposits are mainly confined to eastern and south central parts of the country. The states
of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and
Maharashtra account for more than 99% of the total coal reserves in the country. The State of
Jharkhand had the maximum share (26.81%) in the overall reserves of coal in the country as
on 31st March 2014 followed by the State of Odisha (24.94%).
11%
Proved
42%
Indicated
Inferred
47%
(Figure3; Source: Energy Statistics Report, 2015 by Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation)
The countrys coal production has increased from~431 MT in 2006-07 to ~554 MT in 201112 (an increase of 28.5%). On the other hand, the demand for coal has grown at a CAGR of
more than 7% in the last decade and has reached around 600 MT. The India Energy Book,
2012 pegs the countrys total demand-supply gap (including coking coal) at about 98MT. Out
of this, India imports about 85 million tonne of coal.
10
(Figure 4)
11
(Figure 5)
Coal mining is a critical contributor to many economies. Coal directly provides more than
seven million jobs worldwide and supports many more millions. Coal production is the key
economic activity in many communities. In 2010 the coal industry invested more than US$7
billion in capital expenditures in developing countries [8].
In India, coal mining plays a significant role in social and economic development of the
county. India has one of the largest coal reserves in the world. As on April 1, 2012, it was
found that India had 293.5 billion metric tons (323.5 billion short tons) of the resource[9].
Coal production was 532.69 million metric tons (587.19 million short tons) in 2010-11. The
12
production of lignite was 37.73 million metric tons (41.59 million short tons) in 2010-11. In
2011, India was ranked 3rd in world coal production [9]. The energy derived from coal in India
is about twice that of energy derived from oil, whereas worldwide, energy derived from coal
is about 30% less than energy derived from oil.
Indias coal demand is expected to increase multifold within the next five to 10 years, due to
the completion of ongoing power projects, and demand from metallurgical and other
industries. This increase in demand is increasing the production of coal, degrading the coal
grade, affecting the social and environmental parameters adversely and there is significant
increase in open cast mining which in turn add on the amount of over burden produced.
Although the Indian government has imposed many rules and norms to be followed by the
mining companies to ensure the sustainable development. But it can be attained truly by
changing the views and perspective of society and industrialist.
13
CHAPTER-2
LITREATURE REVIEW
14
2.0 General
This chapter presents the important findings regarding the objectives of the study. To present
these findings in a clear and understandable manner this chapter will focus on Sustainability
Reporting, sustainable development, its importance in mining areas and scenario of
sustainability as per GRI Guidelines.
war and financial crisis, but also poverty (UNRISD 2010:3[12]; Le Blanc, D., et al.
2012:16[10]).
A difference between the MDGs and the SDGs is the degree of agreement that exists among
countries on the broad underlying objectives, as well between the contexts of the MDGs and
the SDGs is the prevalence of collective action problems at the heart of sustainable
development, and the frequent failure of countries at solving those problems (Le Blanc, D., et
al. 2012:17-20) [10].
High-level Panel on Global Sustainability of UN in 2012, establish the most uniform and
consistent review of principles related with any framework related with SD:
It should be universal in character, covering challenges to all countries rather than just
developing nations.
It should express a broadly agreed global strategy for sustainable development.
It should incorporate a range of key areas that were not fully covered in the MDGs
It should be comprehensive, reflecting three dimensions of SD
It should incorporate near-term benchmarks while being long-term in scope, looking
In the other hand, during the present research the task to identify a set of measurable
indicators was difficult. Because indicators are elaborated starting from the dimensions of
sustainable development I found out that there is no uniform criterion among organizations of
the number and types of dimensions.
In Agenda 21, article 8.6 states that countries could develop systems for monitoring and
evaluation of progress towards achieving sustainable development by adopting indicators that
measure changes across economic, social and environmental dimensions (United Nations
1992:Art. 8.6)[13], ironically in further documents UN considers institucionality like a fourth
dimension (United Nations 2007:39-40)[14].
UNESCO considers three dimensions of sustainable development named before and also
political dimension (democracy, politics, decision making).
Jon Hawkes in his book The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: Culture's essential role in public
planning, contributes with Cultural dimension for SD, states if a societys culture
16
disintegrates, so will everything else. Cultural action is required in order to lay the
groundwork for a sustainable future.
A review of literature on sustainability suggests that sustainability can be described in terms
of social, economic and environmental states that are required in order for overall
sustainability to be achieved. The World Summit on Sustainable Development Plan of
Implementation provides range of sustainable development objectives that should be aimed in
order to achieve sustainability.
Environmental Sustainable Development Objectives:
biophysical environment.
Size, productivity and biodiversity: Ensure that development conserves or increased
the size, biodiversity and productivity of the biophysical environment.
enterprises.
Efficiency and effectiveness: Ensure that development (including technology
specified) is designed and managed to be highly efficient and effective, achieving
high productivity level with few resources and limited waste and pollution.
Indigenous knowledge and technology: Ensure that development takes into account
and draws on, where appropriate, indigenous knowledge and technology.
17
Access: Ensures that development supports increased access to land, adequate shelter,
finance, information, public service, technology and communications where this is
needed.
Education: Ensure that development improves levels of education and awareness,
Today, a lot of industries, in order to support sustainable development need some extensive
reforms, especially with aim to stay/become competitive. Mining industry for itself is facing
a lot of challenges on the road towards sustainability, which can be divided, as follows:
Environmental challenges:
All these challenges need to be mitigated and facilitated effectively, where one way is
through development, translation and application of the principles of Sustainable
Development (SD) into principles of Sustainable Technology Management & Development
(STMD). But first, we can take a look on similar work with regard to the use of sustainable
development principles in the context of mining and we can see that there are still some
initiatives in progress. Of particular note are the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards.
Recently there have been developed Sustainability Reporting Guidelines & Mining and
Metals Sector Supplement (2009). The guidelines propose the identification of different:
1) Economic Performance Indicators
2) Environmental Performance Indicators
3) Social Performance Indicators:
- Labor Practices and Decent Work;
- Human Rights;
- Society;
- Product Responsibility;
which can serve as an orienteer for decision makers in organization and lead to an improved
refocusing of organization towards sustainability and higher environmental performance. A
special attention is given to report process since some researches show that while there is
evidence of increasing sophistication in the development of social and environmental
disclosure in the biggest world mining companies, there is considerable variation in the
maturity of reporting content and styles of these companies (Jenkins and Yakovleva, 2006)
[17]
Another tool that should be also emphasized is the application of ISO 14031 standards. It
brings into focus central aspects related to the construction and use of environmental
19
performance indicators (EPIs) and their application in industrial companies. EPIs may be
used on a macro level by external stakeholders for regulatory, control, influence and risk
minimization purposes. They may also be used on a micro level inside the company for goal
setting, control and surveillance of product performance and performance of manufacturing
and administrative processes, as well as for benchmarking purposes by comparing own
performance vs. competitors' performance or vs. branch average process and product
performance (Thoresen, 1999) [18].
Transitional process brings to industries a lot of challenges, in every sector, and as already
emphasized they have environmental, social and economic aspects. In order to mitigate
efficiently recognized challenges we need to formulate objectives of reform process, since
they specify the directions for improvement. It is essential, in the process of determining
which operative measures we must apply to accomplish reform goals.
Environment: Challenges Reform Objectives Performance Indicators
Society: Challenges Reform Objectives Performance Indicators
Economy: Challenges Reform Objectives Performance Indicators
These approaches can be integrated and serve for development of methodology, where is
implied identification of suitable indicators (on the merit of defined objectives) that
quantitatively and qualitatively can help in estimation of our progress towards sustainability.
action on the basis of ESG statements, companies increasingly face critical questions and
legal risks regarding the scope and content of their sustainability reporting, as well as a need
to ensure companywide consistency and accuracy of their ESG statements.
A range of voluntary and mandatory reporting standards have emerged over the past 15 plus
years to help guide companies ESG reporting to meet different stakeholder needs.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), formed in 1997, has developed a voluntary reporting
standard that promotes broad ESG disclosure. For example, disclosure of over 100 ESG
indicators is required to meet the highest level of GRIs standard. GRIs breadth of disclosure
therefore accommodates the diverse ESG interests of a wide range of stakeholders. GRI has
become the leading standard globally for companies issuing standalone sustainability reports,
likely as a result of the maturity of the framework (over 15 years old) and the flexibility it
provides companies to communicate to a broad base of stakeholders with one reporting
platform. GRI has released its fourth generation of standards, G4, which is required for all
reports issued after Jan. 1, 2015. [19]
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), formed in 2011, has developed an
alternative voluntary reporting approach for U.S. publicly listed companies modelled after the
Financial Accounting Standards Board, which establishes financial reporting standards and
disclosure requirements. The SASB approach encourages companies to identify ESG issues
that are financially material to their business and include discussion of their performance and
management of these issues in their financial reporting to the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. With its focus on linking ESG issues and business performance, the SASB
model may be more aligned with the needs of those investors seeking to factor sustainability
performance into their investment decisions. The SASB is in the process of developing
guidance for disclosing material sustainability issues and sustainability metrics at an industry
level, with all industry sector guidance documents expected to be completed in 2015.[20]
A third voluntary reporting movement gaining momentum is integrated reporting. The
International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) defines integrated reporting as a process
founded on integrated thinking that results in a periodic integrated report by an organization
about value creation over time and related communications regarding aspects of value
creation.[21] The IIRC released its International Integrated Reporting Framework in
21
December 2013 and over 100 organizations from multinational companies to public sector
bodies participated in a recently concluded pilot program to further develop the framework.
In addition to these voluntary reporting schemes, there are a growing number of mandatory
sustainability reporting requirements for publicly traded companies. The EU, for example,
adopted a directive in September 2014 that will require disclosure of ESG information by
certain large companies.[22] This new legislation, once incorporated into national law (member
states will have two years to comply), will require large listed companies in the EU to report
on their environmental and social impacts, including human rights, anti-corruption and
bribery issues, and diversity of board of directors. Stock exchanges, particularly in emerging
markets, have also implemented initiatives requiring increased disclosure of ESG-related
performance. For example, the Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchanges and the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange have issued guidelines and listing requirements to enhance
disclosure of ESG information.
22
CHAPTER-3
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
FRAMEWORK AND GRI
23
industrys action and behaviour to intense societal scrutiny through media exposure,
community agitation, resistance and litigation. The government should encourage this process
and also, through continuous dialogue and pressure, persuade the industry to improve its
ethical performance and ensure its compliance to the provisions of the relevant laws.
It has earlier been mentioned that there are two main pre-conditions for achieving
sustainability in mining good governance in the mineral sector and prevalence of attitudes
and values that make for ethical business practices and self-regulation and bring in
sustainability considerations to all operational decisions concerning mining. Unfortunately on
both fronts, the track record (in India) has been disappointing and needs considerable
improvement. In the absence of such improvement, it would be impossible to attain
sustainable mineral development even if a well-structured sustainable development
framework is there on paper. Assuming, however, that the intended improvement will come
about sooner than later, it is possible to outline the major elements of a sustainable
development framework appropriate for the Indian conditions.
On the basis of initial formulation of the concept of sustainability in mining and the
discussion on the challenges faced by the mining industry in India, it would appear that the
following major elements best capture/may define the essence of a suitable sustainable
development framework (SDF) for the countrys mineral sector:
(i)
(ii)
Scientific mining;
Environment protection and mitigation including minimization of the impacts of
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
[23]
most relevant programs; it consists of a set of ten principles, sustainability reporting, and
external third-party assurance. All member companies are expected to implement the SDF
and thus publish independently verified reports on their sustainability performance. At the
core of the framework is a requirement to use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
framework
[24]
[25]
. GRI is a multi-
[27]
, 40
out of the worlds 44 major global mining companies produce annual sustainability reports.
According to the GRI database, in 2011, 102 mining companies published reports, 95% of
which based on the GRI framework
[28]
to be larger, since many companies do not list their reports on the GRI database.
The Global Reporting Initiative (known as GRI) is an international independent standards
organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and
communicate their impacts on issues such as climate change, human rights and corruption.
Founded in 1997, GRI is a non-profit organization with its Secretariat in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands. GRI produces one of the world's most widely used standards for sustainability
reporting;
also
known
as ecological
social
governance (ESG) reporting, triple bottom line (TBL) reporting, and corporate social
responsibility (CSR) reporting.
26
As of 2015, 7,500 organizations used GRI Guidelines for the sustainability reports. GRI
Guidelines apply to multinational organizations, public agencies, smaller and medium
enterprises, NGOs, industry groups and others.
The GRI is an example of an organization that acts outside of the top-down power command
structures associated with government (e.g., quasi-autonomous bodies and regulators).
Environmental governance is the multifaceted and multi-layered nature of "governing" the
borderless and state-indiscriminate natural environment.[29] Unlike major protected policy
areas such as finance or defence, the environment requires sovereign states to sign up to
treaties and multilateral agreements in order to coordinate action. Sustainability reporting is a
more recent concept that encourages businesses and institutions to report on their
environmental performance. [30]
[31]
. The
Global Reporting Initiative provides one of the most influential definitions of sustainability
reporting: Sustainability reporting is the practice of measuring, disclosing, and being
accountable to internal and external stakeholders for organizational performance towards the
goal of sustainable development
[28]
27
Reporting guidelines: The guidelines are the cornerstone of the GRI G3. They set quality and
content principles, as well as managerial and performance indicators. The principles for
defining content include materiality, stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context, and
completeness. The indicators (about 130) cover several thematic categories, including
organizational, managerial, economic, environmental, social, human rights, society, and
product responsibility issues;
Sector supplements: The supplements provide additional guidance and indicators for sector
specific issues. One of the supplements is the aforementioned Mining and Metals Sector
Supplement; and
Indicator protocols: The protocols provide definitions and technical and methodological
guidance on each of the performance indicators of the guidelines
28
29
30
31
32
CHAPTER-4
FUTURE WORK
33
After through study of all aspects and domain of GRI 3.1 Guidelines for preparation of
Sustainability Report, the key performance indicators of a coal mining industry were
identified. They are as follows:
areas
EN20: NOx, SOx and other significant air emissions by type and weight
EN21: Total water discharge by quality and destination
The raw data and information regarding the identified performance indicators are required for
the preparation of sustainability report for a specific area/industry is under process.
Work to be done:
Considering all the above mentioned environmental indicator and coal industry and the
sectors which used coal, fly ash is the very important potential hazardous end product. Now
the work will be based on the role of fly ash in affecting these indicators and mitigations that
can be taken for sustainable development.
Work Schedule
34
December
January
Literature survey
Collection of data
Analysis of data
Preparation of report
35
February
March
April
May
CHAPTER-5
CONCLUSION
36
37
References: 1. The Brundtland Commission, 1987, Our Common Future, The Report of the World
Commission on Environment and Development (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
2. UNCED, 1992, Agenda 21, United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 1992.
3. Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS), 1996,
The Role of Technology in Environmentally Sustainable Development, 16 (The Royal
Academy of Engineering, London).
4. Department of the Environment,Transport and the Regions, May 1999, A Better
Quality of Life: A Strategy for Sustainable Development in the United Kingdom
(TSO, London).
5. Moldan, B., Billharz, S. and Matravers, R. (eds.), 1997, Sustainability Indicators: A
Report on the Project on Indicators of Sustainable Development, 415 (John Wiley and
Sons, Chichester).
6. Auty, R. M. and Brown, K. (eds.), 1997, Approaches to Sustainable Development,
313 (Pinter, London).
7. Clayton, M. H. and Radcliffe, N. J., 1996, SustainabilityA System Approach, 258
(Earthscan Publications Ltd., London).
8. http://www.worldcoal.org/
9. http://www.coal.nic.in/ - ministry of coal
10. Le Blanc, D., et al. 2012. Development cooperation in the light of sustainable
development and the SDGs: Preliminary exploration of the issues, UNDESA: Rio+20
working papers
11. United Nations 2012. United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
Outcome Document: The future we want. A/CONF.216/L.1 of 19
12. UNRISD 2010. Combating poverty and inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy
and Politics
13. United Nations 1992. Agenda 21, United Nations Conference on Environment &
Development Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3 to 14 June 1992
14. United Nations 2007. Indicators of Sustainable Development: Guidelines and
Methodologies
15. Gibberd J. T., (2005). Developing a Sustainable Development Approach for Buildings
and Construction Processes Smart & Sustainable Built Environments. Blackwell
Publishing Ltd. Chapter 27. (pp 300-310).
16. Portfolio committee meeting presentation, School of Mining Engineering, University
of
the
Witwatersrand.
Development
in
the
(2000)
Mining
Environmental
Management
and
Sector.
http://www.natural-resources.org/minerals/
38
Minerals
&
[Online]
Sustainable
Available:
17. Jenkins, H., Yakovleva, N.. (2006). Corporate social responsibility in the mining
industry: Exploring trends in social and environmental disclosure. Journal of Cleaner
Production, Volume 14, Issues 3-4.
18. Thoresen J. (1999). Environmental performance evaluation a tool for industrial
improvement, Journal of Cleaner Production Volume 7, Issue 5
19. Global Reporting Initiative, G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, available at
https://www.globalreporting.org/reporting/g4/Pages/default.aspx
20. PwC, Sustainability Reporting: Is It Time for US Companies to Consider this
Growing
Trend
June
2014,
available
http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/cfodirect/assets/pdf/point-of-view
sustainabilityreporting.pdf.
21. International Integrated Reporting Council, What Is Integrated Reporting, available at
http://www.theiirc.org/the-iirc/about/.
An
integrated
report
is
concise
39
40