Centre opens bids for third party environmental auditors
The reform, based on trust-based governance according to the government, comes at a time when several Indian cities are battling severe air pollution.
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.
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.
The reform, based on trust-based governance according to the government, comes at a time when several Indian cities are battling severe air pollution.
To be sure, the State’s own monitoring mechanism has significant capacity constraints. The third party auditors are expected to fill the huge vacuum in environmental monitoring capacity within the government. HT reported on December 15 that nearly 45% of scientific and technical positions in pollution control boards across the country are vacant, citing the Union environment ministry’s response in the Lok Sabha.
The environment ministry notified the Environment Audit Rules 2025 on August 29. “The Environment Audit (EA) Rules, 2025, establish a credible system of environmental audits by certified professionals to improve compliance data, support enforcement, and align with national initiatives like the Green Credit Programme and ESG disclosures. The Rules create the EADA, which certifies auditors, assigns audits digitally, monitors performance, enforces a code of conduct, and maintains a public auditor registry,” the RFP document published on December 11 states.
“I think it is always better to go for third party auditors. But our experience with independent laboratories has not been great. I have been doubtful in the past as their results always seemed to favour the industry. At this juncture, it is very important that the reports reveal a real picture of conditions and compliance. It is important to understand how these auditors will be made accountable. And how will the most competent ones be chosen?” asked Mohan George, Consultant, Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility, Centre for Science and Environment and formerly an officer with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.
The assigned agency will act as the central body responsible for overall management of the environment audit, including drawing up eligibility criteria, conducting examination for the certification, registration of Certified Environment Auditors (CEAs), monitoring of their performance, training and capacity building. The EA rules also say that EADA shall proactively identify and resolve any situation of actual or potential conflict of interest that could compromise the impartiality or integrity of its operations.
EADA will be notified for a period of five years and the tenure may be renewed for further periods of five years subject to satisfactory performance and fulfillment of criteria specified in the guidelines. “The Central Government reserves the right to revoke such notification at any stage before the expiry of tenure, based on unsatisfactory performance, breach of conditions, or any other reason deemed appropriate,” the RFP states.