Industrial development is an important constituent in our pursuit for economic growth, employment generation and betterment in the quality of life. On the other hand, industrial activities without proper precautionary measures for environmental protection are known to cause environmental pollution and associated problems. Hence, it is necessary to comply with the regulatory norms for prevention and control of pollution. Alongside, it is also imperative to go beyond compliance through adoption of clean technologies and improvement in management practices. Commitment and voluntary initiatives of industry for responsible care of the environment will help in building a partnership for pollution control. This Charter on Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Protection (CREP) emphasize on these aspects.

Within the purview of CREP a series of industry -specific interaction meetings have been organised to formulate the Charter. The action points enlisted in the Charter are addressed to corporate bodies as well as regulatory agencies. Thus, the Charter is a commitment for partnership and participatory action of the concerned stakeholders. The Charter is also a road map for progressive improvement in environmental management systems. Thus, it is not necessarily limited to compliance of end-of-the-pipe effluent and emission standards. In a number of industrial sectors, the targets set in the Charter are ahead of effluent and emission standards. A National Seminar on Corporate Responsibility for Environment Protection was organised during 12-13 March, 2003 and after deliberations and discussions with the Industrial Associations, regulatory agencies, concerned Ministries, local bodies, NGOs etc. the Charter was released covering the action points agreed upon in the seminar, for implementation by the major polluting industrial categories in a time bound manner.

For implementation of the recommendations of the Charter, Eight Task Forces were constituted to review the progress of the work of task forces a National Conference on follow-up of Corporate Responsibility for Environment Protection was organised on July, 29, 2003. Every task force has met twice during the year to review the progress and to formulate action plans for respective category of industry. These task forces have been constituted for following industries:

· Chlor-alkali & Fertilizer industry
· Sugar & Pulp & Paper & Distillery
· Cement & Copper & Zinc Smelters
· Aluminium industry
· Integrated Iron & Steel & Thermal Power Plants
· Oil Refineries & Petrochemical industry
· Pesticides & Pharmaceuticals & Dye & Due intermediates
· Tannery