Environmental Statement (Environmental return)
Also known as: EP Rules environmental statement · Form V environmental statement
An Environmental Statement is an annual return submitted to the SPCB that discloses a factory's actual pollution loads, resource consumption, and pollution control performance for the year.
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What is Environmental Statement?
An Environmental Statement is the annual return that every industrial occupier holding SPCB consent must file in Form V under Rule 14 of the Environment (Protection) Rules 1986. The return covers the financial year April to March and must be filed with the State Pollution Control Board by 30 September of the following year. It captures the actual operating performance of the facility in terms of resource use, pollution loads, and pollution-control performance — converting consent conditions from paper commitments into auditable annual outcomes.
Form V is structured in nine parts covering: name and address of owner and occupier, water consumption (cubic metres per day by category), raw material consumption (tonnes per annum), pollution generated (water and air emissions in kg per day, hazardous waste in tonnes per annum), pollution-control measures in place (ETP, scrubber, bag filter capacities and performance), hazardous waste management (storage, disposal, manifest tracking), solid waste generation and disposal, capital investment in pollution control, and additional measures proposed for environmental improvement. For Indian CBG, recycling, and pyrolysis plants, the Environmental Statement triggers internal data collection across the entire year and forms the primary documentary record SPCB inspectors review during CTO renewal.
Non-filing or false filing carries serious penalties under Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act — imprisonment up to 5 years and fines up to ₹1 lakh per day of continuing offence, with personal liability on the occupier. Beyond legal risk, the Environmental Statement is increasingly used by ESG-focused investors, banks (under Reserve Bank of India climate-risk guidance), and customers running supplier due-diligence as a proxy for environmental management maturity. Mature Indian operators integrate Environmental Statement preparation into monthly closing cycles — capturing data continuously through SCADA and laboratory log books — rather than scrambling to compile annual numbers in August every year. This continuous-data approach also surfaces process drift early and reduces the operational gap between design assumptions and reality.
- Annual return in Form V under EP Rules 1986, filed with SPCB by 30 September.
- Discloses water and material use, pollution loads, control performance, capital investment.
- Non-filing penalty: 5 years imprisonment, ₹1 lakh/day continuing offence under EP Act.
- Best practice: continuous monthly data capture via SCADA and lab logs rather than year-end scramble.
Common questions about Environmental Statement
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