New Delhi, Dec. 16: An effort to collect information on emission of Earth-warming greenhouse gases from various industrial sectors in the country has drawn a response from about only three in 10 companies.

Only 61 companies among 200 that were approached have provided information for the Carbon Disclosure Project Report which seeks to document emissions through voluntary disclosures, project officials said.

Although the quality of disclosures has improved from a similar attempt last year, it is not uniform enough to make comparisons or to pinpoint either the biggest polluters or the cleanest producers, said an official with the World Wide Fund for Nature India which helped develop the report.

The number of companies that declined to participate was also higher this year than in 2007.

“But there are plenty of encouraging signs,” said Shirish Sinha, head of the climate change and energy programme with WWF India. Among the 61 that responded, 28 belonged to energy-intensive sectors including energy, automobiles and capital goods.

The project in India, part of a worldwide effort, received responses from companies involved in automobiles, capital goods, commercial services, energy, food and beverages, household and personal products, among others.

The response rate in other countries varies — 90 per cent in the UK, 80 in Brazil, about 65 per cent in the US, but less than 10 per cent in China.

Project officials expect greater participation and better quality of data to flow in from Indian companies next year.

“But we see some companies are not only aware of the risks presented by climate change, they’re also increasingly becoming sensitive towards its commercial and financial opportunities,” said Ravi Singh, secretary-general of WWF India.

Several companies who participated in the report have outlined their targets for reducing energy consumption and of increasing energy efficiency in the coming years. A leading software company, for instance, has set a target of progressive reductions of emissions by 25 percent, 35 per cent and then 40 per cent to reach an emission-neutral status by 2011. A cement company plans to reduce its emissions by 20 per cent by 2010.

Some industry sectors may not have high emissions themselves, but could be significantly affected by the impact of climate change, said Paul Simpson, chief operating officer of the project. Insurance companies could be massively hit without contributing much to emissions, he said, because of rising number of claims after damages caused by natural calamities.