Second Meeting of the Consultative Group of Experts (CGE) - Developing a BREF for India’s textiles sector

A virtual meeting of the Consultative Group of Experts (CGE) was organized on 29 November 2023 by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) together with GIZ for developing the BREF/COINDS Document for the Indian textile sector. The meeting was conducted under the project module “Best Available Techniques (BAT) for Selected Industry Sectors”, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) under the Export Initiative Environmental Protection Worldwide project.

The CGE members reviewed the preliminary data collection (questionnaire survey of 170 industries) and reached a consensus on the timelines and next steps of the project, specifically regarding the in-depth studies in textile industries for data collection. The experts shared some great inputs and expressed their keen interest to provide continued support to the project. Over 65 key stakeholders participated in the CGE meeting where the discussions were moderated by GIZ. Officials from the German Environment Agency (UBA) participated in the meeting to provide German know-how on the BAT process.

The Consultative Group of Experts (CGE) includes representatives from various ministries, regulatory authorities, industries, industry associations, academia, research centres and think tanks. The CGE and its functioning are similar to the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the BREF process in Europe. The CGE is at the core of this pilot project for CPCB to have a transparent and participatory information exchange with the key stakeholders of the textile sector, to further prepare a reference document and environmental standards for the sector.

ln 2019, CPCB decided to develop a new COINDS document for the textiles sector, paving a way for bringing in the German know-how on the Best Available Techniques (BAT) process to India for this industry sector.  Under the Indo-German Development Cooperation, GIZ project on “Best Available Techniques for Selected Industry Sectors”, supports the development of a new COINDS document for the textile sector in India using the technical German experiences and facilitates the exchange of lessons learned and best practices with CPCB.

The German Environment Agency (UBA) plays the role of sharing knowledge and experiences on the BREF processes from Germany, such as participatory information exchange among stakeholders for developing the BAT reference document (new COINDS document) and reviewing the customized BREF processes for India.