The Tata group companies have launched a campaign to cut down their greenhouse gas emissions and appointed consulting giants McKinsey and Ernst & Young to help Tata’s top five polluting companies – Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power and Tata Consultancy Services- reduce their carbon footprint. The five companies in question contribute 80 percent of the group’s overall carbon emissions.

The group has formed a special committee, with Irani at the helm, to steer the group’s green efforts and find ways for its member companies – about a hundred of them – to reduce emissions over a period of time.

Tata Sons director J J Irani said: “I must admit that we've been rather slow in catching up with the requirement of becoming a low-carbon economy. The Tatas are planning to play some role in understanding how we could reduce our emissions so that we can leave a better world for our children and grandchildren.”