Education institutions need to save and generate energy and water, plant more trees, convert waste into wealth and promote electric mobility on campus (Representational image)
Smart Campus Cloud Network – SCCN’s over 450 universities and colleges are also part of this carbon-neutral campus movement
Former Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that all educational institutions in India should make their campuses carbon neutral by 2030 to help the country achieve the goal of net-zero emissions by 2070.
Addressing the launch of “U75: Net-Zero in the University Campus”, a new initiative by environmental NGO Green Terre Foundation to make educational institutions in India carbon neutral by 2030, Javadekar said the initiative is aimed at providing essential environmental education to students who sensitize those whose future depends on our fight against climate change”.
Smart Campus Cloud Network – SCCN’s over 450 universities and colleges are also part of this carbon-neutral campus movement.
Javadekar, who earlier held the education portfolio as HRD minister, said educational institutions need to save and generate energy and water, plant more trees, convert waste into wealth and promote electric mobility on campus. Is.
Former UN Under-Secretary-General Erik Solheim praised the movement, saying that in order to act on global environmental challenges, “we need to make climate change a people’s issue”.
Solheim also advised faculty members and students to “take inspiration from the Indian traditional system of respect for nature”.
Rajendra Shende, founder of Green Terre Foundation, asserted that the university campus is an incubator to mold the minds of the youth to become ready for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. lifestyle Mission for the Environment (LiFE) and to meet India’s net-zero goal.
Modi last year launched ‘Mission Life’, which calls for a global mass movement to inspire behavioral changes focused on the “conscious and intentional use” of resources.
At COP26 in Glasgow, Modi committed India to a net-zero carbon emission target by 2070. Net zero means achieving a balance between greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere and those taken out.
India has allocated Rs 35,000 crore in the Union Budget for 2023-24 for priority capital investment towards energy transition and achieving net-zero emission target.
Shende said that “there is no place more appropriate than a university campus to groom young talent to take action on the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and climate neutrality”.
National Board of Accreditation Chairman Prof. Anil Sahasrabuddhe said that the 75 universities should become role models for the other 750 universities and 7,500 colleges to achieve net-zero emissions during the ‘Elixir of Independence’.
Carbon neutrality should be part of the curriculum to prepare youth for climate, starting from schools, he added.
All India Technical Council Education Chair Professor T Seetharam, while endorsing the objective of “U75 and Smart Campus Cloud Network”, said, “Such societal efforts are necessary along with government initiatives”.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)