IIT Kanpur, Kotak Mahindra Bank to establish first fully integrated school of sustainability

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in collaboration with Kotak Mahindra Bank to establish India’s first fully integrated school of sustainability at IIT-K - Kotak School of Sustainability.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan was the chief guest of the launch event. Abhay Karandikar, secretary of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India; Nagendra Nath Sinha, secretary, ministry of steel were the guests of honour.

Institutions, through Education, Empowerment, and Engagement (3E), can lead climate action, empowering communities and conserving the natural ecosystem, the institute said. The integrated school of sustainability will be established to address this challenge. The funding will be done through the CSR programme with a vision to promote pedigree education, research, and outreach.

“Kotak School of Sustainability will have dedicated centres of excellence covering different aspects of sustainability such as clean energy, environment, ecology, circular economy, climate finance, sustainable societies and policy,” it said.

The School will be offering undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) academic and skill-building programmes in different themes of sustainability. “The School will be housed in a green building in IITK’s main campus that will be platinum-rated with net zero practices on energy, water, and waste,” the institute said.

Appreciating Kotak Bank for its initiative, Dharmendra Pradhan said: “The school will not only be about technology and economics, but will cover the A to Z of sustainability. This will be instrumental in helping India meet the ambitious target of net zero by 2070, as announced by our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji.”

S Ganesh, IIT Kanpur director; Prakash Apte, chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank; Shanti Ekambaram, whole-time director of Kotak; CS Rajan, independent director of Kotak Mahindra Bank were also present during the event.