Christ University presents a week-long sustainability week along with United Nations Academic Impact

Christ University is celebrating its Sustainability Week across all campuses from February 12 to February 16. The initiative launched in collaboration with the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools to become responsible global citizens and advocates for a sustainable future. 

Christ (Deemed to be University) is celebrating its first Sustainability Week across all campuses from February 12 to 16. The initiative, launched in collaboration with the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools to become responsible global citizens and advocates for a sustainable future.

The event kicked off with a diverse range of events and activities engaging students from various disciplines. Leading figures from various fields shared their insights and inspired students to become changemakers.

“Sustainability is not a distant role; it is a way of life that we must instil in every aspect of our lives and also into our educational journey. It is our responsibility to nurture young minds that can seamlessly blend the rhythm of the past with innovative solutions for the challenges of our future,” said Dr. Fr. Viju P.D., Pro-Vice Chancellor of Christ, during the inaugural session of the event.

Guruprakash Sastry, Head – Climate Action Infosys Ltd, explained that humanity is responsible for this alarming rate at which environmental degradation is happening, “Just imagine Earth like your body temperature constantly being one of the half degrees up. How do you feel? So, that’s the state of our planet today. So, if you can relate to that, you can relate to what is happening in terms of our ecosystem globally.”

“We have seen the cyclones, floods, droughts, and even excessive rainfall in some of the locations where these were not commonly placed earlier. Increasing population and globalization brought significant change in our lifestyles and also in the environment,” he further added.

He spoke about water pollution and how only 11 per cent of the wastewater from Industries and residences actually gets recycled. The rest 89 percent ends up in our water bodies such as lakes, rivers and oceans.

At a panel discussion on ‘Revolutionising Higher Education for Global Sustainability,’ Nirbhay Lumde, Head ESG, Sustainability and CSR, CGI, said, “To achieve net zero emission target 2070 in India, we are running short of about 50 to 60 thousand professionals, which is needed in the market to take care of net zero engagements. We need to have as many people to be in the forefront to build as many engagements and start-ups. There are plenty of opportunities, in terms of creating start-up companies that really feed the sustainable development goals.”