IIT Kanpur launches Kotak School of Sustainability, to run UG & PG skill-building programs

The school is placed to run both undergraduate and postgraduate academic and skill-building programs in different themes of sustainability.

The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) and the Kotak Mahindra Bank announced the launch of the Kotak School of Sustainability, an integrated school of sustainability at IIT Kanpur.

The school is placed to run both undergraduate and postgraduate academic and skill-building programs in different themes of sustainability and 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 school will bring together departments and centres of excellence at IITK to provide an enabling environment for collaborative research across multiple facets of sustainability. Kotak School of Sustainability will have dedicated centres of excellence (CoE) covering different aspects of sustainability such as clean energy, environment, ecology, circular economy, climate finance, sustainable societies and policy.

The launch event was attended by Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India as the chief guest.

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“Kotak School of Sustainability highlights IIT Kanpur’s commitment to offer a holistic approach to address sustainability challenges due to climate change. The school’s mission is in sync with India's National Missions related to sustainability. The school will help in developing a strong foundation for sustainable development to achieve a climate resilient economy and society and will support the country's climate action plans and national target to reach net zero by 2070,” said Professor Abhay Karandikar, Secretary of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

“Sustainability has emerged as one of the foremost global challenges of our times which requires various stakeholders to work together and the role of educational institutes like ours is extremely crucial in this mission. Adding to many of IIT Kanpur’s path-breaking initiatives and with the generous CSR funding support from Kotak Mahindra Bank, the Institute is establishing 'The Kotak School of Sustainability' with the overall vision of providing thought leadership, developing concrete solutions toward sustainability actions, and preparing future generations to lead the cause of sustainable development,” said Professor S Ganesh, Director, IIT Kanpur.