Dr Rohan Dutta, Associate Professor and Director, Anant School for Climate Action, Ahmedabad

The accelerating climate crisis poses serious threats to humanity’s future on Earth. Recent reports published by various agencies worldwide, including the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, reported 2024 as the hottest, and the global average temperature has crossed the end-of-the-century target of 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial era. At Anant National University, we embrace sustainability as a fundamental part of our vision and responsibility. With that comes the Anant School for Climate Action, where we address the challenges of climate change and action by preparing solutionaries, whom we call climate warriors, at various levels.

Our two flagship programmes – BTech in Climate Change, India’s only undergraduate engineering degree programme dedicated to climate solutions and Anant Fellowship for Climate Action, a post-graduate programme – equip students with skills, knowledge and expertise to create technology-driven solutions to climate change problems, both at local and global levels.

The four-year BTech programme covers vastly interdisciplinary areas, from energy to environmental engineering, climate chemistry to climate modelling, technology and society to climate finance, enabling students to unlock the key skills to address climate change and climate action. Anant connects various verticals of knowledge through applied research projects. With the help of these projects, students apply what they have learned to identify solutions to more straightforward problem areas, including air pollution, bio-diversity mapping, waste management, life cycle analysis, industrial ecology, etc.

Anant facilitates such projects through laboratories such as energy engineering, refrigeration, heat transfer, climate chemistry, microbiology, chemical technology, a well-equipped computer lab with software for climate modelling, process simulators, SIMAPro, etc. Prototypes arising from the student projects are built in-house in Makerspace.

Students present their research at various national and international conferences in India and abroad in the areas related to water, environmental science and technology, cryogenics, sustainability, etc. Anant’s Aarambh Incubation Centre, which promotes entrepreneurial spirit using design thinking to devise innovative solutions for problems across domains, provides seed grants for taking the technology further on the ladder of development, aiming at higher technology readiness levels. 

Moss-based localised air purification systems, plasma gasifier-based waste to high calorific hydrocarbons, atmospheric water harvesters, community scale, low-cost solar desalination systems and nocturnal cooling systems are examples of the technologies Anant students developed.

This cycle starts from the very beginning in the first year when students are assigned under different faculty mentors who are actively involved in state-of-the-art research in the domains related to climate change and climate action, including carbon capture storage and utilisation, radiation cooling, thermal desalination systems, water purification and treatment systems, nano-technology, green synthesis of nanomaterials, low-carbon technologies, waste to energy, etc. 

Students are inducted into various research groups to prepare them for specialised industry requirements to conform to the future regulatory frameworks due to the climate crisis. They get the opportunity to work in relevant industries as interns from the first year onwards. Our students have interned at companies like Johnson Controls Hitachi, Harsha Engineers, Bharti-Airtel, TechMahindra, StringBio, Sustain Lab Paris, etc. 

The job opportunities in climate action are tremendous. At Anant, we take every possible step to prepare our students to be industry-ready.

In conclusion, the accelerating climate crisis demands urgent and innovative action, and at Anant National University, we are committed to being at the forefront of this global effort. Through the Anant School for Climate Action, we nurture a generation of climate warriors with interdisciplinary knowledge, practical skills and a strong commitment to sustainability. Our unique academic programmes, cutting-edge research, state-of-the-art laboratories and industry collaborations ensure our students are prepared to tackle the most pressing environmental challenges. With projects addressing critical areas such as carbon capture, water purification, waste management and renewable energy, we are proud to contribute meaningful solutions for a sustainable future. Together, we inspire and empower future leaders to combat climate change and create a better world for future generations.

Also read: Anant National University: Building a Diverse and inclusive workforce for the future