From April 1, IIT Delhi has reached the milestone of becoming the first Central Government-funded technical institute that reduced its carbon footprint by over 50 per cent.
When leaders and faculty at an academic institution set an unparalleled example, the rest follows and the case is no different in IIT Delhi too. Over the years, the technical institute has undertaken proactive measures in making its campus smart, sustainable and green – whether it is the installation of a rooftop solar power system or the setting up of a sewage treatment plant to meet the horticulture needs of the campus.
Call it a coincidence or the fact that the institute has fostered a ‘sustainable entrepreneurial spirit’ amongstits students, many of its alumni have also gone on to venture into businesses that are in line with environmental sustainability goals.
One such IIT Delhi alumnus is Rajat Khare, who has been investing in companies that are making revolutionary marks in AI and deep tech space. His firm, Boundary Holding, which is based in Luxembourg, has a number of such companies in its investment portfolio that operate on the ethos of environmental sustainability. RanMarine, for instance, works towards protecting marine ecosystems through a technology that removes wastes and debris from oceans and marine environments.
Rajat Khare’s sustainability efforts are evident fromthe kinds of investments that he makes. However, his fellow IIT Delhi alumni Shubham Bansal and DivishGupta, founders of Leap Club, have followed the mantra of ‘saving the earth’ right from their IIT days.“From our college days, we have engaged in various social development projects,” said Shubham. They founded Leapclub in their bid to help people reduce the carbon footprints of their food and make it a one-stop-shop for environmentally sensitive products.
With this, Shubham and Divish have proven that the development of futuristic electronic vehicles and other technologies is not the only sure-fire way forcontributing to the global clean energy goal. While IITs and their alumni are making headway to ensure that the earth becomes a more viable place to live in, we can’t help but wonder – “What can we, as individuals, possibly do for a greener earth?”
