Anant National University Takes A Step To Combat Climate Change, Launches a Fellowship For Climate Action
Anant National University is launching a first-of-its-kind Fellowship for Climate Action. While it is good that more people than ever before are aware of climate change, the Fellowship for Climate Action will shift the focus from the unprecedented level of climate anxiety we see around us today to offering thousands of people ways to be part of the solution to mitigate climate change.
The long term mission of the Fellowship is to create a community – offline and online – of climate change trailblazers who work together and cross-pollinate each other’s work with ideas and expertise across sectors, regions, and generations.
“Our endeavour is to include as many people who wish to be part of the solution to climate change. The Fellowship for Climate Action is designed such that those who can dedicate a year of their life, whether they are working advanced professionals, entrepreneurs, or young climate activists, can all benefit from it,” says Anunaya Chaubey, Provost of Anant National University.
The Fellowship for Climate Action is a one year immersive programme based on a mentor-mentee framework that then feeds into a unique online education platform to counter climate change. The fellowship cohort each year will include two types of fellows. One, those who demonstrate a sustained interest, outstanding transferable skills, and some work in countering climate change. Second, those who are advanced professionals, well established in their domain, and wish to leverage their skills and experience towards solutions for climate change. Fellows who are advanced professionals will need to complete only 3 of the total 6 terms of the Fellowship. This will allow them the flexibility to continue to work alongside. 75% of the Fellowship classes will be held at locations where solutions for climate change are being implemented and at locations that are hard hit by climate change. All fellows will also work closely with a mentor, chosen from an illustrious board of mentors who are supporting the Fellowship.
The online platform of the Fellowship will accept students from the world over to follow courses online, for which the content will be gathered from the courses being taught to the fellows as well as by curating talks by the mentors. Online students will work with the fellows to co-create solutions.
The Fellowship is led by Dr Miniya Chatterji, an award-winning sustainability expert. Miniya is CEO of Sustain Labs Paris, a company that transforms large companies into becoming sustainable. She was Chief Sustainability Officer at Jindal Steel & Power after working at the World Economic Forum in Geneva for several years, Goldman Sachs in London, and the office of the President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac in Paris. She has a PhD and Masters degree from Sciences Po Paris and was a doctoral research fellow at Harvard University and Columbia University.
“We believe that there are increasing numbers of individuals who are using their skills as a lawyer, engineer, policy specialist, finance expert, architect, or designer, to counter climate change and are desirous of doing more. The passion and skills of these individuals – in person and online – will be steered towards the most critical and urgent solutions to gain further success and scale,” says Miniya Chatterji.
Mentors who have committed their time to the Fellows for Climate Action are:
o Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council for Energy, Environment, Water, India.
o Chetan Maini, CEO, Sun Mobility. Founder & ex CEO, Mahindra Reva, India.
o Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation, Brussels. Chair of the Board of Governors at the French Development Agency, France.
o Mustapha Mokass, CEO, Beya Capital, Morocco.
o Manish Kharbanda, Advisor, Jindal Steel & Power, India.
o Anoop Ratnakar Rao, CEO, ReLife. Co-founder and ex-CEO, Naandi, India.
o Dhaval Monani, CEO First Home Realty, India.
o Indra Guha, Partner, Think Through Consulting. Ex-CSO,
o Gireesh Shrimali, Fellow, Stanford University, U.S.A.
o Christophe Jaffrelot, Director India Institute, King’s College, U.K. Director CNRS, Sciences Po, France.