Pune NGO TERRE releases first-ever 'Campus Sustainability Report'

Pune, June 12 (IANS) The TERRE Policy Centre launched its first-ever Campus Sustainability Report, on the occasion of World Environment Day recently, an official said here on Tuesday.

The launch of the report, developed by the MIT Group of Institutions, Pune, was hosted by the Maharashtra Institute of Technology-World Peace University (MIT-WPU) Director-General Vishwanath Karad.

"Hitherto, sustainability reports have been the annual records of the corporate world providing in-depth reviews of the actions taken by business corporations on environmentally and socially responsible practices. They gave insight into their company strategies and robust views on how they adjust their policies and practices to address the current sustainability agenda," said TERRE Chairman Rajendra Shende.

However, providing such information by an educational institute and resolving to do so annually is setting a new trend in India, he said.

The latest report highlights the progress achieved by four MIT-WPU campuses over the last one year since the Smart Campus Cloud Network, a global network of educational campuses geared towards Sustainable Development Goals was launched by Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar in June 2017.

The report includes benchmarking of the sustainability indices for the campus like energy use per square foot of built up area, trees per square foot of open area, management of e-waste, canteen waste, solid and liquid waste and sustainable transport. The report also unveils the future plan and vision to contribute to SDGs.

"Smart Campus activities like re-processing the waste within the campus could generate tomorrow's business leaders," said Dinkar More, former Director-General of Water Resource Board of Maharashtra, who presided over the event.

Other prominent guests included Milind Pande, J. Gore, Principal Advisor to MIT-WPU and Professor at Purdue University, US, I.K. Bhat Vice Chancellor of MIT-WPU and R. Dod, professor of civil engineering and environment department.

Shende hoped that henceforth other educational campuses under SCCN would also start releasing Campus Annual Sustainability Reports.