CSE trains colleges on green campus auditing

CSE organized a workshop on December 10, 2021 titled “Advancing Green Educational Campuses – A Regional Experience Sharing” to take stock of action taken by colleges and universities on green campus. Directors of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of universities and colleges were invited and as many as 110 representatives attended the workshop. In addition, 20 officers from Punjab Pollution Control Board participated in the workshop who were sensitized on implementation of mandatory compliance actions required by campuses as part of their greening efforts.

CSE has mapped ‘green’ initiatives taken by selected campuses who are also a part of CSE’s Forum of Green Campuses and published a preliminary assessment in a report titled “Green Campus Movement”. This report was launched at the workshop which is aimed to guide and motivate other campuses to implement sustainability action on ground.

Following the launch, Dr Adarshpal Vig, Chairman, Punjab Pollution Control Board, in his keynote address, stressed upon the need for environmental sensitivity among educators as well as campus inhabitants. “Mandatory requirements such as environmental impact assessment and evaluative criteria by National Accreditation and Assessment Council must not be the drivers for universities to take action on sustainability, instead should be the way of life.” - Dr. Vig added.

Commencing the technical session, Mr. Raj Kumar Ratra, Senior Environmental Engineer from Punjab Pollution Control Board elaborated the NAAC requisites that need regulatory action. Mitashi Singh outlined the Key Indicator 7.1 and its five categories as given in the NAAC manual for universities to prepare self-study reports. Dr. Ritu Raj Kaur in her session on GNDU Emission Inventory presented the several efforts made by the university in its aim to become a zero-carbon campus.

Mr. Rajneesh Sareen concluded the technical sessions for the workshop with discussions on how to conduct environment and energy audits. Participants actively brought their questions on preparation of NAAC reports which were resolved by the CSE team.