Maharashtra is one of India’s most industrialized states with the highest gross domestic product in the country. The state, however, is highly vulnerable to climate change owing to its large population, socioeconomic disparities, cultural diversity, long coastline, and high dependence on agriculture.
Our Center entered into a partnership with the Government of Maharashtra’s Department of Environment and Climate Change to impart a training program designed to build the capacity of the Department’s Climate Fellows. The Climate fellowship program recognizes youth as agents of change and places them in various portfolios of climate policy and projects focusing on adaptation and mitigation. The Center’s training program was conducted in collaboration with Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy from April to September 2022. The program was designed to ensure comprehensive learning for the fellows, leveraging the scientific knowledge and expertise of researchers, scholars, and faculty from Columbia University. The sessions provided a global as well as Indian policy perspective on clean energy and net-zero transition through a series of informative sessions focusing on topics such as decarbonization in the building and transport sector, e-mobility, air quality monitoring, and climate finance.
At the certificate awarding session on September 20, 2022, Dr. Ravina Agarwal, Senior Advisor, of the Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai, lauded the fellows for their passion for climate change and wished them success for their future endeavors. Climate fellows thanked the Mumbai Center for this exciting opportunity. Mr. Kirti Reddy expressed his gratitude, highlighting the usefulness of the air quality session, as he is now directly working on policy interventions for reducing pollution at the local level. Ms. Khushi Vora, working primarily on electric vehicles, talked about how the sessions on e-mobility were helpful for her in understanding the technology and policy framework. Mr. Pratik Bavi spoke about how the sessions were useful for helping him give inputs to senior officers for a net-zero roadmap for Maharashtra and for taking the climate agenda forward.
