Gujarat University in Ahmedabad Tuesday announced to set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Climate Change. The centre will be set up with the help of an award of Rs 1.5 crore, given by the Gujarat Climate Change Department. The CoE will start operations from academic session starting from June 2022. In this regard, the Vice Chancellor (V-C) of Gujarat University Prof Himanshu Pandya said that special emphasis would be laid on the issue of balanced development by the Centre. The Centre of Excellence will focus on the growth of green cover in the university, training homemakers in gardening, growth in renewable energy generation, water saving and reuse among others. The Centre will also collect biodegradable waste from the surrounding area and make arrangements for composting by the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). Arrangements will be made to reuse the used water through purification after reducing water consumption. “Two STPs would be set up on campus along with additional rooftop solar panels. The treated water will be used for 47 gardens of the University,” Pandya said. Dr Nainesh Modi, Professor in-charge of Centre of Excellence on Climate Change, Gujarat University, said that the Centre would run a kind of public awareness campaign for the preservation of the environment and reach out to every section of the society and create awareness among them and at the same time strive to make the campus sustainable. In addition to energy saving measures, the goal is to significantly reduce carbon emissions by generating energy from renewable energy sources. Further, adding on the courses, Pandya said, “Different certificate courses will be run towards awareness for environment conservation. These will be graded as per NEP 2020 academic bank of credits. Also, the evaluating agencies will evaluate students’ performances both in terms of credits as well as non quantifiable work including creating awareness among society towards climate change.” Students will be made brand ambassadors of the Centre and will be given credit for the work they have done under CoE.
