Nine years ago, on 14th July  2013 when then prime ministerial aspirant  Narendra Modi addressed the youth of the Fergusson College in Pune, India  and said he is  "blessed by touching the land of this pious place", he was referring to the more than 100-year-old campus of the college where  great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Nobel Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore,  Lokamanya Tilak,  Veer Savarkar and Nobel Laurate C V Raman visited the campus and dreamt of an independent India and live with freedom from foreign rule.

On 27th August 2022, nearly 200  energetic and aspirant students of Fergusson College dreamt of a carbon-neutral campus with freedom from human-induced greenhouse gases (GHSs) , mainly carbon dioxide.

Pedalling the bicycles, once symbol of Pune’s dynamic culture and electric vehicles, now the symbol of innovative manufacturing hubs of Pune, the students and the faculty rallied on the famous Fergusson Road shouting slogans ‘ Not Zero-Net Zero’. They were literally charged with clean energy free from carbon emissions. More than that they were determined to contribute to PM Modi’s resolve to make India Net Zero by 2070. They were in the forefront to set an example that Net Zero emissions are not only possible but  can be achieved earlier than planned to save our only planet from the climate crisis.

The event in Fergusson College was part of the ambitious carbon-neutral movement called ‘Not Zero-Net Zero’ that has been launched under its global network of universities called Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN). Erik Solheim, a former environment minister of Norway and Prakash Javadekar,  a former environment minister of India are the mentors behind the movement.

Very recent climate disasters witnessed in 2022, like unprecedented rise in temperatures across the globe, droughts from California to China and from Europe to Africa, drying rivers in USA and China, collapsing glaciers from Arctic to Antarctic, flash floods in Asia, rise in sea level and ever-expanding desertification are creating an existential crisis for the life on the planet. Humanity, that has recently struggled to come out of COVID 19 pandemic, is now facing the climate pandemic.

The root cause for climate change is the human-induced carbon emissions. The natural carbon cycle established by the ecosystem of our planet allows the natural carbon emission as well as the natural sink (absorption). Human-induced emissions from the unbridled use of coal, gas and oil for electricity generation and transport has brought in the extreme imbalance in the carbon cycle that is responsible for global warming. 

In order to rebalance the Earth, we need to reduce the emissions to ‘net zero’.

In order to limit the temperature, the rise of our planet to not more than 2 deg C above pre-industrial level, as per IPCC -Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s carbon emission must reduce by 45 per cent by 2030 and be net-zero by mid 21st century, i.e., by 2040-2075.

Recognizing that nationally determined contributions pledged under the Paris Climate Agreement and subsequent enhancement are grossly inadequate to meet the target of limiting the temperature rise to 2 deg C above the pre-industrial level, educational institutes would be encouraged to skill the students to be future-ready to achieve the carbon neutrality by middle of this century.

The movement of Net Zero signals the end of empty talks and hollow street protests and triggers real action by transforming the college and university campus into a laboratory for Net Zero. The students would be skilled in the laboratory for decarbonization of their own knowledge habitat. Such a bottom-up approach starting from youth on campus would set in a chain of action to move forward to Net Zero cities, regions, states, and countries. The era of decarbonization of the economy would start at the hands of tomorrow's policymakers.

"What is needed is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the maximum extent through energy efficiency and renewable energy in campus and then offset the rest of it by tree plantation within the campus or outside to make it net-zero", declared Dr Rajendra Shende, former Director of UNEP and prime mover of the innovative ‘Not Zero Net Zero’ movement.

“Net Zero will not be a burden on Fergusson College. It will be in fact cost saving proposition. It would also reduce pollution and improve the mental and physical health of students to better study and generate creative ideas”, said Principal Dr. Ravindrasinh Pardeshi, adding that Fergusson College would provide incentives to daily commuters by walk, cycle, or EV. Those who actively participate in Net Zero may be considered for additional credits, said Dr Pardeshi.

Slogans of “Go Green, Not Zero-Net Zero” thundered on the roads around Fergusson College on the morning of 27th August led by bicycles and EVs. Their slogans had conviction because in the past Fergusson college had demonstrated their achievements. Students there had taken a pledge to ban single-use-plastic on their campus and they made it happen much before the end of 2022, a target given by PM Modi. 

Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN) is aimed at accelerating the momentum of implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and carbon neutrality across universities and higher educational institutes.

The bicycle and EV rally was followed by the appreciation ceremony to felicitate those who  commute to college by bicycles and EVs, which apart from students and faculty,  also included office helpers and cleaners. Principal Pardeshi was also awarded a certificate for his daily commute to college by walk,  symbolising his leadership and commitment.

The real action towards Net Zero started immediately after the rally. Representative of Ministry of Power, Srinivas Chavan, Manager, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), along with Durga Kamath of SCCN, guided the college to form the core group on Net Zero of students in order to prepare the plans and road map. The college will soon initiate the baseline surveys to calculate its carbon footprint in collaboration with SCCN and EESL.

Modi in his 2013 speech at Fergusson College talked about the boundless potential of youth in universities in transforming India. That potential is evident now in the carbon-neutral movement of 'Not Zero Net Zero'.