The wildfires raging in Southern California are far from simple wake-up calls. They are deafening sirens of scores of ambulances rushing, carrying the parts of our planet with severe burns. Indeed, this part of the planet is known for the extreme riches of Silicon Valley and Hollywood. But now it is more known for its chronic wildfire infernos.  During the 2020 wildfire season alone, over 8,100 fires contributed to the burning of nearly 4.5 million acres of land. And the new year of 2025 has been greeted with the most cruel, deadly and horrific wildfires that razed not only forests but also palatial homes of Hollywood celebrities. The wildfires around Los Angeles are living example of an apocalyptic scenario where humans are all in the same boat that is sinking.

Around 150,000 IIT alumni reside in this part of the world. Many of them are techno-firebrands known to bring breakthroughs in transformative digital technologies for the last more than half a century. They are the trendsetters in cutting-edge technologies. Can they not catalyse their responses, technologies and solutions to find a solution to the climate crisis?

Climate Crisis is now increasingly recognized as an existential threat followed by the sixth extinction of life on the planet. The most disturbing scenario that the world  is already experiencing is that no one, whether the super rich of Hollywood or the stark poor of Africa,  can escape the climate disaster. It is equivalent to a pandemic without a vaccine.

Reducing global emissions

The only way out as recommended by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to reduce the human-induced global emissions of greenhouse gases by 43 percent by 2030  as compared to the emissions of  2019 and 100 percent (net zero) by 2050. This has been agreed and adopted as a decision in UNFCCC’s Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 . It may sound very parochial, but knowing the DNA of the cream of India's tech-oriented youth, it is but natural for me to think if IIT alumni around the world and particularly students in all 23 IITs across India can provide a way out?

Just before the start of wildfires in Southern California, students, faculty and alumni of 6 IITs came together in IIT Bombay in December 2024 to explore the future of the planet amidst the climate crisis. They discussed technologies as well as policies needed for a Net Zero India. I immediately recalled the interesting conference held earlier in October 2024 in Southern California organised by the IIT alumni association. Its theme was  “AI & Us: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond”.

In the context of the rampaging wildfires scorching southern California,  I strongly felt that AI in the context of climate change is not Artificial Intelligence but it connotes Alliance of IITs! Ideation, development and speeding up  of transformative technologies are in the DNA of individual IITs. ‘Transition away from fossil fuel in just manner’ can be achieved by deploying each of IIT’s potential and gelling it into a collaborative strategy to enhance the scale and speed of climate mitigation and climate resilience. Such an alliance is needed to realise doubling  the energy efficiency and tripling   the renewable energy from the present base as agreed in COP28 in Dubai. Further, recognising how AI might go rogue like the current wildfires around the planet including in sub-Himalayan states of India, an Alliance of IITs is not just an idea but the need of the time.

This is precisely what IITs have started moving and focussing towards through the innovative process of making their campuses net zero. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared that "India is moving forward on the subject of climate with great courage and unprecedented ambition that by the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero carbon emission".

Net-zero campuses

It is now clear that the social and economic benefits of carbon-neutral net zero are beyond imagination. Cost of solar-generated electricity has come down by more than 90 percent over the last 10 years. In fact it is now cheaper than electricity generated by thermal power plants. The health benefits of clean energy have never been quantified in  net zero-cost benefit analysis. While a number of businesses, cities and more than 100 countries have pledged a target of reducing emissions to net zero by around mid-century, there is no more strategic starting point to accelerate the transformation of India to net-zero than the campus of the IITs and likes of Higher Education Institutes. Net Zero-campuses steered by the students and faculty upskills the youth for net zero through the process of learning by doing. Renowned for their excellence and out-of-box innovations in engineering, technology, and research, the IITs attract some of the brightest minds in the country. Leveraging their expertise and influence, these institutions can rally to address the challenge of the century - mitigating climate change and developing climate resilience.

While finance-gaps and technology-gaps are being highlighted in all the international negotiations, including COPs, the gap in human capital wide open and hardly talked and acted upon. The key efforts to focus on skilling and upskilling for net zero by IITs will stand out as an exercise of raising much needed human-capital.

The concept of Alliance of IITs started getting roots in IIT-Guwahati in February 2024 where for the first time, during a regional workshop on Net Zero -Carbon Neutral Campus organised jointly by Green TERRE Foundation, a not-for-profit and IIT Guwahati. It was part of a series of four regional workshops on net-zero university campus supported by UNESCO, India's Ministry of Education, Ministry of Power and ASSOCHAM’s Green and Eco-Friendly Movement. The concept was floated by a student who was vice-president of IIT-Guwahati in his speech delivered in the workshop by participated by vice chancellors, deans and students from universities in eastern India

During his appeal for attaining the goals of Paris climate agreement he called on all 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) “to take lead in addressing climate change by making the campuses Net Zero with a mission to combat pressing global issues of climate change and rising temperatures”. Prakash Javadekar, India’s former environment and climate change minister, supported his appeal. .

India, though not a significant contributor to GHG emission, is a leading global partner in seeking the solutions to the climate crisis. India indeed is in the forefront to achieve the Nationally Determined Targets (NDCs) submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change but IITs realise we need to do more and faster. IITs will be the catalyst for that transformative change.’

Need for collaborative thinking

Later, in Dec 2024, 10 months later, IIT Bombay,  taking cues from a workshop held in IIT Guwahati and encouraged by the fast-spreading national movement of SCCN’s Net Zero University campus, held its Sustainability Conclave. It concluded with the expression of collective commitment in achieving net-zero campuses through innovation and collaboration. The faculty from IIT Delhi, IIT Dharwad, IIT Guwahati, IIT Madras, IIT Gandhinagar along with IIT Bombay were to achieve this goal.

It was evident that each of the 23 IITs  would have their own sustainability and net-zero initiatives  but they remain in silos. The need to accelerate efforts by sharing their experiences, research and development outcomes and success stories through a collaborative process is essential, particularly when there is existential threat to our society and planet. A number of leading universities and institutes around the world have initiated net-zero hubs in their campuses but India is the first country to initiate a  collaborative national movement supported by government and industry.  

Integrating 23 IITs in this movement will be a groundbreaking concept that can elevate India as the world leader in clean technologies and of skilled human capital.

‘Learning by Doing’ is the maxim, ‘manage by measuring’ is the code and ‘accelerating by sharing’ is the motto of the proposed Alliance of IITs. Making Campuses of IITs as ‘living-labs’ will be the tenet of the proposal. Mainstreaming ‘Mission LiFE’ ( Life for Environment)  in the daily life of students in the campus including enhancing energy efficiency and renewable energy, green transportation, carbon-offsetting by tree plantation and other methods are some of the steps that students can perform and inspire other universities in India .

IIT alumni can play big role

IIT alumni in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area plagued by wildfires can play key roles by collaborating  with 23 IITs and igniting the ‘fire of innovations’ in digital technologies, IoT, blockchain and cloud networking  that are much needed for measuring and monitoring the progress towards net zero. 

The transition to net zero is not only a responsibility but imperative . It is also an opportunity for IITs to showcase their technology leadership and innovative prowess. They can  contribute significantly to India’s global climate action. An Alliance of IITs or the new AI  is the way forward. Late Ratan Tata said that if you want to go fast, walk alone. But we want to go far, walk together. To address the climate crisis we need to go fast and also far. Is this new AI going to show the way?

(The author, an IIT alumnus, is a noted environmentalist, former Director UNEP, and Founder Director, Green TERRE Foundation, Pune, India. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at shende.rajendra@gmail.com)