Taking forward its baton of environmental initiative, Tata Steel showcased its Green School projects from Jharkhand and Odisha during the inaugural session of the World Sustainability Day Summit 2019 being held at New Delhi. Mr M Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Vice President of India graced the occasion as Chief Guest. The theme for this year’s seminar is ‘Attaining the 2030 Agenda: Delivering on Our Promise’.

The summit is being attended by representatives from several international organisations like UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), the World Bank Group, WRI (World Resources Institute), IEA (International Energy Agency), International Solar Alliance and Shell International. Several ministries under government of India like Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ministry of Earth Sciences, as well as private institutions are part of this event.

On day one, under the Act4Earth thematic category, the session on ‘Making Change Happen’ was held where school teachers along field experts shared their experiences from the Green School Project. They spoke about Community Impact projects being undertaken in Phase II of Green School wherein students are encouraged to make a direct impact in their immediate neighbourhood and community by taking up projects like river cleaning, awareness rallies, restoration of natural springs, installing energy efficiency lighting appliances, etc. Numerous projects taken up by schools at several Tata Steel operational locations across Jharkhand and Odisha were showcased. The Green School project focusses on empowering the next generation through distinct pedagogy, green curricula and project-based learning in mining locations.

In his Special Address, Mr Pankaj Satija, Chief, Regulatory Affairs, Tata Steel said: “Our Green School projects in our operational areas are making change happen. We want enrich the curriculum with projects, assignments, study material and spread the message of sustainability to all the young minds for a better tomorrow.”

The Green School project is a collaborative effort of Tata Steel and TERI as its knowledge partner to develop environmental consciousness among students of Class Vi to VIII. The ‘educators’ ie teachers from the all the Green School locations participated in the event. The teachers will also be undergoing a ‘Gamification Workshop’ where they will be taught methods to impart knowledge in a more engaged and fun way so that the students have a more practical understanding of their subjects. This seminar was mainly focused on ‘Rethinking education for a transformative change’ and will also be reaching out to other educators from remote locations of Jharkhand and Odisha.

About TERI and Tata Steel
In collaboration with The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), Tata Steel over the years has been focusing on the Green School projects to create awareness and enable the school fraternity to comprehend their relationship with nature and make concerted efforts to conserve it for a ‘quality’ environment with improved standards of living. The project activities engage students, teachers, community members and Tata Steel employees in promoting environmental sustainability.

The Green School project has already made its presence felt at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Poland. A case study on ‘The Green School’ project was presented at the India Pavilion in Katowice, Poland on December 13, 2018 during a session on ‘Capacity Building for Climate Change’.

About Tata Steel
Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2017. It is the world's second-most geographically-diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Group recorded a consolidated turnover of US $18.12 billion (INR 117,420 crore) in FY17. Tata Steel Group is spread across five continents with an employee base of nearly 74,000. Having bagged the Deming Application Prize and Deming Grand Prize for continuous improvement in 2008 and 2012 respectively, Tata Steel has now been recognised as the global ‘Industry Leader’ in ‘Steel category’ by Dow Jones Sustainability Index (2015). Besides being a member of the World Steel Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel has also been felicitated with several awards including the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2013-14 (received in 2017), Best Risk Management by CNBC TV18 (2016), ‘Best-in-class Manufacturing’ award from TIME India (2016) and the ‘Most Ethical Company’ award from the Ethisphere Institute (2016), IIM Sustainability Award (2015), among several others.

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