Tata Steel Foundation and TERI initiate Phase IV of the Green School project

~ The fourth phase of the Green School project will be extended to Sukinda ~

 ~ A new Green School Buddy Programme designed to encourage teachers to become peer planners for project ~

Tata Steel Foundation and TERI launched Phase IV of the Green School project today at a virtual event that saw the participation of all stakeholders including students, teachers and schools involved in the project. Beginning its fourth phase, the project will be extended further to include Sukinda, a town in Odisha and a part of Tata Steel’s operational area, to further its efforts around creating awareness among students on climate change, sustainability, and environmental stewardship.

The new phase of the project was initiated in the presence of R R Satpathy, General Manager, Corporate Services, Tata Steel Kalinganagar, Anna Kujur, Eco-Revolutionist, Athkosia Adivasi Sangathan and Suruchi Bhadwal, Senior fellow, Earth Sciences and Climate Change, TERI.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project will go completely virtual this year with a greater emphasis on generating awareness amongst students around climate action, particularly on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The new phase of the project aims to encourage teachers of partner schools to become peer planners and develop yearly plan of activities for their schools under the themes of climate action and SDGs.

Additionally, the project is introducing a new programme called the ‘Green School Buddy Programme’ to help students become future change makers. The programme will see students associated with the project since its inception and who have developed their capacities on various aspects of sustainability, conduct and lead school activities. Students from at least one of the best performing schools under the Green School project will be selected as Green School Buddies. These students will be motivated to plan and execute informal sessions to generate awareness on environmental issues for new students and those in the primary section. Tata Steel Foundation and TERI will work on guiding these Green School Buddies in the planning the sessions.

Speaking on the occasion, R R Satpathy said: "Restoration of the ecosystems is our key focus in Phase IV of the Green School Project. While our generation can help initiate this process of restoration, it is the students who have to work on imbibing these qualities in them and become change makers of tomorrow. We need to start from the basics and help them understand the value of resources and generate awareness around environmental degradation.”

“Your generation needs to innovate and develop technologies to protect and restore the planet for a better future. The Green School Project has been performing well and with restoration being the new area of focus the scope of this initiative has grown exponentially,” R R Satpathy added.

Speaking on co-existence and bringing harmony between humans and nature, Anna Kujur, Eco-Revolutionist, Athkosia Adivasi Sangathan, said: “We need to learn to love our environment and nature. With land degradation and deforestation, the adverse effects of local climatic changes can be clearly observed. Thus, planting trees and addressing deforestation will greatly help in working towards a healthy environment and consequently a healthy body.”

“Reducing the use of fossil fuels & our interference with the environment while increasing the application of cleaner energies will help us mitigate the impacts of climate change. Sustainable development and the 17 SDGs thus hope to steer the global economies on a climate friendly pathway,” Suruchi Baldwal, Senior Fellow, Earth Sciences & Climate Change, TERI said in her session on ‘Climate Change and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ at the launch event.

 The Green School project was formally launched in April 2017 to help the students across Tata Steel's operational areas in Jharkhand and Odisha improve their critical, interdisciplinary and holistic thinking. The focus of the project is to create awareness and enable the student and teacher fraternity to better understand their relationship with nature and make concerted efforts to conserve it through resource management initiatives at local levels.

About Tata Steel Foundation

Tata Steel Foundation (TSF) was incorporated on August 16, 2016 under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel Limited and is committed towards playing a larger role in India’s sustainable development by embedding wider economic, social and environmental objectives through its programmes. The Foundation has therefore broad-based its community engagement to effect societal changes through its Proximate Community Development (PCD) programmes that include creating a systemic education process for children and adolescents, eradicating worst forms of child labour, doubling income generation of its marginalized households and addressing water and sanitation issues of its communities. Complementing its PCDs are a set of change models, called Signature Programmes, which engage in research-based development models which are replicable at scale across a wide region. The Signature Programmes, which can consolidate diverse resource pools and multiply the impact potential on citizen’s lives, enable the Foundation to advocate a structure to government and other organisations working for positive change. Some aspects of such programmes are evident in programmes like MANSI (Maternal and Newborn Survival Initiative), RISHTA (An Adolescent Health Education Project), Thousand Schools Programme and Samvaad.

 About Tata Steel

Tata Steel group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 34 million tonnes per annum. It is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world. The group (excluding SEA operations) recorded a consolidated turnover of US $21.1 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2021.

A Great Place to Work-Certified organisation, Tata Steel Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000.

Tata Steel has been a part of the DJSI Emerging Markets Index since 2012 and has been consistently ranked amongst top 5 steel companies in the DJSI Corporate Sustainability Assessment since 2016. Besides being a member of ResponsibleSteelTM and worldsteel’s Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel has won several awards and recognitions including the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse recognition for its Kalinganagar Plant - a first in India, and Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17. The Company, ranked as India’s most valuable Metals & Mining brand by Brand Finance, received the ‘Honourable Mention’ at the National CSR Awards 2019, Steel Sustainability Champion 2019 by worldsteel, CII Greenco Star Performer Award 2019, ‘Most Ethical Company’ award 2020 from Ethisphere Institute, Best Risk Management Framework & Systems Award (2020) by CNBC TV-18, and Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting FY20 by ICAI, among several others.

To know more, visit www.tatasteel.com and WeAlsoMakeTomorrow

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Sarvesh Kumar

E-mail: sarvesh.kumar@tatasteel.com