Comments
As the education system turns virtual to cope with the pandemic, an online climate school based out of India and the US is attracting much notice.
Terra.do Climate School was launched in April 2020. Its 12-week flagship course, ‘Climate Change: Learning for Action’, is “a bootcamp for transitioning from awareness to action,” says its founder, Anshuman Bapna.
A four-week course on ‘Hydrogen and The Energy Transition’ will start on May 21 and familiarise energy professionals with the “next big bet for clean energy transition”.
“Our courses include green buildings, venture capital green funds, climate smart-agriculture, climate justice, electric vehicles, sustainable fashion, and data science for climate change,” says Bapna, adding that the certificate courses — held in small, intimate batches — are curated by global experts.
Over the past year Terra.do has taught 500 students from 25 countries — “an eclectic mix of farmers, software professionals, oil and gas executives, investment bankers and climate activists”. One-third of the students were from India.
An IIT Bombay alumni, Bapna co-founded the school with Kamal Kapadia, who taught at Oxford University and holds a PhD in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley.
They roped in Ramon Magsaysay award winner and SELCO-India co-founder Harish Hande, known for taking solar energy to the rural poor, as a guest expert, and Dr Ian Bolliger, climate data scientist at the Rhodium Group, as a mentor.
The school’s angel investors include Zomato head Deepinder Goyal, MakeMyTrip CEO Deep Kalra, former Flipkart chief people officer Mekin Maheshwari, Yulu founder Amit Gupta, and Helion Venture Partners co-founder Ashish Gupta. Terra.do has raised $1.5 million in early-stage funding.
The organisation offers equity to employees and aid to students who cannot afford the courses. “Companies sponsor our fellows, who, in turn, work with them on climate programmes. That is why we call ourselves Terra.do and not Terra.learn,” says Bapna.
Preeti Mehra
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.