Prof. T. G. Sitharam Joins Green TERRE Foundation as Mentor to Power India’s Net-Zero University Movement

Bengaluru, India | January 1, 2026

As India steps into 2026 with renewed resolve on climate action and youth-led transformation, Green TERRE Foundation (GTF) today announced that Prof. T. G. Sitharam, former Chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and one of India’s most respected academic leaders, has joined the Foundation as Mentorto its flagship initiative—the Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN).

Prof. Sitharam’s association marks a significant strengthening of GTF’s leadership ecosystem at a time when universities are being called upon to move decisively from climate commitments to climate implementation. As Mentor, he will provide strategic guidance to SCCN’s mission of transforming university campuses into Net-Zero Living Laboratories, where students and faculty learn by doing—measuring emissions, deploying digital tools, and delivering verifiable climate outcomes.

A long-standing champion of outcome-oriented education, hands-on learning, institutional reform, and national-scale skilling, Prof. Sitharam has played a pivotal role in aligning India’s technical education system with emerging technologies, societal needs, and sustainable development priorities. His leadership across premier institutions—including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)—has consistently advanced innovation with purpose, in the spirit of Viksit Bharat.

With Prof. Sitharam joining, GTF’s mentor group now brings together distinguished global and national leaders guiding SCCN—a fast-growing network of 500+ universities across 13 countries—that is localising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Net-Zero pathways on campuses worldwide.

Prof. Sitharam’s mentorship will be instrumental in accelerating the conversion of campuses into living laboratories for Net-Zero and circular economy practices as well as scaling the experiential and student-centric learning aligned with NEP 2020, strengthening the deployment of AI, IoT, cloud platforms and digital dashboards for real-time measurement and closer industry–academia convergence. 

Welcoming Prof. Sitharam, Dr. Rajendra Shende, Founder Director of Green TERRE Foundation and former Director at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said:

“Universities must evolve from knowledge repositories into engines for raising human capital for Net Zero. Prof. Sitharam brings unparalleled insight into student-centric governance, technology-enabled education, and systemic reform. His mentorship will help universities move beyond declarations—towards measurable, scalable and youth-driven climate action through measurable contributions by higher education institutions to India’s Mission LiFE and climate goals”

Expressing his enthusiasm on joining Green TERRE Foundation, Prof. T. G. Sitharam said:

“I am delighted to take on this role at a moment when artificial intelligence is emerging as a game-changer in addressing the climate crisis. Universities hold the key—not just in preparing youth for the future, but in empowering them to actively shape it. Today’s youth will not merely be torch-bearers of change; they will be the fire-engines of the 21st century.”

His association reinforces SCCN’s core philosophy: learning by doing, accelerating by sharing, and transforming campuses into real-world testbeds for sustainability solutions, with youth at the forefront of implementation. 

Note to Editors:

Green TERRE Foundation (GTF) is a not-for profit organisation in India. It is a global and local youth forum for sustainable solutions for our developmental imperatives. By nurturing the planet’s ecosystem GTF facilitates universities and higher to mainstream the future policy-makers and policy-implementers through experiential learnings. It encourages the deployment of digital technologies to speed and scale the sustainability.

Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN) (www.sccnhub.com) is a flagship project of Green TERRE Foundation. SCCN is a Global Network of 550+ Universities and Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) from 15 countries that localises Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Net Zero in their campuses. SCCN is mentored by Erik Solheim, (former Minister of Environment of Norway as well as former USG of United Nations), Ovais Sarmad former Dy Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, Prakash Javadekar (former Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change) and Dr Vijay Bhatkar former Chancellor of Nalanda University.

SCCN is mentored by Erik Solheim (former Minister of Environment, Norway and former UN Under-Secretary-General), Dr. Vijay Bhatkar (Padma Bhushan awardee and architect of India’s supercomputing mission), Prakash Javadekar (former Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India), and now Prof. T. G. Sitharam.

The initiative has received strong institutional support and collaboration from the Ministry of Education (AICTE), Ministry of Power (EESL), UNESCO, UGC, ASSOCHAM, and NITI Aayog, through formal partnerships and strategic engagement.

Media Contact

Durga Kamat , Project Leader, Green TERRE Foundation
📧 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.🌐 www.sccnhub.com

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