Greenko, an energy transition and industrial decarbonisation solutions company, has signed an agreement with IIT-Hyderabad to launch the country’s first dedicated school for sustainable science and technology.

The Greenko School of Sustainable Science and Technology (GSSST) will help plug the gaps in research, education and skills in the sustainable development space.

The school will promote studies in climate change mitigation; artificial intelligence and space technology; energy transition and industrial transformation; circular and regenerative economy; and industrial ecology and net zero clusters.

“The GSSST will open towards the end of this year and by June 2023, it will induct students for MTech and Ph.D. programmes in sustainable science and technology,” Anil Chalamalasetty, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Greenko Group, said.

The experience gained at GSSST will be replicated at other IITs, engineering colleges and later at polytechnics and schools, he said in a statement on Monday.

This joint initiative demonstrates the national educational establishment’s endorsement of Greenko’s pioneering initiative to accelerate R&D and contextualize education and skills for sustainable development, the statement added.

Greenko is working in consultation with the Ministry of Education, AICTE, NCERT, and NCVET to ensure GSSST both conforms to and advances learning in sustainable science and technology.

“India cannot just be a consuming nation. We have to innovate and establish our own models for achieving self-sufficiency as well as for furthering global welfare,” Union Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan said, commenting on the proposal to set up the niche school.

Greenko has an installed renewable energy capacity of about 7.5 GW across wind, solar and hydro capacities and over 10 GW of projects under development.

The company invested over $7.5 billion, including an equity of $2.5 billion. It raised global green bonds aggregating to $5 billion over the last 10 years.