DSPI MSc student Rai Sengupta at COP26

Rai Sengupta, an MSc student at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, attended the recently concluded COP26 where she represented the Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust (WHT) in promoting youth-led climate action.

Asked about her experience of being at COP26 Rai said:

Attending COP 26 opened my mind to the multi-disciplinary, multi-region efforts being pursued to address climate change. Further, it made me realize more acutely how important it is to galvanize young people to lend their voices and efforts to this cause. While leading a COP26 event on Indian youth action fuelling climate action, I was proud to bring my country’s student-led sustainable solutions to this global platform, and to initiate dialogue on youth-driven environmental change.

Rai moderated a panel discussion The Rising Opportunity for Green Careers in India. The discussion was between environmental activists and sustainability consultants from India, on the prospects of green jobs in the economy, and the skills needed by Indian youth to leverage such opportunities in future. The event was conducted in partnership with two India based NGOs: MASH Project Foundation and Eco-Chirp Foundation.

For more information about this event please visit the Climate Fringe site.

She also spoke at the event Global Problems, Local Solutions, where she represented Enactus SRCC, the international non-profit she volunteered with for three years to develop sustainable social enterprises in India.

The event focused on a broad overview of the hazards of climate change in India and the potential of youth action to help combat it. During the event, Rai and student members of the organization spoke of their projects: Project Leher, an endeavour to save the world’s oceans by up-cycling toxic cigarette butts into utility products; Project Amal, an initiative to prevent stubble burning by turning stubble waste into smokeless biochar briquettes; Project Asbah, an endeavor to provide clean drinking water to urban slums and rural households; and Project Virasat, an initiative to sustainably revive India’s dying craft forms. 

More information about this event can also be found at the Climate Fringe site.