Sustainability for Indian Businesses – Cohort 3

Last Day for Registration : May 26, 2025

Start Date: June 6, 2025

Course fee:

Rs 29,500/- (Rs 25,000+18%GST)

SKU: IIT Madras | Start Date: June 6, 2025 Categories: ,

Course Description

Course – Teaser Video

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About The Course:

With climate-related risks and associated multi-level resource pressures posing a real threat to industry worldwide, bringing sustainability into planning and execution is an opportunity of growth for industries. Be it value-driven, compliance-driven or mandate-driven, there is a growing realization within the industrial sector in India that value can be created in facilitating sustainable pathways and reinvested towards the growth of companies and industry at large. The trade-off between sustainability and profitability, however, continues to be a hurdle and both “top-down” and “bottom-up” reforms are warranted in all the four pillars of sustainability – Mitigation, Adaptation, Recovery, and Innovation – and their effectual and just implementation to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Why this Course?

The goal of the program is to familiarize learners with the multi-dimensional nature of sustainability in connection with its real-world implications. Through communicating the existing (and upcoming) toolkit for imagining sustainable Industry Landscape in India at the backdrop of India’s changing policy frameworks, the course inculcates a systemic view into sustainability in tandem with equipping learners to ideate practical sustainable scenarios for their respective businesses.

Mode: This course comprises of 25 hours of recorded videos and 12 hours of ONLINE interactive sessions with the faculty 

The course is structured in the following manner:

  1. Participants need to watch around 5-6 hours of video content 
  2. A live interaction session would be scheduled every Saturday with the corresponding faculty to discuss the module content and clarify queries. The duration of this session would be 1 – 1.5 hours.

Modules Covered:

MODULE-1: Essentials of Sustainability

MODULE-2: Sustainability in the Corporate Ecosystem

MODULE-3: Measuring, Reporting and Re-assessing Sustainability

MODULE-4: Sustainability Toolkit

MODULE-5: Sustainability Worldwide

MODULE-6: Actioning Sustainability

 

Course Start date: June 6, 2025

Course End Date : July 18, 2025

Duration : 6 Weeks

Time: Pre- recorded lectures will be released on Fridays and Online Live sessions on Saturdays (IST)

Last date of Registration: May 26, 2025

Name of the Instructors

Prof. Satyanarayanan Seshadri, Dept. of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras

Dr Charuta Kulkarni, Principal Scientist, School of Sustainability, IIT Madras

Prof. Venkatraman Srinivasan, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras

Prof. Indumathi Nambi, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras

Dr Kaushal Kumar Jha, Adjunct Faculty, Dept. of Engineering Design,  CEO, Center for Excellence in Energy and Telecommunications (CEET), IIT Madras

Dr Rahul Muralidharan, R & D Specialist, The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras

Dr Christoph Woiwode, Visiting Professor, Indo-German Centre For Sustainability, IIT Madras

Mr Madhavan Nampoothiri, Dept. of Management Studies, IIT Madras & Co-Founder, NordESG, Germany.

Dr Parama Roy, Adjunct Faculty, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras. Executive Director, Okapi Research and Advisory Pvt Ltd

Prof. Vinu R, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras

Prof. Sivakumar Palaniappan, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras.

Prof. Ravindra Gettu, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras

Mr E. Nandakumar, CEO, International Centre for Clean Water, IIT Madras

Prof. Santosh Kumar Sahu, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras

Prof. Rajnish Kumar, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras

Mr Raghuttama Rao, CEO, Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, IIT Madras

Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras

 

Module Description

MODULE – 1 : Essentials of Sustainability

Faculty Incharge:

Prof. Sathyanarayanan Seshadri, Dept. of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras

Dr Charuta Kulkarni, Principal Scientist, School of Sustainability, IIT Madras

Prof. Venkatraman Srinivasan, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras

Prof. Indumathi Nambi, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras

Dr Kaushal Kumar Jha, Adjunct Faculty, Dept. of Engineering Design, CEO, Center for Excellence in Energy and Telecommunications (CEET), IIT Madras

Dr Rahul Muralidharan, R & D Specialist, The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras

Dr Christoph Woiwode, Visiting Professor, Indo-German Centre For Sustainability, IIT Madras

About the Module:

This introductory module speaks about the nuts and bolts of Sustainability and dives into the concept of circularity in the context of today’s world. It scaffolds into brainstorming why sustainability makes sense for the businesses, helping shape the mindset essential for ideating real-world sustainable business strategies.

Concepts Covered :

– What is sustainability and what is not sustainability?
– Climate Change, Risks, Adaptation
– Water Resources and Management
– Waste Management and Circular Economy
– Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
– Natural Resource Management
– Socio-cultural Dimensions and Resources for Sustainable Transformations

Learning Outcomes:

– Introduction to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and role of corporates in achieving SDGs
– Systemic view into sustainability
– Right mindset for all-round sustainable business strategy

 

MODULE – 2 : Sustainability in the Corporate Ecosystem

Faculty Incharge:

Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras
Mr Madhavan Nampoothiri, Dept. of Management Studies, IIT Madras & Co-Founder, NordESG, Germany.
Dr Parama Roy, Adjunct Faculty, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras
Executive Director, Okapi Research and Advisory Pvt Ltd
Dr Rahul Muralidharan, R & D Specialist, The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras

About the Module:

Starting with making sustainability as business case, the module provides a critical review of the existing sustainability frameworks (e.g. ESG). The module unfolds the Corporate Scenario Analysis toward climate-related risks and opportunities as an intrinsic mechanism, thereby making a way for weaving external mechanisms in implementing sustainability.

Concepts Covered:

– Business Case for Sustainability
– ESG Assessment
– Corporate Scenario Analysis
– Extrinsic Sustainability Scenarios including Public Private People Partnerships; Small-Medium Enterprises and Grassroot-level Innovations

Learning Outcomes:

– Sustainability-profitability trade-offs and synergies
– How can we measure sustainability better using existing frameworks, both quantitatively and qualitatively?
– How fine-tuning intra-organizational policies can make a way for implementing external and socially-just means of implementing sustainability?

MODULE 3 : Measuring, Reporting and Re-assessing Sustainability

Faculty Incharges:

Mr Raghuttama Rao, CEO, Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, IIT Madras
Prof. Santosh Kumar Sahu, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras
Prof. Rajnish Kumar, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras
Mr E. Nandakumar, CEO, International Centre for Clean Water, IIT Madras

About the Module:

This module’s delivery is rooted in the geopolitical context of India and its shifting Policy Landscape that, in turn, has implications for industries. The discussion goes on introducing upcoming toolkits toward environmental measurement frameworks and gets into the mechanics of environmental economics, thinking aloud its limitations and ways forward

Concepts Covered:

– State and Fate of Reporting Frameworks – Why is it essential to go beyond the existing ESG reporting frameworks?

– Where is India in terms of defining climatic and environmental goals and what are its business implications?

– Environmental Policies and Practices

– Carbon and Water Footprint Measurement Frameworks

Learning Outcomes:

– Existing and upcoming frameworks for measuring and reporting sustainability
– India’s Policy Landscape
– Environmental assessments
– Elements of environmental economics

MODULE 4 : Sustainability Toolkit

Faculty Incharges:

Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras
Prof. Vinu R, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras
Prof. Sivakumar Palaniappan, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras.
Prof. Ravindra Gettu, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras
Prof. Sathyanarayanan Seshadri, Dept. of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras

About the Module:

As the name suggests, the module offers the toolkit for ideating Sustainability pathways from cradle-to-grave. It deep dives into Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using real-world examples from multiple sectors.

Concepts Covered:

– Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Significance, Stages, Tools, Challenges
– Examples from industries including biofuels, buildings, materials, energy technologies

Learning Outcomes:

– What is LCA?
– How is LCA done?
– What are the different LCA tools and approaches that can be used to assess sustainability?
– Peer-learning through industry-specific case studies

MODULE 5 : Sustainability Worldview

Faculty Incharges:

Prof. Sathyanarayanan Seshadri, Dept. of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras

Prof. Rajnish Kumar, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras

About the Module:

The modules 5 and 6 are embedded with hands-on strategies on actioning Sustainability in the respective business settings. It will help put Sustainability in context of Indian and global scenarios to the extent that can positively influence the process of ideating, planning, implementation, and troubleshooting. The module also consolidates an update of reporting frameworks and discusses Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) as part of India’s fight against climate change

Concepts Covered:

– Case Studies from the Developed and Developing Worlds

Learning Outcomes:

International and national view into sustainable management

MODULE 6 : Actioning Sustainability

Faculty Incharges:

Mr Raghuttama Rao, CEO, Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, IIT Madras

Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras

About the Module:

The modules 5 and 6 are embedded with hands-on strategies on actioning Sustainability in the respective business settings. It will help put Sustainability in context of Indian and global scenarios to the extent that can positively influence the process of ideating, planning, implementation, and troubleshooting. The module also consolidates an update of reporting frameworks and discusses Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) as part of India’s fight against climate change

Concepts Covered:

– Crafting a Sustainable strategy for your business: selecting relevant framework(s); delineating Key Result Areas/Key Responsibility Areas; identifying periodic review and troubleshooting mechanisms
– Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR)
– Carbon markets
– India’s performance in climate in fighting climate change
– Review of Best Sustainability Practices

Learning Outcomes:

– Peer-learning through industry-specific case studies
– Development of action items for effectively implementing sustainable pathways in the view of upcoming Sustainability frameworks for India

Eligibility & Fees

Eligibility :

There are no prerequisites to the program, however, the criterion for the intended audience may automatically assume a technical or managerial background essential for the respective industry.

Intended audience :

This “refresher” certificate program is open to any ‘mid career’ industry professional in India.

Course fee:

Rs 29,500/- (Rs 25,000+18%GST)

For Bulk Company Nominations under single billing:

  • Rs 23000+GST/- per learner/participant if the number of enrolments is 11 or more.
  • Rs 20000+GST/- per learner/participant if the number of enrolments is more than 25

Fees paid are non-refundable and non-transferable.

Certification

Certification of completion would be awarded to the participants on fulfilling the following criteria

1. Attending and active participation during all the Live Online Interactive sessions.

2. Submission of Weekly assignments and Module Assessment for all modules.

3. Submit feedback forms for all Modules.

Certificate criteria for this course would be as follows:

Total % will be calculated from all 3 categories    ( Assignments, Quizzes and Attendance of Live sessions)

Type of certificate that will be issued

75% -100% Successfully completed
50% -74% Completed
25% – 49% Participated
<25% No Certificate

Course Certificate Template

Testimonials from Previous Cohort

This course was an eye opener as it carefully distilled the concepts which could be applied in various sectors.

  –Sakshi Baluni
Student, Banaras Hindu University

I would say that this course has given great insights in daily practices as well as in the business perspective.  

-Sreekumar Sivadas
Director – Energy Retrofits & Sustainability, Johnson Controls

Being an IIT Alumnus has given me access to this course. I found it to be a capsule with a lot of information compressed into a nice program. It’s an essential course that has to be spread across the middle management as they are the link between the top and the actual grassroot employees.  

-Ramachandra Narayanan
Head of Program Management, Natesan Synchrocones
Companies need to start with implementation first and then target reporting. The IITM CODE and NPTEL team has been a crucial part of driving sustainability, and it needs to be done on a massive scale.
-Swasthi Krithivasan
ESG Lead, Conserve Consultants Ltd.

The best part about the course is that it was simplified and I was able to correlate with my work. The concepts I have learned from the course, I am able to effectively explain to my colleagues. 

-Vijay Rammohan
Manager, L&T

Having done this course, we can speak the language of sustainability in the market. We will be ensuring that what we learnt, when we deal with our customers to earn their business in sustainability, the subject matter expertise we gained from the faculty, we can redeploy that. 

-Shankar Iyer
Director VBU, Johnson Controls

This course was helpful in getting the foundational basic right. At, we do a lot of projects that promote sustainable agricultural practices, and a lot of those practices require a deep fundamental understanding of practices.

Poorna Pushkala
   Group Head, Samunnati

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