NEW DELHI, September 2, 2026: The 8th International Conference on Sustainability Education (ICSE) 2026 opened today at the India Habitat Centre, bringing together policymakers, educators, scientists, industry leaders and young people under the theme “Sustainability Education for Transformative Action.” The inaugural session was convened by the Mobius Foundation and came against the backdrop of the flash flood on the Nepal Tibet border, a tragedy several speakers returned to through the morning as evidence that the climate crisis is no longer a distant risk.

Delivering the chairman’s address, Mr. Pradeep Burman, Chairman, Mobius Foundation, said the gap between climate commitments and implementation remains too wide even as India posts real gains. “In 2025, India achieved 50 percent of its installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources, five years ahead of the 2030 target. Our renewable energy capacity has now crossed 290 gigawatts. This is significant progress, but the journey is far from over,” he said, adding that ICSE has grown since its launch in 2019 from a youth engagement platform into a driver of climate literacy and green jobs through initiatives such as the Pani Pahar curriculum and the Mobius Young Climate Leaders Program across India’s northeast. “We want ideas that become partnerships, partnerships that become commitments and commitments that become action,” he said.

Ms. Priyanka Sharma, President and CEO, Mobius Foundation, who anchored the session, said sustainability has outgrown its old framing as a purely environmental subject. “Sustainability is no longer simply an environmental conversation. It is a conversation about how we live, how we learn, how we work, how we create prosperity and ultimately how we create well being and wellness for people and the planet,” she said, noting that this year’s agenda moves from classroom education into the green economy, covering critical minerals, e-waste and battery recycling, sustainable agriculture and green jobs.

Ms. Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Padma Shri Awardee, delivered one of the morning’s sharpest interventions, linking the Nepal disaster directly to decades of what she called an engineering mindset that assumed rivers and mountains could be re engineered at will. She cited data from her own organisation’s analysis of India Meteorological Department records showing an extreme weather event occurring in India roughly once a day, and said the Yamuna’s dissolved oxygen level falls from six near Delhi’s entry point to zero by the time it reaches ISBT, a reading she called scientific proof, not sentiment, that the river is dead. “The one thing that we do not need more of is more reports and more incremental steps to fix what is today an existential crisis,” she said, arguing that Delhi’s air will not be fixed by adding electric vehicles but by rebuilding public transport so people do not need to drive at all.

Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai, Founder Director, Center for Environment Education (CEE) and Padma Shri Awardee, placed the conference in a longer arc, noting it falls close to the 50th anniversary of the 1977 Tbilisi conference that first defined environmental education. He recalled that India pushed to link poverty and environment at Stockholm in 1972 and introduced the word “lifestyle” into the 2015 Paris Agreement after the United States had resisted the term at Rio in 1992. He pointed to eco clubs being rolled out under Mission LiFE, a target for every Indian school to have one by 2030, and a new NCF 2023 textbook making environmental education compulsory at the 10th standard for the first time. He also proposed that every school and institution adopt one square kilometre of land to implement roughly 30 of the SDGs directly, while noting that India’s entire environmental education spend still trails the advertising budget of a single soap brand.

Dr. Vibha Dhawan, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), spoke directly to the students in the room, asking forgiveness on behalf of her generation for decades of resource use whose costs are now landing on the young. She traced how ordinary habits have shifted, from refilling a surahi with tap water on train journeys to reflexively buying bottled water today, and said Delhi doctors no longer see “pink lungs” in residents, comparing daily exposure to smoking 30 cigarettes. She pointed to school transport as a concrete policy gap, saying steep school bus fees push families toward sending children by private car, adding to the very traffic and emissions the buses are meant to reduce.

Prof. Bhaskar Vira, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Environmental Sustainability and Professor of Political Economy, University of Cambridge, spoke about Embers of Hope, a 10 part documentary series on India’s environmental future that he worked on with the Mobius Foundation, filmmaker Robin Roy and narrator Zeenat Aman, broadcast through the Warner Bros Discovery Network. He said the most powerful educational moments in the project came not from explaining science but from turning it into human stories, a retreating glacier becoming a story about people who depend on its water, air pollution becoming a story about children struggling to breathe. Citing a recent paper in the journal Environmental Politics, he warned against “false hope” built on the assumption that technology alone will fix the crisis, while cautioning equally against despair. “Sustainability education should therefore equip learners not only with environmental knowledge, but also with the capacity to engage as citizens in shaping those transformations,” he said.

Mr. Bo Beiskjaer, Chief of Resource Mobilization and Partnerships, UNICEF, framed his remarks around what he called the climate changed child. He said India is home to more than 470 million children, the largest child population of any country, and that UNICEF estimates 55 percent of them face multiple overlapping climate risks including heat waves, water scarcity and floods. Using the example of a hypothetical girl named Preeti born this year, he traced how climate stress could shape her schooling by 2030 and her adulthood by 2047, when India marks a hundred years of independence, and called for investment in climate resilient water systems, noting 60 million Indian households still lack regular access to safe drinking water.

Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO, World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF India), traced WWF India’s environmental education work back to 1970, when it began with Delhi’s municipal schools before expanding into Maharashtra, Gujarat and the southern and northeastern states. He said he regularly meets alumni of those early programmes now working in government, corporate leadership and enforcement agencies, and that sustainability has since moved from the margins into the core strategy of industry bodies such as CII. “The conversation has changed in the last 15 years, it has changed in the last 10 years and then again it has changed in the last five years,” he said.

The conference continues over two days with sessions spanning climate action, green skills, technology and innovation, biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods, alongside dedicated youth programming that brings students and young climate leaders from across the country into the conversation.

A key highlight of the event was the mutual recognition of the importance of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023 in advancing sustainable education. This year’s discussions emphasized ‘green education’ and ‘green jobs,’ marking them as pivotal to the future of sustainability efforts in India and across the globe.

Since its inception in 2019, ICSE has established itself as a global platform for addressing sustainability challenges through education. The 2024 conference furthered this legacy, continuing to foster meaningful dialogues and collaborative actions aimed at driving innovation and solutions for pressing environmental issues.

The event featured a distinguished lineup of speakers, including Dr. Pradip Burman, Chairman of Mobius Foundation; Dr. Ram Boojh, Advisor at Mobius Foundation; Dr. Tim Curtis, UNESCO Director; Dr. Rajendra Singh, Waterman of India; environmentalist Jadav Payeng, and Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai, Founder Director, CEE. Among other dignitaries were Dr. T Ramasami, Former Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India; Dr. Kiran Karnik, Former President, NASSCOM, New Delhi; Dr. Harsh Gupta, Former Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, GOI, and Mr. Hem Pandey, IAS (Retd.), Former Secretary, GOI. These thought leaders delivered powerful keynote speeches, roundtable discussions, and interactive sessions that addressed sustainability from various angles.

In his opening address, Dr. Pradip Burman emphasized the importance of education in driving sustainability. “Over the past six years, we have made consistent progress toward our larger sustainability goals, including initiatives like Gyan Kanya Shakti, which empowers girls, particularly in rural areas. However, population growth remains a critical challenge, contributing to resource depletion and hindering sustainable development efforts.”

The conference kicked off with a session on “Greening Education for a Sustainable Future,” featuring a Vice Chancellors’ and Educators’ Roundtable. Participants discussed the lack of environmental education at higher levels and stressed the need to instill an ‘environmental temper’ akin to a scientific one. Community partnerships and traditional knowledge were highlighted as key enablers for a more holistic approach to sustainability education.

The afternoon sessions focused on practical solutions, including “Mobilizing Green Chemistry to Beat Plastic Pollution” and “Advancing Circular Economy Education for a Resource-Efficient Future,” chaired by Dr. Benno Boer of UNESCO and Mr. Rajan Mehta, Fellow, Harvard University and Author of ‘Backstage Climate’, respectively. Experts discussed the role of circular economy practices in extending the lifecycle of products and minimizing environmental waste.

In a thought-provoking session, Mr. Ashok Lavasa (IAS Retd.) urged the audience to shift from “climate change” to “climate action,” stressing the need for expertise and integration of sustainability into all subjects. Meanwhile, Dr. Sonal Mansingh, a celebrated Indian classical dancer, linked sustainability with India’s rich cultural heritage through storytelling and dance, highlighting the timeless values of environmental stewardship.

Day 2 began with a special plenary featuring Prof. Mirian Vilela, Executive Director of Earth Charter, Costa Rica, followed by the Youth for Earth Award Ceremony. The event showcased winning projects by junior and senior youth teams, recognizing their contributions to sustainability efforts. Among the highlights was a session ‘Educating for informed family planning choices for a sustainable population and planet’ that saw a panel discussion and ground stories narrated by health officials.

Keynote speaker Ms. Tanya Singhal from Minzo Carbon highlighted the urgency of climate action. “We are emitting more greenhouse gases than ever, pushing the Earth’s temperature beyond its ‘Goldilocks’ balance. We need to act now—through awareness, innovation, and by using our voices to influence change. By 2047, India could see 35 million green jobs across industries, not just in nonprofits.”

The event concluded with a series of panel discussions on topics such as “Greening Education: Challenges and Opportunities,” focusing on youth engagement in climate action. The final address by Dr. Rajendra Singh, a Magsaysay Awardee and environmental advocate, underscored the need for community-driven efforts to tackle water and climate issues.

The ICSE 2024 was closely aligned with Mission LiFE, an initiative introduced by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at COP26, which emphasizes adopting climate-friendly practices in daily life. The conference aimed to further embed these principles into sustainability education, fostering a global culture of environmental responsibility. By integrating these ideas into education and policy, ICSE 2024 reinforced its commitment to driving the world toward a more sustainable and eco-conscious future.

A key highlight of the event was the mutual recognition of the importance of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023 in advancing sustainable education. This year’s discussions emphasized ‘green education’ and ‘green jobs,’ marking them as pivotal to the future of sustainability efforts in India and across the globe.

Since its inception in 2019, ICSE has established itself as a global platform for addressing sustainability challenges through education. The 2024 conference furthered this legacy, continuing to foster meaningful dialogues and collaborative actions aimed at driving innovation and solutions for pressing environmental issues.

The event featured a distinguished lineup of speakers, including Mr Pradip Burman, Chairman of Mobius Foundation; Dr. Ram Boojh, Advisor at Mobius Foundation; Dr. Tim Curtis, UNESCO Director; Dr. Rajendra Singh, Waterman of India; environmentalist Jadav Payeng, and Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai, Founder Director, CEE. Among other dignitaries were Dr. T Ramasami, Former Secretary, the Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India; Dr. Kiran Karnik, Former President, NASSCOM, New Delhi; Dr. Harsh Gupta, Former Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, GOI, and Mr. Hem Pandey, IAS (Retd.), Former Secretary, GOI. These thought leaders delivered powerful keynote speeches, roundtable discussions, and interactive sessions that addressed sustainability from various angles.

In his opening address, Mr. Pradip Burman emphasized the importance of education in driving sustainability. “Over the past six years, we have made consistent progress toward our larger sustainability goals, including initiatives like Gyan Kanya Shakti, which empowers girls, particularly in rural areas. However, population growth remains a critical challenge, contributing to resource depletion and hindering sustainable development efforts.”

The conference kicked off with a session on “Greening Education for a Sustainable Future,” featuring a Vice Chancellors’ and Educators’ Roundtable. Participants discussed the lack of environmental education at higher levels and stressed the need to instil an ‘environmental temper’ akin to a scientific one. Community partnerships and traditional knowledge were highlighted as key enablers for a more holistic approach to sustainability education.

The afternoon sessions focused on practical solutions, including “Mobilizing Green Chemistry to Beat Plastic Pollution” and “Advancing Circular Economy Education for a Resource-Efficient Future,” chaired by Dr. Benno Boer of UNESCO and Mr. Rajan Mehta, Fellow, Harvard University and Author of ‘Backstage Climate’, respectively. Experts discussed the role of circular economy practices in extending the lifecycle of products and minimizing environmental waste.

In a thought-provoking session, Mr. Ashok Lavasa (IAS Retd.) urged the audience to shift from “climate change” to “climate action,” stressing the need for expertise and integration of sustainability into all subjects. Meanwhile, Dr. Sonal Mansingh, a celebrated Indian classical dancer, linked sustainability with India’s rich cultural heritage through storytelling and dance, highlighting the timeless values of environmental stewardship.

Day 2 began with a special plenary featuring Prof. Mirian Vilela, Executive Director of Earth Charter, Costa Rica, followed by the Youth for Earth Award Ceremony. The event showcased winning projects by junior and senior youth teams, recognizing their contributions to sustainability efforts. Among the highlights was a session ‘Educating for informed family planning choices for a sustainable population and planet’ that saw a panel discussion and ground stories narrated by health officials.

Keynote speaker Ms. Tanya Singhal from Minzo Carbon highlighted the urgency of climate action. “We are emitting more greenhouse gases than ever, pushing the Earth’s temperature beyond its ‘Goldilocks’ balance. We need to act now—through awareness, innovation, and by using our voices to influence change. By 2047, India could see 35 million green jobs across industries, not just in nonprofits.”

The event concluded with a series of panel discussions on topics such as “Greening Education: Challenges and Opportunities,” focusing on youth engagement in climate action. The final address by Dr. Rajendra Singh, a Magsaysay Awardee and environmental advocate, underscored the need for community-driven efforts to tackle water and climate issues.

The ICSE 2024 was closely aligned with Mission LiFE, an initiative introduced by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at COP26, which emphasizes adopting climate-friendly practices in daily life. The conference aimed to further embed these principles into sustainability education, fostering a global culture of environmental responsibility. By integrating these ideas into education and policy, ICSE 2024 reinforced its commitment to driving the world toward a more sustainable and eco-conscious future.

To bring concerns pertaining to wetlands conservation to the attention of the world community, World Wetlands Day is associated with a particular subject every year. The subject for 2024 is “Wetlands and Human Wellbeing,” which emphasizes the important relationship between wetlands and various aspects of human prosperity, including as environmental, mental, and physical welfare.

The Mobius Foundation held a panel discussion on February 23rd, Friday, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Travancore House, 10A, KG Marg, New Delhi to commemorate World Water Day and raise awareness of the various benefits of wetlands and their significance for human welfare. The event was attended by many dignitaries from central government agencies, international organizations, academia, civil society, media and experts.

Mr. Pradip Burman, Chairman of the Mobius Foundation, delivered the introductory remarks to the distinguished guests and said “The value of wetlands lies not just in their beauty but in their ability to sustain life and promote well-being and the beauty of nature is a gift that should never be taken for granted. Let’s cherish it and ensure its survival”

The World Wetlands Day 2024 theme was introduced by Dr. Suneesh Buxy IFS, Member Secretary, Wetland Authority of Delhi. He discussed the conservation of water and wetlands, the relationship between wetlands and communities, and urban wetlands. He also shed light on wetlands by portraying them as our kidneys, forests as our lungs, and rivers as our blood. He also emphasised that we are not doing justice to our kidneys, lungs, and blood. He also discussed that our small water bodies are still more significant while we have completed 80 sites under the Ramsar Convention. As the Delhi Wetland Authority, they have designated 1045 water bodies and are actively working to protect these sites.

Mr. Ramveer Tanwar one of the most well-known of the numerous people fighting for water conservation; in fact, he is frequently referred to as “India’s Pond Man” commenced his keynote address by emphasising the wetlands’ immense ecological significance. He has been trying to revitalize and restore these key water reservoirs around the nation for the past few years. He emphasised on his organization’s contribution to energizing wetlands conservation through the promotion of a society-wide strategy. He said “The rate at which water bodies across India are depleting is alarming, as several forms of life depend on lakes and wetlands. The water bodies help recharge the water table, support livelihood and fulfil living beings’ requirements. In the coming times, it’s only expected to get worse.”

A panel discussion on ‘Wetlands for Wellbeing’ was organised in the second session. The session was moderated by Ms. Neha Sinha, Head of Policy and Communications, WWF India, Conservation Biologist and Author. Mr. Soumitra Dasgupta, IFS (Retd.), Ex Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force, West Bengal, Dr. Ritesh Kumar, Director, Wetlands International South Asia, Dr. Aditya Joshi, ex PCCF, HOFF, CWLW – Manipur, Advisor- Think Tank, Mobius Foundation and Mr. Suresh Babu SV, Senior Director – Ecological Footprints, WWF India, participated in the panel discussion.

Mr. Suresh Babu, discussed the crucial role of wetlands and said, “Wetlands can play an important role in recharging the aquifers, which can fuel the rivers. Groundwater is a source of many of our rivers. If we lose our wetlands, groundwater recharge will reduce, and therefore, we can lose the flow in our rivers.”

He explained another issue, “Wetlands served as our buffer against flooding, but because we have damaged and encroached on most of our urban wetlands, we now experience flooding and water logging when the monsoon arrives.”

Dr. Aditya Joshi provided insights into Loktak Lake in Manipur, the largest natural freshwater lake in the north-eastern region of India. During his discussion, he delved into the significant challenges confronting this Ramsar site. Additionally, he underscored the distinctive ecosystem of Loktak and emphasized the reliance of indigenous communities on its diverse ecological services.

Reconnecting wetlands with urban design and water security solutions is what Dr. Ritesh Kumar called for. He also drew attention to the fact that rivers and wetlands were being used as wastelands due to an increase in sewage generation and a lack of investment in efficient sewage treatment technologies.

The session included vibrant engagement with the attendees who called for localization of international guidelines and increased local action for wetlands conservation. Mr. Soumitra Dasgupta discussed the conservation strategies implemented for the Sundarban Wetland, situated in the world’s largest mangrove forest. He provided details on the effective approaches employed to actively involve local communities in conservation initiatives while simultaneously safeguarding the region’s tiger population.

In Mr. Praveen Garg’s closing remarks he said going beyond their ecological significance, wetlands function as natural capital, making substantial contributions to local and national economies through a myriad of ecosystem services. By recognizing true value of these unique ecosystems, we can pave the way for a future where sustainable development flourishes in harmony with nature’s silent riches.

The event acted as a forum for collaboration and the exploration of potential collaborations among conservation organisations, financial institutions, and governmental entities.