Here’s the irony: India is one of the few countries where environmental education is a mandatory part of school curriculum, but the importance it receives in assessments is too low to create awareness around climate change.
An unexpected career choice was the beginning of efforts to demystify the conversation around climate change and raise awareness
Here’s the irony: India is one of the few countries where environmental education is a mandatory part of school curriculum, but the importance it receives in assessments is too low to create awareness around climate change.
This is where 27-year-old Amol Kapoor steps in. His idea: a resource for people interested in understanding climate and sustainability. The ‘climate communicator’ has turned his LinkedIn profile into a source of information on climate policy and technology. “It didn’t take long for me to understand that staying updated in the climate sector is like trying to drink from a fire hose. There are so many updates, but very few clear guiding lights,” says Kapoor.
Kapoor says growing up, he was the shy child who “preferred to stay in the background”. As a BTech student, he spent most of his time coding and programming only to realise in his third year in college that he wanted to be part of something that resonated on a “deeper level”.
But venturing into an unconventional career path was not an easy decision. Despite the apprehension, he got into the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Tiss) for an MSc in climate change and sustainable studies. But while coursework focused on the theoretical side, there was little clarity on how to bridge the gap between academia and the job market.
That was when he started a webinar series where he invited industry professionals to share their insights and experiences. The exercise was eye-opening. “Organising and hosting those webinars not only connected me with industry leaders but also taught me valuable lessons in outreach and public speaking,” he adds.
After Tiss, Kapoor joined a professional services firm as an environmental, social and governance (ESG) associate. But his real journey into the climate space began at the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence of Sustainable Development (CESD) as a climate policy executive.
Soon, he became a part of projects of national importance, like the B20 report on energy, climate and resource efficiency. Kapoor recalls: “One of my most gratifying moments came when one of my proposals made it to the Top 75 for NITI Aayog’s LiFE initiative. It felt like my efforts were finally having an impact.”
In 2024, Kapoor shifted his focus to building digital tools that could be used by everyone in the climate sector. He developed the India Climate Policy Toolkit, the India Climate Ecosystem Map and an India Climate artificial intelligence (AI) on ChatGPT.
The effectiveness of the new breed of climate communicators is in breaking down complex scientific and policy issues into short bits and bytes and understanding how to reach their target audience through social media. Saksham Bansal, Chief Eco Officer, The Sustainability Mafia
Kapoor is of the view that today’s youth, though aware of conversations around climate change, do not know if they can act. And that’s where climate communicators like him want to step in. “Mitigating the impact of climate change isn’t just a scientific issue; it’s a deeply social one, and only a community of committed people can solve it,” says Kapoor.
“The trend of Gen Z and millennials entering the climate space as communicators will only gather momentum going forward,” says Saksham Bansal, chief eco officer at The Sustainability Mafia, a climate and sustainability non-profit.
The effectiveness of the new breed of climate communicators lies in breaking down complex scientific and policy issues into short bits and bytes, says Bansal, and understanding how to reach their target audience through social media.
Taking a cue, Kapoor is now ramping up his efforts to create climate awareness using customised AI toolkits. He is currently working on a ChatGPT-based toolkit on Indian climate policy. “I took recent government reports, all that I sourced during my study, and have put it in the GPT and trained it,” he says.
Anybody looking for India-specific climate policy information can access the toolkit, free of cost. Kapoor has also developed a climate sector map that includes resources and references of leading think tanks and academic researchers working on climate.
“My main aim right now is to provide people with open-source knowledge. Open-source solutions and digital public goods have the ability to transform India’s position on a global platform,” says Kapoor.