Recipient of the Taru Lalvani Environmental Protection Award, ecologist Dr. Rashneh N. Pardiwala, Founder & Director, CERE
The Centre for Environmental Research and Education (CERE) is a Mumbai-based not-for-profit organisation established in 2002 that works to promote environmental sustainability through research and innovation, formal education, government and corporate partnerships and publications.
CERE has successfully completed many rural and urban environmental restoration projects such as urban afforestation, rainwater harvesting, solar electrification, carbon footprinting and environmental education.
In five years, the Urban Afforestation Project (UAP) has planted 192,000 native trees across 24 cities in India and has sequestered 41,933 tonnes of CO2. This project, apart from increasing much needed green cover in our congested and polluted cities, also helps create habits for local flora and fauna, thus augmenting biodiversity.
Switch on Solar (SoS) project, rolled out in 2018, helps schools, educational institutions, hospitals and commercial buildings transition to renewable energy through the installation of roof-top solar panels and net metering system in order to reduce load on the main electricity grid.
In addition to the financial benefits, solar energy has multiple environment and social benefits, the far-reaching one being reduction in carbon emissions due to switching over from fossil fuel-based electricity generation. In a little over three years, solar panels have been installed across 21 institutions saving the equivalent of 13,700 metric tonnes of CO2 sequestration by generating 16.8 million units of electricity and saving Rs. 174.6 million on electricity bills over the life span of the project.
CERE’s Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) projects have created Mumbai, Pune and Nashik city’s largest RWH systems capable of harvesting 261.1 million litres of water each monsoon season, thus resulting in savings of Rs. 1,295 million.
CERE is a pioneer in developing carbon management and environmental sustainability systems for corporate India under the Carbon Map & CapTM Initiative. We have undertaken turnkey CSR projects for many leading companies in India such as IndusInd Bank, Tata Capital, Apollo Tyres, Wipro, Toyota Motors, SP Group, Ambuja Cement, Tata Power and many others.
CERE has also helped integrate environmental education into mainstream curriculum having published 28 titles, produced educational short films, developed online e-courses and conducted numerous training workshops and seminars for schools, teachers and students.