The Centre for Environment Education (CEE) hosted the international conference “Educating for Sustainability Action” from January 9–11, 2025, at its Ahmedabad campus. Designed to position education as a pivotal driver of sustainability, the event brought together around 500 delegates, including 100 international participants from renowned sustainability-focused institutions. Attendees included environmental professionals, policymakers, academics, practitioners, and youth leaders.
The conference featured plenary sessions, parallel sessions, and invited paper presentations, focusing on establishing foundational environmental literacy and amplifying Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as the global community approaches 2030. The event served as a dynamic platform for exchanging knowledge and strategies to integrate sustainability into mainstream education.
On January 10, six distinguished speakers contributed to a dynamic parallel session exploring education’s role in sustainability. Among them were Mr. Aditya Pundir (The Climate Reality Project, India), Dr. Balamurugan R.K (Green Growth Asia Foundation, Malaysia), Dr. Atsufumi Yokoi (Okayama University, Japan), Dr. Minu Agarwal (CEPT, Ahmedabad), Dr. Sharmishtha Kumar (Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune), and Ms. Shruti Nangia (Bharat Soka Gakkai, Delhi). The session was moderated by Ms. Gayatri Dave from CEE, Ahmedabad.
Ms. Nangia delivered a compelling talk on “Sustainable Human Behaviour” (SHB), emphasizing its critical role in achieving the objectives of education for sustainable development. She highlighted that education inherently encompasses the empowerment of individuals, and as such, ESD should not be treated as a separate initiative, instead, it should be seamlessly integrated into everyday curricula to promote holistic development.
She also outlined how BSG promotes SDGs through initiatives like the SOHA exhibition, SDG clubs, the “BSG for SDG” mobile app, a bi-monthly e-newsletter Sustainable, and action-oriented campaigns such as plastic collection and beach clean-ups.
Quoting SGI founding President Daisaku Ikeda, she emphasized that global challenges are solvable through humanity’s inner transformation, urging individual and collective action for meaningful change.
The conference demonstrated the power of education as a tool for global sustainability, inspiring participants to drive impactful, collaborative initiatives. It successfully provided participants with insights, resources, and inspiration to lead meaningful changes in their respective spheres, advancing the global sustainability agenda.
