KOCHI: The Geojit Cusat Centre of Sustainability Studies (GCCOSS), the Geojit-sponsored centre of excellence in sustainability at Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) was inaugurated on Tuesday. During the function, Industries Minister P Rajeeve said, “Sustainability should encompass both life and nature. At a time when technology gets outdated in a matter of hours, this initiative would find answers to the problems faced by the industry through new pedagogies, revised curriculum and changing approaches towards sustainability.”
He further said, “Kerala is the first state to come up with a game-changer Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policy framework. The government is committed to strengthen the connection between higher education institutions and the industry.”
A P M Mohammed Hanish IAS, principal secretary (industries), who was the guest of honour at the event, noted that industry-academia partnerships would be instrumental in bringing about the much-needed change, and congratulated the people behind the visionaries behind GCCOSS. Highlighting that GCCOSS would be an inspiration and create awareness among industries, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation MD S Harikishore IAS expressed hope that the centre would play a major role in implementation of the state’s ESG policy, focusing on aligning with the SDG framework, introducing an ESG rating system, initiating R&D, and forging partnerships for knowledge creation and capacity building.
C J George, CMD Geojit Financial Services, said, “ESG has become a priority and necessity for the sustainable future of all, and thus was born the idea of GCCOSS. Geojit, as one of the top 1,000 listed companies, had to submit the mandatory Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, we realised there is a severe dearth of qualified talent to help meet these commitments. GCCOSS provides an opportunity for Cusat to foster and develop ESG knowledge base.”
Cusat V-C P G Sankaran, registrar V Sivanandan Achari, GCCOSS assistant director Krishnaprakash Nair and IQAC director Sam Thomas spoke.