Climate Workforce Summit by Ashoka University and EDF Sparks Cross-Sector Collaboration to Accelerate India’s Green Transition

Mumbai, 3rd November, 2025: Ashoka University and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today convened the Climate Workforce Summit at the Mumbai Cricket Association Recreation Centre, marking the fifth anniversary of the Climate Corps Fellowship in India. Themed “Enabling Climate Workforce Transition in India,” the event brought together over 150 leaders and stakeholders including senior representatives from Skill Council for Green Jobs, the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA), Mahindra Group, JSW Group, IndusInd Bank, L&T, ICICI, Aditya Birla Group, Eternal, and Godrej.

The day-long event witnessed dynamic conversations and collaborations on shaping India’s green talent ecosystem, driving the national dialogue on building a future-ready workforce for India’s green economy. The event featured panel discussions, roundtables, #OpenDoorClimate LIVE mentoring session and a Climate Corps alumni showcase. Among the first events dedicated to shaping a workforce for climate action, the summit underscored that while technology and finance are vital to India’s green transition, the human element remains the decisive enabler.

The discussions further highlighted the need for cross-sector collaboration to scale green skills not only in white collar jobs but also in blue-collar, embedding climate action into every business function and skill domain from manufacturing to management. The speakers emphasized that this integrated approach will be key to ensuring India’s economic and environmental resilience. The discussions also called for integrating sustainability in HR systems to expand workforce opportunities in climate action, and develop a shared framework guiding India’s green jobs strategy.

Over the past five years in India, a crucial piece of India’s climate solution: a skilled, future-ready workforce is being empowered through the Climate Corps Fellowship. In India, the fellowship has placed over 100 fellows across 30+ leading organisations, including Amazon, Mahindra, ITC, the Assam Government, and the Tamil Nadu Government, to lead sustainability and climate action projects catering to hard-to-abate sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, finance, and freight and logistics.

Launched by EDF in 2008, the Climate Corps Fellowship is now active in the United States, China, and India. Climate Corps fellowship trains talented postgraduate students and pairs them with companies and public institutions committed to meeting climate and sustainability goals. The program addresses a crucial human capital gap in the wide-ranging efforts to fight climate change, delivering bold, practical solutions that benefit the planet and people’s health. With a global alumni network of over 4,000 professionals - 80% of whom are directly working in sustainability roles - fellows have worked with over 850 organisations, including 40% of Fortune 100 companies, on more than 1800 projects. Their collective efforts have delivered energy savings worth approximately $ 1.6 billion and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2.2 million metric tons.

In 2024, AshokaX, the online education arm of Ashoka University, partnered with EDF to execute the fellowship in India. Over the past year, this collaboration has strengthened organisational capacity to achieve climate goals, while nurturing the next generation of sustainability leaders.

“The Climate Workforce Summit reflects the urgency and opportunity of building India’s green workforce at scale. We are seeing industry, government, and academia come together to drive systemic change in how organizations think about talent for a low-carbon future,” said Hisham Mundol, Chief Advisor - India, Environmental Defense Fund. “This collaboration has been at the heart of Climate Corps India’s journey over the past five years and today’s conversations mark an important milestone in that continuing effort.”

“India’s economic competitiveness and climate leadership will hinge on our ability to build a skilled green workforce,” said Amit Chandra, MD, Bain Capital, India and Founder, Ashoka University. “This summit exemplifies how collective action can shape leaders and a workforce ready for India’s climate and economic priorities. We remain committed to deepening this impact and contributing meaningfully to the nation’s climate preparedness, ” he further added.

The day concluded with a closed-door roundtable on embedding sustainability into workforce strategy, alongside curated networking sessions connecting sustainability professionals with emerging climate talent.