Open Projects in Environment & Climate Change
Explore research and CSR opportunities at IIT Madras in this domain.
Environment & Climate Change
57 proposals
Artificial Intelligence for effective packaging-waste management, implementation of EPR & closed loop recycling
This IIT Madras project develops AI based sorting and IoT enabled smart bin systems to verify actual plastic recycling and support extended producer responsibility so CSR partners can help build a transparent closed loop packaging waste ecosystem?
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Environment
Climate Change & sustainable livelihood: Indian Sundarbans
This IIT Madras project designs climate resilient livelihood strategies for the Indian Sundarbans using IPCC scenario modelling and community led mangrove restoration so CSR partners can help vulnerable coastal households adapt and thrive under changing climate conditions?
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
Biopolymer-based packaging materials
This IIT Madras project engineers advanced natural biopolymer films with improved strength and barrier performance so CSR partners can enable industry to shift from conventional plastics to truly sustainable packaging materials?
By: Ethayaraja Mani
Co-PI: Swathi Sudhakar
Cause: Environment
Plant fibre reinforced biodegradable polymer substitutes for packaging
This IIT Madras project develops and scales plant fibre reinforced biopolymer composites into biodegradable packaging products so CSR partners can reduce plastic waste while creating new income opportunities for rural women and farmers?
By: Satyanarayana Gummadi
Co-PI: Mukesh Doble
Cause: Environment
Hybrid-boards from single-use plastics
This IIT Madras project develops protocols to upcycle single use plastic waste into cost effective, high performance hybrid boards so CSR partners can help reduce landfill burden and provide sustainable alternatives to conventional MDF products?
By: Lakshminath Kundanati
Cause: Environment
A self-sustainable rest area with an integrated recovery system to extract green chemicals, water and carbon
This IIT Madras project designs a self sustainable rest area that recycles urine into fertilizers and converts faecal solids into carbon products so CSR partners can cut wastewater pollution, recover nutrients and support healthier ecosystems?
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Environment
Proposal for pilot implementation of emergency response sanitation units
This IIT Madras project pilots Emergency Response Sanitation Units that pair trained crews with robotic cleaning and monitoring tools so CSR partners can help eliminate manual scavenging and professionalise sewer and septic tank management?
By: Prabhu Rajagopal
Cause: Sanitation
Monitoring of coastal marine environment using an in-house developed unmanned aerial vehicle
This IIT Madras project develops ship launched UAVs that monitor coastal waters for potential fishing zones, oil spills and search and rescue needs so CSR partners can empower coastal communities and strengthen marine environmental management?
By: Manikandan Mathur
Cause: Environment
Recycling & valorization of e-waste plastics
This IIT Madras project advances scalable technologies that recycle e waste plastics into valuable products like hydrogen and syngas so CSR partners can help build a world leading centre for sustainable plastics recycling in India?
By: Sreeram Kalpathy
Cause: Environment
Environmental upgradation of Muthur Village, Chikkaballapur, Karnataka
This IIT Madras project demonstrates sustainable greywater treatment and lake rejuvenation technologies in Muthur village so CSR partners can help improve rural water quality and environmental health in Karnataka?
By: CUBE - IITM
Cause: Environment
Proposal on CO2 Direct Air Capture Modules to control environmental pollution in Delhi NCR
This IIT Madras project installs solid sorbent based CO2 Direct Air Capture modules in Delhi NCR so CSR partners can directly reduce atmospheric carbon, advance India?s climate goals and help commercialise a new negative emissions technology?
By: Rajnish Kumar
Cause: Environment
Green design approaches to circularity with recycled plastics and natural materials
This IIT Madras project develops green design based technologies that recycle plastic waste efficiently and integrate natural material substitutes so CSR partners can drive circular, low impact material systems in rapidly growing Indian cities?
By: Susy Varghese
Co-PI: Abhijit Deshpande
Cause: Environment
Designing Recyclable Plastics
This IIT Madras project engineers recyclable vitrimer polymer networks so CSR partners can accelerate the shift from permanent, non recyclable plastics to circular materials that meet future sustainability and regulatory demands?
By: Tarak Patra
Cause: Environment
Student unmanned aerial systems (SUAS-IITM)
This IIT Madras project powers a student led unmanned aerial systems team that designs cutting edge drones for climate and biodiversity applications so CSR partners can foster technological innovation and high impact engineering education?
By: Satadal Ghosh
Cause: Environment
Electricity driven Direct Air Capture (DAC) unit
This IIT Madras project develops and tests an electricity driven direct air capture unit that can be deployed near renewable energy sites so CSR partners can scale practical, low carbon CO2 removal and build specialised expertise in this emerging field?
By: Himanshu Goyal
Co-PI: Niket Kaisare
Cause: Environment
Ensuring climate resilient food security and creating sustainable livelihoods in ecologically sensitive production landscapes of Eastern Himalayas
This IIT Madras project enables indigenous youth in Arunachal Pradesh to adopt climate resilient oyster mushroom farming so CSR partners can enhance food security, livelihoods and carbon friendly production in the fragile Eastern Himalayan landscape?
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
Establishing an operational dual-polarization doppler weather radar network for real-time flood forecasting in Chennai-Vellore-Krishnagiri-Cuddalore belt through KAAR (Knowledge Hub for Advanced Analytics in Radar hydrology)
This IIT Madras project establishes the KAAR radar hydrology centre with a dual polarization Doppler weather radar so CSR partners can enable real time flood forecasting, urban climate resilience and cutting edge research for the Chennai region?
By: Balaji Narasimhan
Co-PI: V Chandrasekar
Cause: Environment
Harnessing environmental assessments for long-term health & yield-Tea Plantations' Evaluation and Response to Airborne pollutants and Climatic Tensions, Utilizing Advanced Instrumentation for Future Projections and Strategic Mitigation
This IIT Madras project analyses pollution and climate impacts on tea plantations in Munnar and designs a real time monitoring and policy framework so CSR partners can help secure long term health, yield and sustainability of this iconic tea landscape?
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
Mangrove Afforestation & Carbon Harvesting for Integrated Sustainability
This IIT Madras project undertakes large scale mangrove afforestation and blue carbon accounting so CSR partners can unlock biodiversity credits, climate benefits and community resilience along India?s vulnerable coasts?
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
Peri-Urban Initiative - Phase II : Sustainable Interventions for restoration of community commons
This IIT Madras peri urban project develops a wild play garden in Katchipattu so CSR partners can restore community commons, offer children safe nature based play spaces and build holistic environmental and social wellbeing?
By: Sudhir Chella Rajan
Cause: Infrastructure
Harnessing Climate Data : Future Proofing Insurance Risk Models through Tropical Cyclone Intensities in India
This IIT Madras project applies pseudo global warming based tropical cyclone modelling to generate high resolution climate risk data so CSR partners and insurers can design robust, future ready insurance products for India?s evolving hazard landscape?
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
A study of solar-powered degradation of nano plastics into value-added chemicals
Nanoplastics?invisible plastic particles smaller than 1 micrometer?pose severe environmental and health risks through water, food, and air contamination. This IIT Madras research develops TiO2-Graphene oxide photocatalyst materials for solar-powered degradation of polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene nanoplastics. Using sunlight and innovative solar-concentrator glass reactors, this technology removes nanoplastics from contaminated water while generating value-added chemicals. This practical, scalable solution addresses the growing nanoplastics crisis, offering dual benefits of environmental remediation and resource recovery for water treatment and plastic waste management applications.
By: Somnath Chanda Roy
Cause: Environment
Climate Classroom: To turn climate concern into everyday action - through games, reflection and science-rooted lessons to help students recognize pollutants, respond to real-world challenges, and make choices that matter in a 1.5°C world.
In an escalating climate crisis, education holds the key to shaping public response and building climate resilience. The Climate Classroom initiative equips young learners with knowledge, skills, and mindsets to become climate-literate citizens through engaging games, reflection activities, and science-rooted lessons. Aligned with India's Paris Agreement commitments, this program empowers students to recognize pollutants, respond to real-world challenges, and make choices that matter in a 1.5?C world?transforming today's youth from bystanders into solution-makers who influence families, communities, and future societies.
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Environment
Project 'SWEEP': Sanitation Workers Green Skilling through Education & Professionalization
This IIT Madras project delivers structured training and certification for sanitation workers so CSR partners can enhance service quality, reduce landfill waste and build dignified, future ready green jobs in local waste management systems?
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Sanitation
High resolution AI-assisted energy resource & demand forecasting for sustainable power systems
This IIT Madras project builds a sub 10 kilometre AI assisted forecasting platform that refines numerical weather prediction models to deliver highly accurate, site specific generation and demand forecasts, while also assessing climate change impacts on long term renewable resource availability so CSR partners and power utilities can improve operational efficiency, maximise renewable energy capture, reduce outage risk and make smarter investment decisions using a ready to use digital dashboard for sustainable power systems.image.jpeg?
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
High-resolution urban heat wave prediction and climate risk mapping using dynamical downscaling and urban canopy modeling
Urban areas face escalating heat stress risks from climate change and rapid urbanization, threatening public health, energy systems, and infrastructure stability. This IIT Madras project develops high-resolution urban heat wave prediction and climate risk mapping using dynamical downscaling of global weather and climate datasets at ?2 km resolution, coupled with advanced urban canopy modeling. By providing sharper early warnings, projecting extreme heat events through 2100, and offering decision-support for cooling strategies, this initiative enables cities to plan climate-smart infrastructure and protect vulnerable populations.
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Infrastructure
Hybrid AI/ML enhanced downscaling of seasonal forecasts for agricultural productivity and insurance risk management
Agricultural planning, irrigation scheduling, and crop insurance depend critically on accurate seasonal climate forecasts, yet conventional weather prediction models lose skill beyond 10-15 days. This IIT Madras project develops a hybrid AI/ML-enhanced downscaling framework that integrates high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting simulations with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques. By generating kilometre-scale climate projections through 2100 and providing high-resolution seasonal forecasts, this innovation transforms agricultural productivity planning, enables precise crop yield estimation, and revolutionizes insurance risk management for farmers nationwide.
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
Climate Resilient Tea Cultivation & Manufacturing in South India via Adoption of Regenerative Practices, Energy Efficiency & GHG Management - Phase 1
South India's tea sector forms the economic backbone of regional plantation communities, employing millions and contributing significantly to exports. However, climate change, energy inefficiency, and environmental degradation increasingly threaten sustainable production. This IIT Madras collaborative project with UPASI Tea Research Foundation and the Industrial Energy Assessment Cell develops a climate-smart, low-carbon, regenerative framework for tea cultivation and manufacturing. Through field-based carbon sequestration studies, regenerative interventions, and factory-level energy audits, this initiative quantifies, reduces, and offsets the carbon footprint while enhancing soil health, yield quality, and economic viability for estates and small growers.
By: Mahesh Panchagnula
Co-PI: Satyanarayana Seshadri
Cause: Environment
A model waste management (Black water) in Uttarakhand
Hill villages in Uttarakhand face critical sanitation challenges where untreated black water from septic tanks flows directly into rivers and agricultural lands, causing environmental degradation and health hazards. This IIT Madras project creates a sustainable sewage management model for Darah Bisht village in Champawat, Uttarakhand, serving approximately 30 houses. Using gravity-based technology, the system bio-degrades black water to produce manure, recycled water for organic farming, and clean water for conservation. This replicable model protects natural environments, stops contamination of kitchen gardens, and transforms waste into valuable agricultural resources.
By: Prem B Bisht
Co-PI: Piyush Chaunsali
Cause: Environment
An integrative-modular-onsite toilet treatment for NPK fertilizer, carbon and water recovery
India's sanitation challenge extends beyond toilet construction to sustainable waste management and resource recovery. This IIT Madras project creates an integrated toilet treatment system that transforms human waste into valuable resources through a zero-energy, circular sanitation approach. By recovering NPK fertilizer, carbon, and water from waterless urinals and urine-diverting toilets using innovative distillation and struvite reactor technology with magnesium dosing, this modular onsite solution supports Swachh Bharat Mission goals while creating economic opportunities, improving public health, advancing technological innovation, enhancing local agriculture, and benefiting Indian communities and environment through complete resource circularity.
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Environment
E-waste to Wealth: Process Technology for Synthesis of Nano-particles from Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)
This CSR proposal scales a lab proven, zero discharge hydrometallurgical process into a pilot plant that recycles printed circuit boards, recovers valuable metals and upgrades them into market ready products, enabling partners to tackle growing e waste while creating a circular and revenue generating stream for the electronics sector.
By: S. Pushpavanam
Cause: Environment
Extraction of Valuable Products from Flexible Pavement Waste for Productions of Low-Cost Sustainable Concrete Highways
This CSR proposal creates a science based framework for characterising and recycling reclaimed asphalt pavement waste into concrete pavements, helping partners cut material costs, reduce construction waste and build longer lasting, sustainable highways.
By: Surender Singh
Cause: Environment
Low CO2 Cement for Sustainable & Durable Concrete
This CSR proposal designs and tests a new low carbon cement made from local resources and industrial by products to achieve high strength, long lasting concrete, allowing partners to cut emissions and life cycle costs across roads, buildings and other infrastructure projects.
By: Piyush Chaunsali
Cause: Environment
Reducing environmental impact of steel industries by recovering waste heat from molten slag
This CSR proposal designs and validates a dry slag granulation system that recovers high temperature waste heat and reduces water consumption, enabling partners to lower the environmental footprint of steel production while generating saleable granulated slag for the construction sector.
By: S. Pushpavanam
Cause: Environment
Road Dust Collector A replacement for manual sweeping (unit cost Rs. 50.000/-)
This CSR proposal deploys a user friendly, low maintenance road dust collector that mechanises street sweeping, reduces health risks for workers and captures fine dust in a separate bin so it can be reused for making earthen pots or other products instead of returning to the air.
By: Shiva Nagendra SM
Cause: Environment
Incentivizing Use of Pucca Toilets through Linking it with Biogas Plants
This CSR proposal promotes the use of pucca toilets and builds household level biogas plants that convert human and organic waste into clean biogas for cooking and nutrient rich slurry for fields, easing pressure on public health systems while encouraging organic farming in rural communities.
By: Anup Kumar Bhandari
Cause: Environment
Direct Air Capture
This CSR proposal builds and optimises a modular direct air capture prototype that works like an artificial tree to pull CO2 directly from the air, generating cost and performance data needed to scale future DAC plants that help companies and governments meet long term climate and net zero targets.?
By: Jitendra Sangwai
Cause: Environment
Industrial effluent treatment using a 'hybrid PV-Concentrated Solar Power' Tandem reactor system
This CSR proposal designs and demonstrates a modular hybrid PV concentrated solar tandem reactor that uses clean energy for industrial effluent treatment, optimising energy use, nanoparticle dosing and water purity so partner industries can meet standards, lower operating costs and reduce their environmental footprint.
By: Tiju Thomas
Cause: Environment
Revival of Lake through Rainwater Harvesting for Sustainable Water supply/Irrigation/Livelihood
This CSR proposal rejuvenates a degraded lake and its catchment using rainwater harvesting, canal and stormwater network upgrades and targeted groundwater recharge so surrounding communities gain higher storage, reduced flood risk and more dependable water for agriculture, industry and household use.
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Environment
Quantifying the role of biogenic VOCs in air chemistry and climate variability over the tropical Indian region: Integrating measurements with modelling
This CSR proposal combines advanced field measurements and modelling to quantify how biogenic VOCs from forests and other ecosystems influence ozone, secondary organic aerosols and PM2.5 in the tropical Indian region, giving policymakers and scientists better evidence to design clean air and climate strategies.
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
Coordinated drone fleet to go after the problem of New Delhi's air pollution
This CSR proposal uses specialised drones to measure how biomass burning emissions move through the lower atmosphere above Delhi, generating high resolution data that sharpens models of particulate transport and equips policymakers with better evidence to tackle urban smog episodes.
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
A connected fleet of outdoor ambient air purifiers to have a city-wide control of air quality
This CSR proposal deploys networked outdoor air purifiers linked through a low latency 5G system to remove particulate matter from busy urban zones, demonstrating a scalable technology for improving public health, collecting real time air data and enhancing the sustainability of city air quality management.
By: Shiva Nagendra SM
Cause: Environment
HomoSEP, India's first Septic Tank Cleaning Robot that breaks down & homogenizes hard sludge (along with a host of other features.)
This CSR proposal funds the fabrication and deployment of additional HomoSEP trolley robots along with safety training for safai karamcharis, replacing dangerous manual septic tank entry with mechanised cleaning that enhances dignity, health and data driven sanitation management.
By: Prabhu Rajagopal
Cause: Environment
Utilization of construction and demolition waste from urban centres
This CSR proposal designs advanced sorting and processing routes to convert mixed construction and demolition waste from cities into usable aggregates and binders for concrete, cutting the volume of debris dumped on scarce land while lowering the need for pristine raw materials in urban infrastructure projects.
By: Manu Santhanam
Cause: Infrastructure
Development of Fungi-based materials for packaging and insulation solutions
This CSR proposal converts crop residues into customised mycelium biocomposites that can cushion electronics and ecommerce parcels, offering fully biodegradable, low waste packaging and insulation solutions that cut EPS consumption and create new income streams for farmers.
By: Lakshminath Kundanati
Cause: Environment
Waste-to engines and roads- A circular economy and carbon neutral approach to solid waste management through hydrothermal liquefaction
This CSR proposal scales hydrothermal liquefaction to treat kilogram level solid waste streams, producing bio crude oil for generator tests and biochar for bitumen blends, showing how cities can turn difficult waste into useful energy and road building resources in a circular, carbon conscious way.
By: R. Vinu
Cause: Environment
Nurturing the green cover at IITM 'Helping Chennai breathe'
This CSR proposal funds sustained care for IIT Madras?s richly forested campus, safeguarding hundreds of tree species and wildlife habitats while expanding environmental education programs so Chennai?s residents experience and help protect their city?s vital green lung.
By: Mahesh Panchagnula
Cause: Environment
Shubhram-coalition for technological solutions in the sanitation space
This CSR proposal strengthens a multi stakeholder coalition that develops and pilots new sanitation technologies while training frontline workers and nurturing entrepreneurs, so proven solutions spread faster and deliver lasting health and livelihood benefits.
By: Prabhu Rajagopal
Cause: Sanitation
Waste to use: Save environment with additive manufacturing
This CSR proposal establishes small 3D printing units that process plastic and floral waste into useful items, embedding hands on design education in rural schools and generating new livelihood opportunities through a circular economy model.
By: Swathi Sudhakar
Co-PI: Pijush Ghosh
Cause: Environment
Identification of toxic pollutants in the industrial areas- Their impact on climate and global warming
This CSR proposal collects and analyses air samples from zones surrounding chemical and pharmaceutical industries to reveal the types and levels of toxic pollutants, estimate their roles in global warming and ozone chemistry, and inform safeguards for community health and the environment.
By: Rajakumar Balla
Cause: Environment
Drone Technologies for environmental monitoring
This CSR proposal develops two indigenous vertical take off and landing drone platforms tailored for environmental monitoring, enabling detailed mapping of coasts, water bodies, terrain and infrastructure while building long term capacity for climate and resource observation in India.
By: Manikandan Mathur
Cause: Environment
Decentralized Plastic Pyrolysis Intelligence System
This CSR proposal enhances a 500 kg per day decentralised plastic pyrolyser that gathers mixed plastics from nearby communities, processes them with near zero emissions and produces fuel oil that can run generators, tractors and small industries while cutting landfill and open burning.
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Environment
Center for Sustainable Solid Waste Management - IIT Madras
This CSR proposal creates a dedicated centre that showcases state of the art solid waste management technologies, convenes interdisciplinary events and delivers training, helping communities and self help groups adopt cleaner, climate friendly waste solutions.
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Environment
Building sustainable futures in Anthropocene: Creating a comprehensive online database for micro-sector specific air-pollutants for air quality improvements under net-zero goal and policies towards green initiative
This CSR proposal develops a detailed emission inventory and web platform that maps sectoral and regional air pollutants and greenhouse gases, integrates mobile monitoring data, and evaluates policy impacts so decision makers can design more effective pathways towards cleaner air and India?s net zero goals.
By: Sachin S Gunthe
Cause: Environment
Indoor Air Purifier for high-risk Indoor Environments (unit cost Rs. 50.000/-)
This CSR proposal develops a robust indoor air purifier that combines particulate, catalytic and UV filtration in a portable unit, improving air quality and health outcomes for people living and working in densely populated, high pollution settings.
By: Shiva Nagendra SM
Cause: Environment
Mitigating Infectious Diseases Through Surveillance and Control Technologies
This CSR proposal establishes wastewater and aquatic surveillance for COVID 19 and antibiotic resistance genes in Chennai, couples it with a pilot disinfection plant, and translates the findings into policy guidance for health authorities to better manage future outbreaks.
By: Indumathi Manivannan Nambi
Cause: Environment
Bio-augmented cover liner for mitigating methane emissions from MSW dumpsites towards sustainable environments
This CSR proposal designs a bio augmented landfill cover that harnesses methanotrophs to oxidise methane from municipal dumpsites, lower greenhouse emissions and channel captured carbon into biomass that can be processed into products like biodiesel.
By: IITM
Cause: Environment