Youth for Governance Session 2 – Be the Change: Youth Action for Environmental Sustainability
The Y4G May Month looked into the Session “Be the Change: Youth Action for Environmental Sustainability.” This Project is supported by Hanns Seidal Foundation 2025. The Y4G session on Be the Change was conducted on 25th May 2025, Sunday, The session was conducted via Zoom online. Overall we had 25 Participants who were between 20-50 years old.
The Presenter for this session was Ms. Keerthi D’Souza, MD LGS Assurance Pvt Ltd. and Lead Auditor and was supported by Mr.Bhagavan Bidarakote and Mr.Pavan M Bommanahalli.
The session “Be the Change: Youth Action for Environmental Sustainability”, was an interactive session designed to empower and inspire young people to become active participants in building a sustainable future. Through a structured journey of understanding, inspiration, and action, participants explore the pressing environmental challenges of our time, connect these issues to their everyday lives, and draw motivation from real-life stories of youth-led environmental movements both global and local.
The Y4G session started by welcoming the speaker, Ms.Keerthi D’Souza, and all the participating fellows by Mr. Pavan. He provided a brief introduction of Ms.Keerthi D’Souza, who is serving as a Managing Director of LGS Assurance Pvt Ltd. and also serving as lead auditor in various Management systems, highlighting her academic and professional background, and gave an overview of the session’s focus.
Ms. Keerthi began the session by referring to the pre-assessment questionnaire shared earlier to understand the student’s awareness of environmental sustainability and social issues. Based on their responses, she introduced the concept of sustainability, highlighting the balance between people, planet, and profit. By connecting it to real-life examples, she helped the students relate to the topic and set the context for the session.
The session then expanded on the concept of sustainability by explaining how it applies across different sectors such as industries, educational institutions, and local communities. She emphasized the role each sector plays in promoting sustainable practices and how individuals can contribute within these spaces. To inspire greater involvement, she rebranded the session as the “Sustainability Ambassador Program,” encouraging the students to see themselves as change-makers. Through this initiative, Ms.Keerthi invited students to take ownership and actively participate in promoting environmental sustainability within their surroundings.
Ms. Keerthi also introduced the students to the concept of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, a widely used international framework for measuring and managing carbon emissions.
She explained the three key scopes defined under the protocol to help students understand the different sources of emissions.
- Scope 1: covers direct emissions from sources that are owned or controlled, such as emissions from vehicles or machinery.
- Scope 2: includes indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, or heating used by an organization.
- Scope 3: encompasses all other indirect emissions that occur across the value chain, such as emissions from business travel, waste disposal, and the production and transportation of goods.
By explaining these scopes in a simple and relatable way, Ms. Keerthi helped students grasp how both individuals and institutions contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and the importance of monitoring and reducing these emissions to combat climate change.
Outcomes
The session successfully enhanced students’ understanding of environmental sustainability and its relevance across various sectors such as industries, institutions, and communities. They gained insights into the triple bottom line approach and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, including its three emission scopes. The rebranding of the session as the “Sustainability Ambassador Program” motivated students to see themselves as active contributors to environmental change. Overall, the session inspired students to think critically about sustainability and empowered them to take practical, local actions for a greener future.
As a next step
- The students have been assigned the task to observe and document the current practices related to plastic usage and its disposal system. Additionally, they also need to identify and suggest the best practices that can be implemented to reduce plastic dependency, as well as methods to recycle and reuse plastics effectively.
- GRAAM has planned to conduct an additional session on this topic, tentatively scheduled for June 5th and the following Sundays. During these sessions, the fellows will be expected to present their reports.
Remarks
This session provided a clear understanding of environmental sustainability and its importance across various sectors. The introduction to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and its emission scopes helped clarify how different activities contribute to carbon emissions. By rebranding the initiative as the “Sustainability Ambassador Program,” the students were encouraged to actively participate in promoting sustainable practices. Moving forward, students will observe and document plastic usage and disposal in their communities, preparing for the next session where they will present their findings.
