Amid a galaxy of climate activists and experts attending this year’s ‘Dharitri Youth Conclave 2022: The Power of Youth’, there will be a young woman who was selected for UN India’s ‘We The Change’ campaign, which aims at showcasing climate solutions pioneered by young Indians. Meet Neha Shivaji Naikwade, a mechanical engineer and co-founder of Parvaah, a youth cell working towards zero-waste initiatives.
It was in 2021, when Neha found a place amongst the 17 Promising Young Environmental Activists selected for UN India’s ‘We The Change’ campaign which aims at showcasing climate solutions pioneered by young Indians. This marked the celebration of India’s climate leadership. All the 17 young climate champions have done pioneering work in diverse sectors and have waged a war against global warming.
Neha has worked extensively on policy making and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives through her corporate work and experience as a ‘policy in action fellow’ at Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC). Neha was also shortlisted for the Global Policy, Diplomacy and Sustainability Fellowship.
She currently works with the Climate Collective Foundation as a project manager where she helps develop and strengthen climate-oriented startups and earlystage climate-tech entrepreneurs. One of India’s few environment-oriented data scientists, Neha used her skill set to help launch over 140 green startups.
Neha built the Climate Data Program which aims to support startups tackling climate change with data technologies such as AI-ML, Big Data and Advanced Climate Modeling.
“I believe that in order to support mitigation, adaptation and resilience to our changing world, it is important to leverage innovation and technology to help understand and manage climate risks. Startups will play a key role in developing these new technologies and solutions.” Neha said.
“I hope to bring attention to the need for youth driven climate innovation to address climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in developing countries. To keep global warming under 1.5 degrees, every sector of the global economy needs to transform in just over two business cycles,” the young activist added.