Using AI to douse fires in Los Angeles
‘Alliance of IITs’ gets together to combat climate change
The students faculty and alumni of six IITs came together in IIT Bombay in December 2024 to explore the future of planet amidst climate crises
The devastating fires that have burnt large parts of Los Angeles to ashes and captured global headlines are yet another example of how no one, rich or poor, can escape the catastrophic impact of climate change.

The students faculty and alumni of six IITs came together in IIT Bombay in December 2024 to explore the future of planet amidst climate crises
The wildfires raging in Southern California are far from simple wake-up calls. They are deafening sirens of scores of ambulances rushing and carrying the parts of our planet with severe burns! Indeed, this western part of the world was known for the extreme riches of Silicon Valley and Hollywood. However, now, perhaps, it is better known for its chronic wild-fire-infernos, which seem to be recurring with greater intensity and frequency each year.
During the 2020 wildfire season alone, over 8,100 fires contributed to the burning of nearly 4.5 million acres of land in California. And the year 2025 has been greeted with the most cruel, deadly and horrific wildfires that have razed to ground, not only lush-green forests but also palatial homes of the Hollywood actors! Some comic strips depict Hollywood directors shooting the films of this real-life tragedy to make money out of misery. Sarcasm apart, the wildfires around Los Angeles are yet another living example of scenario that humans face, vis-à-vis are all in the same boat which is sinking.
Around 150,000 IIT-alumni reside in this part of the world. Many of them are techno-firebrands known to bring breakthroughs in transformative digital technologies for last more than half a century. They are the trend-setters, front-liners in the cutting-edge technologies. Could they, arguably the best brains in India and among the best in the world, be the ones to catalyse the responses, technologies and solutions for the climate crisis filled with fire, flood and food-shortages?
Climate crisis is now increasingly recognised as fast approaching existential threat followed by sixth extinction life on the planet. The most disturbing scenario that world is already experiencing is that, no one, the rich celebrities in Hollywood or the unknown poor in Africa, can escape the climate disaster. It is equivalent to facing a pandemic without a vaccine.
The only way out, even at this late stage, as recommended by UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC) is to reduce the human induced global emissions of Green House Gases by 43 pc by 2030 as compared to the emissions of 2019 and 100 pc by 2050 to achieve the much-touted Net Zero. This was agreed and adopted as the key outcome of UNFCCC’s Paris Climate Agreement of 2015.
It may sound very parochial, but knowing the DNA and Crème-de-la Crème of Indian youth, it is but natural for me, as an IIT Alumni myself, to wonder whether the IIT alumni around the world and particularly students in all 23 IIT can provide the escape route and way out?

IITs have started moving towards and focussing through innovative process of making their campuses NetZero
Just before the start of wildfires in Southern California, the students, faculty and alumni of six IITs came together in IIT Bombay in December 2024 to explore the future of planet amidst climate crises. They discussed technologies as well as policies needed for Net Zero India. Curiously, I recalled the interesting conference held just a few weeks earlier in October 2024 in Southern California organised by Alumni Association of Institute of Technology (IIT). Its theme was “AI & Us: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond”.
In context of the wildfires now ravaging California, I strongly felt that AI could come to our rescue in dealing with the wildfires and climate change. Only, here, “AI” is not ‘Artificial Intelligence’ that comes when millions of bytes of data are collected and processed, but the ‘Alliance of IITs’, where hundreds of the best brains come together and use their neurons to find a way to save the planet. They would come together for ideation, development and speeding up of transformative technologies, all of whichb are in the DNA of individual IITs.
‘Transition away from fossil fuel in a just manner’ as declared in the Paris Agreement, can be achieved by deploying each of IIT’s potential and jellying it into collaborative strategy to enhance the scale and speed of the climate mitigation and climate resilience. Such alliance is needed to realise doubling the energy efficiency and tripling the renewable energy from the present base as agreed in COP28 held at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in 2023. Further, recognising the traits of Artificial Intelligence, that may go equally rampant and wild as current wildfires around the planet including in sub-Himalayan states of India, the Alliance of IITs is perhaps not just a suggestion but the need of the time.
This is precisely what IITs have started moving towards and focussing through innovative process of making their campuses NetZero, which has been set as a target by the Indian government to be achieved in 2070.
It is now clear that the social and economic benefits of becoming carbon neutral or NetZero are beyond imagination. Cost of Solar-generated electricity has come down by more than 90 pc over the last 10 years. In fact it is now cheaper than electricity generated by thermal power plants. The health benefits of clean energy are the precious add-ons and have never been quantified in any cost-benefit analysis of the world going NetZero.

Finance-gaps and technology-gaps are being highlighted in all the internationals negotiations, including COPs
While a number of businesses, cities and more than 100 countries have pledged a target of reducing emissions to net zero by around mid-century, there is no more strategic starting point to accelerate the transformation of India to net-zero than the campus of the IITs and likes of Higher Education Institutes.
Net Zero-campuses steered by the students and faculty will result in upskilling the youth for net zero through the process of ‘learning by doing’. Renowned for their excellence and out-of-box innovations in engineering, technology, and research, the IITs attract some of the brightest minds in the country. Leveraging their expertise and influence, these institutions can rally to address the challenge of the century-mitigating the climate change and developing the climate-resilience.
While finance-gaps and technology-gaps are being highlighted in all the internationals negotiations, including COPs, the gaps in human-capital remain hidden and not even talked about, let alone being acted upon. The key efforts to focus on skilling and upskilling for NetZero by IITs will stand out as exercise of raising much needed human-capital.
The concept of ‘Alliance of IITs’ started getting roots in IIT-Guwahati in February 2024 where for the first time, during regional workshop on Net Zero-Carbon Neutral Campus organised jointly by Green Terre Foundation, a not-for-profit and IIT Guwahati. It was part of series of pan-India regional workshops on net zero university campus, strongly supported by UNESCO, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Power and Assocham’s ‘Green and Eco-Friendly Movement’. The concept was floated by a student who was the then vice-president of IIT-Gymkhana in his speech delivered during the workshop participated by Vice Chancellors, Deans and Students from Universities in Eastern India.
During his appeal for attaining the goals of Paris Climate Agreement he called on all 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) “to take the lead in addressing climate change by making the campuses NetZero with a mission to combat pressing global issues of climate change and rising temperatures”. Present at the forum, Prakash Javadekar, India’s former Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change supported his appeal.
India, though not a significant contributor to GHG emission, is a leading global partner in the quest for discovery of solutions to climate crisis. India indeed is in forefront to achieve the Nationally Determined Targets (NDCs) submitted to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change but IITs realise we need to do more and faster. IITs will be the catalyst for that transformative change.
About 10 months later, in December 2024, IIT Bombay, taking cue from workshop held in IIT-Guwahati and encouraged by the fast-spreading national movement of Smart Campus Cloud Network’s (SCCN) Net Zero University campus, held a ‘Sustainability Conclave’ which concluded with the expression of collective commitment in achieving NetZero campuses through innovation and collaboration. The faculty and students from IIT Delhi, IIT Dharwad, IIT Guwahati, IIT Madras, IIT Gandhinagar along with IIT Bombay expressed determination to achieve this goal.

The alumni of IITs can make a lot of difference by working together
It was evident that each IIT has its own Sustainability and NetZero initiatives but so far they have remained in silos. The need to accelerate the efforts by sharing the experiences, research and development outcomes and success stories by promoting collaborative mechanisms is essential, particularly when there is existential threat to our society and planet.
Indeed, a number of leading universities and institutes around the world have initiated NetZero hubs in their campus but India is the first country to initiate collaborative national movement supported by Government and the Industry. Integrating 23 IITs in this movement is pathbreaking concept that elevates India as the world leader in clean technologies and of skilled human capital needed for NetZero goals.
‘Learning by Doing’ is the maxim, ‘managing by measuring’ is the code and ‘accelerating by sharing’ is the motto of proposed ‘Alliance of IITs’. Making Campuses of IITs as ‘living-labs’ will be the tenet of the proposal. Mainstreaming ‘Mission LiFE’ ( Life for Environment) in the daily life of students in the campus including enhancing energy efficiency and renewable energy, green transportation, carbon-offsetting by tree plantation and other methods are some of the key steps that students can take, perform and inspire other universities in India .
IIT alumni in the Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, troubled by wildfires, can play key roles by collaborating with 23 IITs and igniting ‘fires of innovations’ in digital technologies. Processes like IoT, Block Chain and Cloud Networking are much needed for measuring and monitoring the progress towards net zero. IITs can deploy such transformational shifts towards making India a developed nation, but one with a sustainable and NetZero character.
The transition to NetZero is not only a responsibility but imperative . It is also an opportunity for IITs to showcase their technology leadership and innovative prowess that their alumni are displaying in the Bay Area and elsewhere in the world. They can contribute significantly to climate action in India and globally. The ‘Alliance of IITs-AI’ is the way forward.
Late Ratan Tata said that if you want to go fast, walk alone. But if we want to go far, we must walk together. To address climate crisis we need to go fast and go far and AI is the road that will take us to our destination in the fastest and safest way.
(By Rajendra Shende, former Director of UNEP , Coordinating lead Author of IPCC that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and founder of Green Terre Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Media India Group.)