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BSc in Environmental Science and Sustainability

To contribute towards a greener planet by making progress more sustainable

As we know, the world is facing considerable challenges of environmental change and sustainability. There is a real and growing need for a programme that helps students develop a strong understanding of environmental science and its interlinkages with sustainability, grounded in the Indian context.

A key feature of the BSc in Environmental Science and Sustainability (ESS) at Azim Premji University is its inherently interdisciplinary focus.

Students will obtain an integrated understanding of environmental change, through a lab and field-based hands-on approach to learning about environmental change, exposure to real-life examples and interacting with faculty members engaged in cutting-edge research on exciting new problems.

Through this, students of ESS will develop a strong foundation of environmental science; understand its linkages with human behaviour, economy and policy; learn how to conduct qualitative and quantitative research on the environment; and end with a strong focus on environmental action to achieve change on the ground.

We admit students from all streams, including science, social science and the humanities, and believe that diversity and interdisciplinarity is a key strength of this programme.

Who should join us?

Science is necessary to address environmental challenges that we face today. But a scientific view is insufficient by itself, as environmental impacts are shaped by political decision-making and influenced by local social and cultural contexts. 

Our ESS programme engages with environmental issues that require attention globally, and specially in the Indian context, by contributing to your knowledge, developing the ability for critical thinking and building skills oriented towards finding solutions.

Why study with us?

We offer Interdisciplinary Openness

Our programmes encourage you to explore and follow your interests. We design our courses to ensure that you can specialise in a subject of your choice while learning various subjects across disciplines.

A Common Curriculum for all students

You will meet all your classmates at the beginning of your course to build all the tools you need for your four years of study. This includes foundational courses, an understanding of India, interdisciplinary studies, and courses in creative expressions.

We provide Academic Assistance

Our consistent academic assistance through language support, peer tutoring, faculty mentorship, etc., ensures that you meet the programme’s academic requirements.

We ensure Financial Support

We extend need-based financial assistance to students that cover tuition and accommodation expenses.

Programme Structure


Course Structure

The Common Curriculum will introduce students to the study of the themes and areas that emphasise and build critical and analytical abilities, and sensibilities for dialogue, reflection and cooperative learning. The Common Curriculum has four sub-components organised as below:

Academic Reading and Writing: Introduces students to domain specific reading and writing skills

Creative Expressions: Students are empowered to participate with meaningful social connection, fostering a community of active and responsible citizens

Public Reasoning/​The World of Computing: The students will do one of the two courses. 

  • Public Reasoning: Introduces students to the practices of understanding as well arguing for claims in the public realm.
  • The World of Computing: This enables students to explore the potential of computing devices and computational reasoning

Understanding India: India’s history, society and possible future.

The core of the BSc in Environmental Science and Sustainability major curriculum will focus on helping students develop a strong understanding of environmental science, enabling students to appreciate the interactions between geological, chemical, physical, and biological processes that shape the earth’s environment.

Building on this core understanding of environmental science, the curriculum will further introduce students to a range of research analytical methods, both qualitative and quantitative, and to methods of environmental analysis.

Alongside, they will take courses that expose them to concepts and methods of environmental economics and policy, as well as environmental communication, and action. The below lists the required courses a student in the major will take with each course being of five credits. Students doing the ESS major will be encouraged to do either an internship or a research project on sustainability.

Students must be prepared for the world of work at the end of the programme should they choose to enter it. We aim to provide the required skills and competencies for this through a Minor featuring courses in an Occupational or Interdisciplinary theme. These sets of courses are aimed to provide both conceptual understanding and skills and tools that will allow students to contribute through work and further study. 

Students can opt for a Minor in any one of the indicative areas listed below.

The selection of these indicative areas is based on the availability of courses and our evaluation of the student’s interests and academic needs. For each cohort, a final list of available courses will be announced at the end of their second semester.

  • Biodiversity Conservation

    Biodiversity conservation, management, and habitat restoration requires a multi-pronged approach, and an interdisciplinary understanding is essential. This OT will acquaint students with the rich biodiversity of the Indian subcontinent and the associated threats to them, and provide the students with the lens to identify pertinent questions such as — what to conserve, why to conserve, when to conserve, and how to conserve. The field of conservation binds the need for species and ecosystem conservation with the requirements for human well-being, livelihood, and rights. Through this curriculum, the students will be aware of the interdisciplinary approach in this field and will… 
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  • Climate Studies

    These courses will help you develop the knowledge necessary to understand the earth’s climate systems. You will examine and analyse the role of human activity on the earth’s climate and its effects on the present and future climate scenarios, and identify the effects of climate change on biodiversity through the lens of historical changes in the Holocene. We hope you will apply systems thinking to examine the origins of the climate crisis and proposed solutions and grow comfortable with civic engagement and transfer of knowledge and resources for climate solutions at different levels. 
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  • Data, Democracy and Development

    The set of courses will orient you to think about data as an essential part of building empathy and democratic values. We ensure you have the requisite tools for data collection, analysis, presentation, and dissemination so that you can construct the right platforms and build technologies that embody democratic principles. These courses will foster a culture of investigation with data, keeping in mind questions of ethics and politics. 
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  • Design for Communities

    Design concerns itself with envisioning, planning and creating objects, spaces or interactive systems to address a need or a problem. It attempts to meet the needs of a variety of users with responses that are aligned with their specific contexts. It aims to understand situations and create holistic, appropriate solutions. While design is a large discipline with many domains, this Occupational Track will look at the design of products, the practical use of technology in various enterprises and the design of spaces for accessibility and interaction. It includes the process of ideating, developing and refining products that meet specific market… 
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  • Disability, Accessibility and Inclusion

    The Occupational Track (Minor) prepares students to understand disability as a social, political, and rights-based issue while building the practical skills needed to create more inclusive environments. Rooted in contemporary disability studies, the programme explores the shift from a medical model of disability to a social model that focuses on removing barriers and ensuring dignity, participation, and equal opportunity.Students engage with the realities of disability in India, where access is shaped by intersections of caste, class, gender, poverty, and geography. The track introduces learners to disability rights frameworks, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities… 
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  • Education

    The Occupational Track (OT) in Education at Azim Premji University leverages the liberal arts tradition by fostering a deep understanding of human society and its relationship with education. This program delves into psychology, sociology, politics, and philosophy, revealing how these disciplines influence how individuals and societies approach learning. Additionally, the arts, humanities, and diverse philosophical perspectives enrich our understanding of educational thought and practice.The OT in Education recognizes the importance of analysing educational processes and systems at various levels, from individual student experiences to national and international trends. By examining different perspectives – personal, communal, organisational, national, and international –… 
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  • Financial Management for the Social Sector

    This Occupational Track (Minor) is designed to prepare students to address the financial and governance needs of social sector organisations. Rooted in the liberal arts tradition, it combines conceptual understanding with practical skills to help students engage with the financial realities of nonprofits, community institutions, cooperatives, foundations, and mission-driven enterprises.Students learn the fundamentals of accounting, budgeting, financial planning, internal controls, and statutory compliance while also examining how finance can promote equity, accountability, and sustainability. The programme pays special attention to the role of financial systems in communities, including access to savings, credit, insurance, pensions, and other services for low-income households.Through…
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  • Heritage Studies

    This Occupational Track (Minor) prepares students to engage with heritage as a dynamic field of study and practice. Moving beyond monuments and museums, the programme recognises heritage as something continuously created, interpreted, documented, and sustained through communities, institutions, and public engagement.Students explore diverse forms of heritage in India and beyond, including cultural traditions, neighbourhood histories, archives, scientific collections, technological knowledge, landscapes, and digital records. The track combines perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences to help students understand how heritage is shaped by history, ethics, policy, and everyday practice.Through a strongly applied learning model, students develop practical skills in… 
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  • Media and Journalism

    These courses will introduce you to the critical and conceptual tools involved in media texts. This course is based on research and practice, and you will study how media texts are created and their social, historical and political contexts. This course is for students who wish to prepare for careers in journalism, communications, and social work. 
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  • Music Education

    The undergraduate Occupational Track programme in Music Education is designed in collaboration with SaPa, the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts. SaPa is on a mission to make quality music education accessible to all. A large part of this involves creating enough music teachers to build the ecosystem for music education, and creating certifications and knowledge sets to make music teachers employable, both in schools and at music institutions.The Music Education OT aligns with this objective and aims to offer students an understanding of music itself, and how music may be taught in different environments. This will help students be employable,… 
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  • Public Health

    This Occupational Track (Minor) combines critical perspectives on health with practical skills that prepare students to contribute meaningfully to public health in diverse work settings. Rooted in the liberal arts tradition, the programme helps students understand health not only as a biological condition, but as a social phenomenon shaped by economic, political, environmental, and cultural factors.Students explore key public health challenges in India and globally, while examining how governments, communities, and non-state actors respond to them. The track introduces foundational analytical skills in epidemiology to understand disease burden, patterns of illness, and population health outcomes. It also develops the ability… 
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  • Sports and Fitness

    We believe that a regimen of physical activity can have a powerful effect on an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Sport can be used as an effective tool to help an individual learn crucial life skills and also to build an empathetic, equitable community. In these set of courses, we want you to have a powerful experience of sport not just as a physical activity but as a way to build yourself and your social surroundings. We also want to teach you ways in which you can create these transformational experiences for others. 
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  • Technology for Social Good

    The Technology for Social Good occupational track has been designed based on the Azim Premji Foundation’s extensive experience in working with social sector organizations. Many of these organizations are addressing long-standing social problems through utmost dedication and a strong desire to improve the society we live in. There is a lot of scope for facilitating the work of these organizations through the use of digital technology. While accomplishing social change is a slow process requiring long-term engagement, digital technology can assist these organizations in making their operations more effective and by permitting better utilization of scarce resources. At present, these… 
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Students can craft their own educational experience by selecting courses in the following ways:

  • Students will have the option to take additional courses in their Disciplinary major
  • Interdisciplinary minor that will enable them for their further higher studies or career pathways.

These courses could also be selected to enhance and broaden their

  • Language skills and Quantitative reasoning capacities/​programming skills
  • Understanding of themes outside their Major subject

Classroom Practices

Going beyond the traditional lectures in class and labs, the programme will include demonstrations, field experiments, field trips (both independent, and guided by faculty), audio-visual teaching, and guest lectures. These will be aided by readings from textbooks, fiction and non-fiction writing, peer-reviewed journal articles and popular pieces. Debates and discussions in class will be facilitated by the instructors around specific topics of contemporary interest.

Publications

Articles by students of sustainability published in Nature inFocus

To know more, click here.

Our Graduates

The ESS degree will equip graduates with a strong understanding of environmental science, the capacity to assess and monitor pollution, conduct environmental impact assessments, generate GIS and remote sensing maps of environmental change, and engage with environmental policy and communication.

Potential careers in environmental science and sustainability are thus diverse and varied — the horizons are vast, and the sky is the only limit!

Careers can be indoors and lab-based, or outdoors and field-based, and can draw on skills and interest in core environmental science; media, humanities and art; or issues of environmental justice, economics and policy.

Students can explore work in pollution monitoring labs, environmental think tanks, urban municipalities, civil society organisations working on environmental restoration, and CSR sustainability.

Finally, students may also want to explore advanced degrees in environmental science, environmental economics, ecology, sustainability and allied areas.

Work Opportunities and Roles

Environmental Scientist, Environmental Science Teacher, Environmental Chemist, Environmental Consultant, Research Associate, Field Researcher, Environmental/​Climate Journalist, Sustainability Associate, Data Humanist Associate, Environmental Data Support Associate, Data Visualisation Analyst, Geospatial Analyst, Environmental Communications Associate, Environmental Policy Analyst, Programme Associates

AVT05876

Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability Laboratories 

Pioneering environmental research for sustainable solutions

Know more

Student projects from our Earth System Science Course

As part of the Earth System Science course, students explored a range of environmental
problems through a systems thinking approach. Below are some of the projects:

Urbanisation and its Environmental Impact

  • Effects of Urbanization on Land Surface Temperature in Bengaluru, Adithya, Anushka, Tanisha, and Ujjwal, mentored by Santonu Goswami
  • Discovering the Mystery of Bellandur Lake, Prakriti, Sivapriya, Shreeya and Spandanaa, mentored by  Santonu Goswami

Lake and Wetland Ecosystems

Analysing the East Kolkata Wetlands, Adrita, Gayathri, Kajal and Niyati, mentored by  Santonu Goswami

Forest and Biodiversity Conservation

  • Guardians of the Coastline: A Study on Mangrove Conservation in Maharashtra, Tanushree, Anay, Arjun and Yash, mentored by  Santonu Goswami
  • The Impact of Human Activity on Deforestation in Karnataka, Ishika, Riya, Swati and Sanjana, mentored by  Santonu Goswami
  • Human-Elephant Conflict in the Nilgiris, Ishan Kelkar, Ishaan Jain, Moh and Parvi, mentored by  Santonu Goswami

Mountain Disasters and Vulnerabilities

  • Sinking of Joshimath, Rohit, Vikram and Nandana, mentored by  Santonu Goswami
  • Impacts of Tourism on the Ecosystem of the Himalayas, Priyamvada, Harshita and Sujal, mentored by  Santonu Goswami

Agricultural Practices and Rural Livelihoods

  • Financial Impact of BT Cotton on Indian Farmers, Bhavitha, Arishal, Sundaram and Pranav, mentored by  Santonu Goswami
  • Sittilingi — A Case Study, Tanvi, Trishaa, Jigmet and Mrutyunjay,  mentored by  Santonu Goswami

Campus Biodiversity Documentation

Second-year students of BSc in Environmental Science and Sustainability did a campus bioblitz, as part of a course, collecting information on flora and fauna on campus. They looked at trees, peered into the undergrowth and rooted in the leaf litter. The species were identified using citizen science apps and the data collected was uploaded along with pictures. 

The bioblitz was aimed at encouraging students to turn into citizen scientists and contributing to collecting baseline data on the campus biodiversity. It was also a lot of fun!

Watch out this space for exciting updates from the students of this programme.

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