Leh, July 3: The inaugural ceremony of the International conference on Designing a Sustainable Future: Advances and Opportunities in Green Chemistry was held at Leh campus, University of Ladakh. The conference is organised by University of Ladakh in collaboration with Green Chemistry Network Centre, New Delhi and Indian Society of Analytical Scientist (ISAS), Delhi Chapter. 

Member of Parliament, Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering, chief guest expressed his gratitude to the University for organising the event and stressed that such conferences provide a platform for exchange of ideas and exploration of ground breaking researches that push boundaries of understanding and accelerate adoption of sustainable practices . He added that Green Chemistry offers a pathway to harmonise human progress with ecological balance. Further, he mentioned about the government’s commitment and schemes to address the challenges of climate change , of which one of the missions include adoption of hydrogen technology in the region to reduce carbon emission. 

In addition to that, he also mentioned the adoption of solar energy, effort being made in exploring geothermal sources, and replacing diesel usage by adopting eco-friendly mobility sources in the region. Also, added that the Mission Organic Development Initiative (MODI) aims to make Ladakh a certified organic agricultural state by 2025. 

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Dr. D.Srinivasa Reddy, CSIR-IICT Hyderabad; Dr. GS Kapur, Chairman, ISAS Delhi Chapter; Dr. RK Sharma, GNCE, Hindu college, DU; Dr. OP Chaurasia and Dr. Avtar Matharu, University of York London who joined the conference virtually were present as guest of honours at the conference. The guests delivered speeches and presentations to identify key environmental challenges and also talked about the alternatives/solutions through application of Green Chemistry.

Earlier, Professor SK Mehta, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ladakh welcomed the guests and expressed his gratitude for their presence at the conference. He mentioned that Green chemistry is a noble philosophical approach for environmental protection to sustain the world as compared to conventional chemistry and that it aims to reduce, recycle, and eliminate use of toxic chemicals. Additionally, he emphasised that the conference will help in generating important deliberations and knowledge, which will help in finding creative alternative solutions and processes which are eco-friendly. 

The conference was attended by various experts, academicians, researchers, scientists, and students.