By Deeksha Teri,TN Education Desk

Copyright timesnownews

Shantanu Agarwal, the Indian climate activist who has been named in the 2025 TIME100 Next, is not just an IIT Roorkee graduate. Agarwal was a gold medalist and a University topper of his batch. Shantanu had pursued BTech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, where he was declared as the ‘Gold Medalist and University topper. (Summa cum laude)’. As per the information shared by him on his LinkedIn profile, he was awarded the President of India Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal for outstanding proficiency including character, conduct and excellence in academic performance, extra-curricular activities and social services. Not just academics, he also earned a name in the history books of the reputed Indian institute by establishing a Information Management Group. This was a group of enterprising students who managed and created internet/ intranet services for the institute. Agarwal, here, led a group of more than 50 students to create the foundations of a new network infrastructure in IIT Roorkee. In addition to this, he was also involved in several other activities and societies including the Squash team, Rowing team, Institute of Engineers India, Information Management Group, and the Literary Society. During his time at IIT Roorkee, he was also announced as the University squash champion. He then went on to pursue an Entrepreneurship course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He completed two full credit courses focused on technology, innovation, commercialisation and entrepreneurship. Agarwal worked directly with technology labs in product development and developed ideas to commercialise technologies in water and energy sectors. His hunger for learning didn’t end there and he got enrolled in a full time MBA programme at the Harvard Business School. Here, he won the Dubilier prize for entrepreneurship. The Dubilier Prize for the Student Business Track of the New Venture Competition was established by New York and London-based private investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in 1998 in honor of their founder, Martin Dubilier (MBA 1952), to support entrepreneurship. During his time at the Harvard University, he was also a part of the Energy club (where he served as the President), VCPE club, Entrepreneurship club, Sales club, Operations management club, and the Turnaround club. He was also the Convener for the Harvard Energy Conference 2009. Shantanu has now been named in the ‘2025 TIME100 Next’ list for his work at the Mati Carbon, a company that turns one of earth’s oldest natural processes into a powerful climate solution. “By spreading finely ground basalt rock on farmland, Mati locks away carbon for centuries while restoring soil, boosting harvests, and increasing farmers’ incomes. In April, Mati won the $50 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal. With operations in India, Tanzania, and Zambia, Shantanu has an ambitious goal: reaching 100 million farmers and removing over 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2050,” said Wendy Schmidt, president and co-founder of the Schmidt Family Foundation.