Inside The Climate Party: How a New Indian Collective Is Redefining Who Speaks on Climate Change
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On a blistering Sunday afternoon in Delhi, Rohit Rajput, a former CEO, found himself in a room for a meeting he had read about on social media. There were glasses of water and little chits where you had to write your name and bring them back the next time, if you cared to return. “We were encouraged to use public transport, and from the moment I walked into that room, I realised this is not just another climate conference,” said Rohit. Now managing partner of Intersection Ventures, a climate-only investment firm, he loved the fact that it was held on a Sunday afternoon in summer. In a way, he said, “It was self-selecting—why would anyone do this?”
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He was attending an early meeting of The Climate Party (TCP), founded by chartered accountant, ex-consultant, and entrepreneur Sayesha Dogra, who was inspired to do something meaningful after an expedition to Antarctica in 2022 as part of the programme called “Leadership on the Edge” by explorer and activist Sir Robert Swan’s 2041 Foundation to better understand climate change.
TCP started off with a post on LinkedIn in 2023, and a meeting in a public space in Gurgaon—where a surprisingly large number of people turned up, says Sayesha, who had by then quit her job in Dubai and launched a weekly blog called Anticlimatic. Her first post in February 2023 struck a self-deprecating note with a question to her readers: “Who even are you, you ask? I’m one of the few lunatics who decided to go on an expedition to Antarctica last year, only to come back and wonder, ‘What is my existence even worth?’” This introspection led her to create TCP, inspired by Sir Robert, the first man to walk to both poles, who said, “The greatest threat to the planet is the belief that someone else will save it”.1
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She wanted to move away from the end-of-the-world scenarios around climate change depicted in the media and create a lively multi-disciplinary community engaged in collaborating on solutions. Since that meeting in Gurgaon, in a span of less than two years, TCP has engaged with more than 2400 professionals in the climate sector and has now evolved into a go-to space for climate change, as a member described it. It hosts specially curated events in seven Indian cities, with the one in Chennai being launched in April, and has a network of nearly 900 professionals from various fields, all connected to climate change.
TCP volunteers host the meetings in person in cities, and some have netted jobs or recruited people through this interface. It has partnered with institutions like the Indian Institute of Science, IIT Delhi, the World Resources Institute, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Godrej & Boyce, the Swiss Consulate, Dalberg, and Matrix Partners, and along with the Ministry of Jal Shakti and IIT Kanpur, it was part of the first Climate Investments & Technology Impact Summit in Delhi in 2023.
Creating a “scenius”
Sayesha’s idea was mainly to create a “scenius”, a word coined by musician Brian Eno to describe the collective genius or capacity of innovation and creativity from a group of people, resonating with Margaret Mead’s famous conviction: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. This scenius or collective genius of a scene, for climate solutions rests on holistic solutions which incorporate multiple perspectives. TCP has made the pursuit of climate action fun, she said.
“We are the only platform to have built a repository of climate games created by researchers from across the world. We also run experiential learning programmes. Also, it has become a platform to amplify good work by environmental activists, and it has broken access barriers for people across all ages to their climate heroes.” She cites an example of Mumbai activist Rishi Aggarwal, a TCP member, being featured on actor Amir Khan’s popular TV show Satyameva Jayate.
Also Read | Climate finance needs innovation—and accountability from the wealthy
At the April launch of TCP in Chennai, a participant, Deepa Sai, who blogged her experience, said the event made networking feel like play, not pain. “It had a cosy, informal vibe—no boring panels, no endless lectures—just real conversations, laughter, games, and the kind of energy you hope for but rarely find.”2 Deepa called her first TCP “a playful, powerful space for changemakers” and a lot of TCP members would agree. In case you think this is only a fun club, perish the thought.
If the meetings and networking are flavoured with optimism, there is a great deal of commitment and conviction in each of the members, and in fact, one of them, Debansh Sahoo, an analyst from Ankur Capital, said that he would really enjoy a deeper level of engagement with the members. TCP also offers a platform to release reports or provide information about them, as for instance Sahoo’s company, which has just launched a report on “Transforming India’s Core Sectors”, focusing on India’s climate tech investment surge in key sectors.
Sayesha Dogra, founder of The Climate Party during her expedition to Antarctica in 2022.
| Photo Credit:
anticlimatic.substack.com
Some members felt connected with the TCP, as it offered a space for networking across community actions, innovations, and policy makers. “Everyone has a role to play. Personally, it is very helpful to know that there are others making the same journey as you, and seeing everyone taking baby steps to climate action in different ways is nice,” said Akash. B (name changed). Climate change is an all-encompassing and interconnected topic and this kind of space is what is needed.
TCP also organises hands-on experiences for members and one such trip was a special visit to the Godrej & Boyce-owned mangroves in Mumbai, where visitors understood the importance of having such carbon sinks. “It was powerful to see the expanse of mangroves and their role in the ecosystem,” said Akash. As a new entrant to the world of climate, he felt less overwhelmed after joining TCP and interacting with a community.
TCP’s website quips, “where hot ideas cool the planet” and is it not a truism, going by the rich expertise that is available in this community. For some, like Pranali Mehta who started on their own climate journey two years ago, TCP launching in Hyderabad was a gateway to a deeper involvement in volunteering as a host for events in the city. “In Hyderabad, I didn’t know anyone working in the climate sector, and there was nothing like the physical space and interaction that TCP offered.”
As a volunteer, she works as the TCP lead in Bengaluru, where she has moved to now, and decides the theme of the event and organises it. While some TCP events are free, some are paid, though there is no membership fee. It was also an opportunity for personal branding for many young professionals like her. TCP brings a certain lightness to a serious topic, she said.
Curiosity also drives some to explore TCP and Aishwarya Ganesh is a communication professional who checked out the TCP launch in Chennai recently. She was impressed with the diversity in age groups, with even a child attending the session. “If you are young and interested in climate change in Chennai, TCP offers an avenue—it adds value in terms of the connections you make and the interactions with people who have credibility on the topic. This space can help make the right connections, foster careers, and also discuss burning topics of the day, for example, the floods in Chennai. It also helps collaborations and solutions, not only in terms of personal careers,” she said.
Sharun, a development professional, said he had not attended an informal meeting in the climate space in Chennai. Supporting climate tech startups, he was keen on knowing what people were talking about and what Chennai had to say and ended up meeting a lot of people: students and investors, and found different solutions, for example, to clean a beach. Someone had invented a robot to do the job, which was an interesting solution, he said.
The climate startup and investment sector was thriving, and he said the conversations were climate-driven, which was unusual. TCP offered scope as a learning space and it was not a transactional approach. For him, the next step would be to collaborate and get something done.
From contacts to community
For the few journalists who are members, like Ronojoy Mazumdar, TCP stood out because it didn’t feel like a corporate-style networking event, and the feel was very different. “Here, it was not a PR exercise, and you felt that you needed ideas to connect. Initially, it was a novel space physically to meet people with a similar mindset, and later, I was similarly motivated to figure out what kind of work can be done. It’s a place to meet a lot of people—practitioners, activists, and students. One good outcome is that now I have developed relationships with people whom I am working with on a voluntary basis,” he said.
It is an old-school kind of networking, and the WhatsApp group offers quality discussion.” As a journalist, if I were covering climate change, this would be a great resource. TCP built followers [from the time] when the sessions were free and no refreshments were served,” he said, and its growing following demonstrated there is tremendous value in that space, which is also beneficial for journalists.
Climate parties that TCP hosted across India in April.
| Photo Credit:
The Climate Party/LinkedIn
For Rohit, it was the desire to work in climate that led him to quit his old job and support initiatives like Sustainability Mafia, a company closer to his heart. “It’s a lonely journey at a senior corporate level but when you show up at such a forum, you realise you are not alone and that is a great source of support. I met like-minded people, as there is no space for us climate guys to get together. I even found someone who lives close to me with similar interests in golf and I realised I didn’t even know my neighbourhood.” For him, TCP is acquiring the colours of a grassroots movement and it offered an inclusive space for young and older people. “TCP has become the offline version of Google Search—there’s so much knowledge in the community”, he remarks.
Also Read | India’s climate strategy falls short of its green ambitions
A young professional, Shruti, who attended the TCP event in Delhi, found her current employer through such meetings. Many professionals attend TCP meetings, and getting a foot in through the door goes a long way, she said. She realised the potential of what Sayesha was building and is now a dedicated volunteer and hosts events from air pollution to material recovery. TCP has witnessed a robust growth in numbers and footfalls at meetings and has had a snowballing effect, she said. There is a balance between informality and the quality of the discussion at events, as well as transparency.
As a development sector professional said, TCP had an early mover advantage as there were limited climate platforms. It helped in getting to know the world of climate change investment, knowledge, and players, and it’s a value add to know the players in the private sector and academia and get an overarching idea of the ecosystem and drill down into that system and tap into that experience and people. For her to move into a climate-focused organisation, being a TCP member enhanced her profile, and it was useful to say that she had connections with experience and she could reach out to people with capacity.
TCP was also an important actor for government policy and innovation, and it could reach out to a diverse set of players via TCP. Recently, the Bengaluru Climate Action Plan was presented to members of the TCP, and there were a number of people from other cities who attended. Not only did the presentation gain leverage with the government, but it also made connections with other cities interested in such plans.
With a broadening network of different players in the climate sector, TCP has evolved into a unique platform to foster collaboration and discussion among diverse climate stakeholders, from CXOs to students, across domains—entrepreneurs, corporates, High Commissions, policymakers, scientists, researchers, investors, educators, and journalists. A scenius is definitely in the making.
Meena Menon is a freelance journalist and visiting postdoctoral fellow at Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute, University of Leeds. This story is part of The 89 Percent Project, an initiative of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.
Footnotes:
1) https://anticlimatic.substack.com/
2) https://nuggetsforneophiles.substack.com/p/the-climate-party-where-networking?triedRedirect=true
On a blistering Sunday afternoon in Delhi, Rohit Rajput, a former CEO, found himself in a room for a meeting he had read about on social media. There were glasses of water and little chits where you had to write your name and bring them back the next time, if you cared to return. “We were encouraged to use public transport, and from the moment I walked into that room, I realised this is not just another climate conference,” said Rohit. Now managing partner of Intersection Ventures, a climate-only investment firm, he loved the fact that it was held on a Sunday afternoon in summer. In a way, he said, “It was self-selecting—why would anyone do this?”
He was attending an early meeting of The Climate Party (TCP), founded by chartered accountant, ex-consultant, and entrepreneur Sayesha Dogra, who was inspired to do something meaningful after an expedition to Antarctica in 2022 as part of the programme called “Leadership on the Edge” by explorer and activist Sir Robert Swan’s 2041 Foundation to better understand climate change.
TCP started off with a post on LinkedIn in 2023, and a meeting in a public space in Gurgaon—where a surprisingly large number of people turned up, says Sayesha, who had by then quit her job in Dubai and launched a weekly blog called Anticlimatic. Her first post in February 2023 struck a self-deprecating note with a question to her readers: “Who even are you, you ask? I’m one of the few lunatics who decided to go on an expedition to Antarctica last year, only to come back and wonder, ‘What is my existence even worth?’” This introspection led her to create TCP, inspired by Sir Robert, the first man to walk to both poles, who said, “The greatest threat to the planet is the belief that someone else will save it”.1
She wanted to move away from the end-of-the-world scenarios around climate change depicted in the media and create a lively multi-disciplinary community engaged in collaborating on solutions. Since that meeting in Gurgaon, in a span of less than two years, TCP has engaged with more than 2400 professionals in the climate sector and has now evolved into a go-to space for climate change, as a member described it. It hosts specially curated events in seven Indian cities, with the one in Chennai being launched in April, and has a network of nearly 900 professionals from various fields, all connected to climate change.
TCP volunteers host the meetings in person in cities, and some have netted jobs or recruited people through this interface. It has partnered with institutions like the Indian Institute of Science, IIT Delhi, the World Resources Institute, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Godrej & Boyce, the Swiss Consulate, Dalberg, and Matrix Partners, and along with the Ministry of Jal Shakti and IIT Kanpur, it was part of the first Climate Investments & Technology Impact Summit in Delhi in 2023.
Creating a “scenius”
Sayesha’s idea was mainly to create a “scenius”, a word coined by musician Brian Eno to describe the collective genius or capacity of innovation and creativity from a group of people, resonating with Margaret Mead’s famous conviction: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. This scenius or collective genius of a scene, for climate solutions rests on holistic solutions which incorporate multiple perspectives. TCP has made the pursuit of climate action fun, she said.
“We are the only platform to have built a repository of climate games created by researchers from across the world. We also run experiential learning programmes. Also, it has become a platform to amplify good work by environmental activists, and it has broken access barriers for people across all ages to their climate heroes.” She cites an example of Mumbai activist Rishi Aggarwal, a TCP member, being featured on actor Amir Khan’s popular TV show Satyameva Jayate.
Also Read | Climate finance needs innovation—and accountability from the wealthy
At the April launch of TCP in Chennai, a participant, Deepa Sai, who blogged her experience, said the event made networking feel like play, not pain. “It had a cosy, informal vibe—no boring panels, no endless lectures—just real conversations, laughter, games, and the kind of energy you hope for but rarely find.”2 Deepa called her first TCP “a playful, powerful space for changemakers” and a lot of TCP members would agree. In case you think this is only a fun club, perish the thought.
If the meetings and networking are flavoured with optimism, there is a great deal of commitment and conviction in each of the members, and in fact, one of them, Debansh Sahoo, an analyst from Ankur Capital, said that he would really enjoy a deeper level of engagement with the members. TCP also offers a platform to release reports or provide information about them, as for instance Sahoo’s company, which has just launched a report on “Transforming India’s Core Sectors”, focusing on India’s climate tech investment surge in key sectors.
Sayesha Dogra, founder of The Climate Party during her expedition to Antarctica in 2022.
| Photo Credit:
anticlimatic.substack.com
Some members felt connected with the TCP, as it offered a space for networking across community actions, innovations, and policy makers. “Everyone has a role to play. Personally, it is very helpful to know that there are others making the same journey as you, and seeing everyone taking baby steps to climate action in different ways is nice,” said Akash. B (name changed). Climate change is an all-encompassing and interconnected topic and this kind of space is what is needed.
TCP also organises hands-on experiences for members and one such trip was a special visit to the Godrej & Boyce-owned mangroves in Mumbai, where visitors understood the importance of having such carbon sinks. “It was powerful to see the expanse of mangroves and their role in the ecosystem,” said Akash. As a new entrant to the world of climate, he felt less overwhelmed after joining TCP and interacting with a community.
TCP’s website quips, “where hot ideas cool the planet” and is it not a truism, going by the rich expertise that is available in this community. For some, like Pranali Mehta who started on their own climate journey two years ago, TCP launching in Hyderabad was a gateway to a deeper involvement in volunteering as a host for events in the city. “In Hyderabad, I didn’t know anyone working in the climate sector, and there was nothing like the physical space and interaction that TCP offered.”
As a volunteer, she works as the TCP lead in Bengaluru, where she has moved to now, and decides the theme of the event and organises it. While some TCP events are free, some are paid, though there is no membership fee. It was also an opportunity for personal branding for many young professionals like her. TCP brings a certain lightness to a serious topic, she said.
Curiosity also drives some to explore TCP and Aishwarya Ganesh is a communication professional who checked out the TCP launch in Chennai recently. She was impressed with the diversity in age groups, with even a child attending the session. “If you are young and interested in climate change in Chennai, TCP offers an avenue—it adds value in terms of the connections you make and the interactions with people who have credibility on the topic. This space can help make the right connections, foster careers, and also discuss burning topics of the day, for example, the floods in Chennai. It also helps collaborations and solutions, not only in terms of personal careers,” she said.
Sharun, a development professional, said he had not attended an informal meeting in the climate space in Chennai. Supporting climate tech startups, he was keen on knowing what people were talking about and what Chennai had to say and ended up meeting a lot of people: students and investors, and found different solutions, for example, to clean a beach. Someone had invented a robot to do the job, which was an interesting solution, he said.
The climate startup and investment sector was thriving, and he said the conversations were climate-driven, which was unusual. TCP offered scope as a learning space and it was not a transactional approach. For him, the next step would be to collaborate and get something done.
From contacts to community
For the few journalists who are members, like Ronojoy Mazumdar, TCP stood out because it didn’t feel like a corporate-style networking event, and the feel was very different. “Here, it was not a PR exercise, and you felt that you needed ideas to connect. Initially, it was a novel space physically to meet people with a similar mindset, and later, I was similarly motivated to figure out what kind of work can be done. It’s a place to meet a lot of people—practitioners, activists, and students. One good outcome is that now I have developed relationships with people whom I am working with on a voluntary basis,” he said.
It is an old-school kind of networking, and the WhatsApp group offers quality discussion.” As a journalist, if I were covering climate change, this would be a great resource. TCP built followers [from the time] when the sessions were free and no refreshments were served,” he said, and its growing following demonstrated there is tremendous value in that space, which is also beneficial for journalists.
Climate parties that TCP hosted across India in April.
| Photo Credit:
The Climate Party/LinkedIn
For Rohit, it was the desire to work in climate that led him to quit his old job and support initiatives like Sustainability Mafia, a company closer to his heart. “It’s a lonely journey at a senior corporate level but when you show up at such a forum, you realise you are not alone and that is a great source of support. I met like-minded people, as there is no space for us climate guys to get together. I even found someone who lives close to me with similar interests in golf and I realised I didn’t even know my neighbourhood.” For him, TCP is acquiring the colours of a grassroots movement and it offered an inclusive space for young and older people. “TCP has become the offline version of Google Search—there’s so much knowledge in the community”, he remarks.
Also Read | India’s climate strategy falls short of its green ambitions
A young professional, Shruti, who attended the TCP event in Delhi, found her current employer through such meetings. Many professionals attend TCP meetings, and getting a foot in through the door goes a long way, she said. She realised the potential of what Sayesha was building and is now a dedicated volunteer and hosts events from air pollution to material recovery. TCP has witnessed a robust growth in numbers and footfalls at meetings and has had a snowballing effect, she said. There is a balance between informality and the quality of the discussion at events, as well as transparency.
As a development sector professional said, TCP had an early mover advantage as there were limited climate platforms. It helped in getting to know the world of climate change investment, knowledge, and players, and it’s a value add to know the players in the private sector and academia and get an overarching idea of the ecosystem and drill down into that system and tap into that experience and people. For her to move into a climate-focused organisation, being a TCP member enhanced her profile, and it was useful to say that she had connections with experience and she could reach out to people with capacity.
TCP was also an important actor for government policy and innovation, and it could reach out to a diverse set of players via TCP. Recently, the Bengaluru Climate Action Plan was presented to members of the TCP, and there were a number of people from other cities who attended. Not only did the presentation gain leverage with the government, but it also made connections with other cities interested in such plans.
With a broadening network of different players in the climate sector, TCP has evolved into a unique platform to foster collaboration and discussion among diverse climate stakeholders, from CXOs to students, across domains—entrepreneurs, corporates, High Commissions, policymakers, scientists, researchers, investors, educators, and journalists. A scenius is definitely in the making.
Meena Menon is a freelance journalist and visiting postdoctoral fellow at Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute, University of Leeds. This story is part of The 89 Percent Project, an initiative of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.
Footnotes:
1) https://anticlimatic.substack.com/
2) https://nuggetsforneophiles.substack.com/p/the-climate-party-where-networking?triedRedirect=true
