Climate change often feels like a problem too big for one person to solve. But for Prachi Shevgaonkar, the journey began with a simple question she asked herself as a college student: “What can I do?”
Born and raised in Pune, Prachi studied Mass Communication with a specialization in Advertising at Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication. During her first semester, a Google search on the world’s biggest challenge led her to climate change. Curious to understand its real impact, she didn’t stop at reading reports.
She volunteered with Bengaluru’s Hasiru Dala waste-picker community, worked alongside farmers in Maharashtra, and travelled across India documenting how climate change was affecting ordinary lives. Those experiences convinced her that climate change wasn’t just about melting glaciers it was about people’s homes, livelihoods and health.
Instead of waiting for governments or corporations, Prachi decided to begin at home. Together with her family, she set a goal to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions by 10% every year. But she soon realised that while people wanted to help, they had no easy way to measure their impact. That idea eventually became Cool The Globe.
The Cool The Globe app helps individuals and organisations calculate and reduce their carbon footprint through hundreds of simple everyday actions from transport and food choices to energy use and waste management. Users can set reduction goals, track avoided emissions and even offset their footprint by supporting tree plantations.
What started as a college project has now become a global movement. According to the platform, people from over 110 countries have used the app, helping avoid more than 2 million kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions. Prachi also announced that the app crossed one lakh users and was featured by Google Play for its innovation.
Her work has earned international recognition. Prachi was named Young Changemaker of the Year by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, represented India at COP27 after being selected as one of only four Indian youth delegates, received the COP27 Young Scholar Award, became the youngest and first Indian on the advisory board of the Climate Leadership Coalition (Finland), serves as a Climate Change Advisor to Tata Power, and was selected as a Lead Fellow of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water’s Next Generation India Fellowship. She has also been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia.
Prachi’s story is remarkable not because she invented a complex technology, but because she made climate action feel achievable. She reminds us that meaningful change doesn’t always begin with a breakthrough in a laboratory. Sometimes, it begins with one person deciding that small, consistent actions when multiplied by thousands can change the future.
