14th October, 2026: Lovely Professional University (LPU) has received the Platinum Green Impact Award 2026, the highest recognition under the Seed Balls for Sustainable Campuses Initiative 2026 organised by the National EduTrust of India (NEI). The nationwide campaign invited higher education institutions to prepare and responsibly disperse seed balls containing tree seeds as a practical exercise in biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration and environmental education. As part of the initiative, LPU prepared 8,572 seed balls using 11 tree species, involving 422 students, and dispersed them across five geo-tagged locations spanning Kapurthala, Amritsar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar districts of Punjab.
LPU’s participation is particularly significant because of the ecological composition of the seed balls. Of the total 8,572 prepared, 7,643 seed balls, or 89.2 per cent, used native species, while 929, or 10.8 per cent, used naturalised species. Native species included Karanj, Shisham, Amaltas, Kachnar, Moringa, Kadam, Jamun, and Arjun, while naturalised species included Imli, Gulmohar, and Pink Shower.
The campaign was designed by NEI to take environmental learning beyond awareness and into direct participation. Students and faculty were encouraged to understand local tree species, prepare seed balls using natural materials, and disperse them at ecologically suitable locations. The initiative formed part of a larger nationwide effort involving around 350 institutions, which collectively prepared more than 10 lakh seed balls and dispersed approximately 8 lakh of them.
Dr. Ashok Kumar Mittal, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and Founder Chancellor of LPU, stated, “Sustainability cannot remain an idea discussed within classrooms or captured only in institutional reports, it must find its way into the soil, the communities and the choices we make every day. This prestigious award is encouraging because it recognises this spirit of participation, but more importantly, it reinforces a vision of education where knowledge is connected with responsibility towards nature and society”
At LPU, the activity extended beyond the university campus into different ecological settings. Of the 8,572 seed balls prepared, 6,072 were dispersed at field sites, while 2,500 were distributed through Green Gift packets. The documented dispersal sites included the LPU campus and adjoining areas in Phagwara, the AH1 Corridor in Kapurthala, Budha Theh near Beas, Lahorimal on the AH1 Corridor in Amritsar and the Chandigarh Jalandhar Expressway at Balachaur. Together, these sites covered approximately 130 kilometres of green corridors, including campus green belts, highway green belts, riverine embankments, roadside verges and expressway green belts.
The initiative engaged students from across 27 academic schools, with 422 students participating in the seed activity. Alongside the dispersal exercise, five awareness activities were conducted to connect the practical work with wider conversations around environmental responsibility, biodiversity and climate action.
The Platinum Green Impact Award 2026 adds a ground-level dimension to this 25-year journey, translating LPU’s broader sustainability vision into direct student participation and ecological action. Earlier in 2026, LPU was also recognised in the Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Rankings 2026, where it was placed 23rd globally and emerged as the highest ranked institution in India for its contribution towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Together, these recognitions reflect an approach to sustainability that spans institutional infrastructure, education, biodiversity, and measurable action on the ground.
