Speakers at WSDS 2019

Mr. Rabhi Abdessalem
Principle Programme Manager,
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies

Abdessalem Rabhi

Dr. Rabhi Abdessalem, from Tunisia, is a holder of PhD in comprehensive economic policies. He has joined IGES since Oct.2007. He was assigned to conduct various projects related to business and environment, mainly those regarding corporate environmental managements and low carbon technology transfer and application. Currently, he is a task manager of projects related to the application of Japanese low carbon technologies in developing countries in Asia and the Pacific.
He has been able to engage and interact with various stakeholders (Central/Local Government, civil society, private sector, financial institutions, academia, etc.) to conduct Desk work, “on the ground” activities and online knowledge and information sharing. Countries which he covered until FY2014 include: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. In FY2015 and FY2016, he lead and managed a project on Technology Assessments (TA) focusing on the countries previously mentioned along with others in Central and Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Poland and Hungary), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), etc. Part of the activities under TA project were jointly conducted with leading international organizations such as: IRENA, AIT_RRC.AP, UNU_IAS, REC, TERI, etc.

Prof. Krishna Achuta Rao
Associate Professor,
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Krishna Achuta Rao is at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences,Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. After obtaining a B.E in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Mathematics from BITS Pilani in 1986, he received his Masters in Engineering and Ph. D. from Tulane University in New Orleans, U.S.A. He then worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California before returning to India in 2007 to teach at IIT Delhi.
His research has focused on using climate models to understand how earth’s climate is affectedby natural as well as anthropogenic factors and how it will impact natural and human systems.  His current interests include attribution of extreme weather events, changing risk of extreme events under a warming climate and adaptation to climate change.
Krishna has been associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2001 and is a lead author on the upcomingSixth Assessment Report. He also serves as a member of the CLIVAR Scientific Steering Group, Research Advisory Panelof the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (Noida), as well as on numerous national and international review panels.

Dr. Alok Adholeya
Programme Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Dr. Adholeya has over past 31 years' significant experience and expertise in soil fertility, soil and plant microbiology, nutrient cycling, bioremediation using microbes and plants, biofuels, mass production technology for mycorrhizae
biofertilizer using transformed root organ cultures, molecular characterization and commercialization of mycorrhizal biofertilizers, Characterization and physiology of microalgae, rate limiting factor platform. Dr Alok Adholeya leads the teams on mycorrhizal research, Nanobiotechnlogy, micropropagation technology, community farming and livelihood.
Dr Adholeya has chaired numerous advisory committees on agriculture and bioremediation, published over 170 research articles, guided 22 doctoral students and many masters' students and has been an Honorary Professor of Deakin University, Australia since March 2010.He also worked as Director, Product and Technology Development in Mycorrhizal Applications, Oregon,USA between 2014-2017, a subsidiary company of Sumitomo Chemicals.

Mr. SMH Adil
Simulation Specialist - Built Environments,
GEED Simulations Pvt. Ltd.

Adil is a Built Environment Simulation Specialist he has 16 years of research, consultancy, training experience in Mathematical modeling for infrastructure design/optimization fields. Besides this he has served as a visiting faculty in School of Planning and Architecture ITO New Delhi, ISHRAE Education Research Foundation, Middle East Centre for Sustainable Development (UAE), Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmadabad, and Jamia Millia University. He also authored and published research papers in national and international conferences in the related fields. He is one of the founding members of IBPSA (I) International Building Performance Simulation Association - India chapter. Where he along with other members, generate awareness of simulation-based engineering and design passionately.
He did his Mechanical Engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia University and a post graduate degree in "Energy and Environmental Management" with specialization of Energy System Modeling, from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Currently, he serves as a Director in GEED Simulation Pvt. Ltd, beside his consultancy and research engagement with other bodies and institutions through his proprietary firm. His active engagement and interest include simulation of built environments for energy optimization, comfort and life safety.

Mr. O.P. Agarwal
CEO,
WRI India

O.P. Agarwal

Dr O.P. Agarwal is currently the India Country Director of the World Resources Institute and the CEO of its Indian arm, known as WRI India. He was an IAS officer of the 1979 batch in the Assam cadre. He held several positions, both under the central government and the Government of Assam. Among them were Joint Secretary in charge of Urban Transport in the Ministry of Urban Development and Secretary for Transport in Assam. He was the principal author of the National Urban Transport Policy for the country, which was adopted in 2006 and has remained the key document guiding urban transport investments since then. He has worked in the World Bank for 6 years as its global Urban Transport Adviser in Washington DC. He has been with the World Resources Institute since June 2017.
He has written several papers on urban transport policy and governance issues.He has recently written a book entitled “Emerging Paradigms in Urban Mobility Planning, Financing and Implementation”.
He has a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, aMaster’s degree in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Ms. Sangeeta Agarwal
Senior Sector Specialist Natural Resource Management & Climate Adaptation,
KfW

Sangeeta Agarwal

Sangeeta has twenty two years of work experience ranging from direct engagement at the grassroots, particularly with tribal communities from different parts of the country, and working with field and national level NGOs, to research institutes and consulting firms in the USA, and with international donor organization in India. Currently she is engaged in developing and facilitating international cooperation programmes in climate resilient and sustainable development in India, particularly in the natural resource and forestry sectors. In previous positions she has been actively engaged in developing adaptation mechanisms related to forests and soil and water management for small and marginal farmers and tribal communities, located in river basins and mountain ecosystems, under conditions of erratic weather patterns and extreme stress on natural resources arising from scarcity as well as low access to appropriate technologies. Sangeeta’s work on natural resource management has also revolved around the interface between forests and rural energy needs of local communities, with specific interest on womens’ needs & voices. In the USA, she has worked as a policy analyst for urban environmental policy, specifically brown fields redevelopment, one of the largest public-private partnership based environmental programme in the USA. Her strength lies in good analytical skills, a keen perception of rural dynamics and rural society, an ability to work with teams, and strong written and oral communication skills.

Mr. Ravi Kumar Aggarwal
Patron,
All India Plastic Industries Association

Mr. Ravi Kumar Aggarwal has over 40 years of comprehensive experience in the plastics industry. He has been President of All India Plastic Industries Association (AIPIA), Delhi, for four terms,and is now Patron. He is Chairman, Environment Committee and has also been the Editor of “Plastic World” a monthly magazine of the Association, for almost 20 years. Mr. Aggarwal is Member of (i) Bureau of Indian Standards, Government of India, (ii) Public Grievance Committee, Government of India, (iii) NAFEN, a National Federation of Engineers, (iv) SWISO, a reputed organization providing ISO Certifications, (v) Director in two companies doing pioneering work in waste management, including plastic waste management; Green Planet Waste Management (GPWM) and Nationwide Waste Management. He is a widely travelled person across several countries and has been invited as a “State Guest” by many countries including the USA, UAE, Malaysia, Thailand etc. His firm is one of the pioneers of extrusion lamination in the country and he has been running it successfully for over four decades. He has written many Papers, Articles, given interviews on various issues related to the plastic industry in leading newspapers, magazines, electronic media etc. His current strong interests are plastic waste recycling and solid waste management with regard to environment.

Mr. Ankit Agrahari
Senior Manager, Environment,
Tata Steel Limited

Mr Ankit Agrahari is Senior Manager Environment at Jharia group of collieries of Tata Steel Limited responsible for environmental management functions of the division. He is an Environment Engineering graduate from prestigious IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. He is one of the sustainability champions of Tata Steel to drive GHG reduction and water conservation initiatives. He is also Biodiversity coordinator to implement projects for biodiversity enhancement and conservation across the division. He was one of the members of Mission Gange Expedition team (October 2018), traversing 1500 kms along the river Ganga on rafts and conducted cleanliness drives and awareness sessions.

Mr. Harpreet Singh Arora
Lead Urban Advisor,
Department for International Development, British High Commission

Harpreet Singh is an Urban Economist &Planner with more than 12 years’ experience in multi-disciplinary aspects of urban planning, integrated transit planning, infrastructure planning and financing and development economics. Harpreet has more than 15years’ of work experience as Urbandevelopment specialist. His experience covers assignments in urban development policy planning, managing complex urban governance reform programmes, conducting Feasibility studies, land amortization strategies, Land Pooling and development studies, Development Option analysis for large scale infrastructure project feasibilities and financial structuring and project development under PPP framework. Harpreet has worked extensively with both public. Private and bilateral stakeholders in urban policy advocacy, infrastructure development, Real estate and financial institutions cum developers.
Harpreet has worked closely on integrated real estate projects by private developers in India, Hong Kong, China, Srilanka and UK– such as slum redevelopment projects, industrial corridors, exhibition and convention centre, theme parks and large transport infra projects which entail potentialland value unlocking for the viability.

Mr. Tim Ash Vie
Director,
The Climate Group

Tim Ash Vie

Tim Ash Vie joined The Climate Group in September 2017 as Director of the Under2 Coalition Secretariat.  The Under2 Coalition is a leading, international network of subnational governments that have committed to ambitious climate action, for which The Climate Group acts as Secretariat.
The Under2 Coalition was created by the Governor of California in 2015 and encompasses some of the most ambitious subnational governments in the world that are playing a vital role in implementing the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Encompassing over 220 jurisdictions globally, the subnational governments committed to the Under2 Coalition are at the forefront of ambitious climate action, and showing real commitment and leadership in driving the Paris Agreement.

Mr. Tiger Aster
CEO,
TORO WATT Corp. - Canada

Tiger Aster is a cross-disciplinary engineer, dedicated to saving energy and reducing green house gas emissions in the HVAC domain. He is the CEO of TORO WATT - Canada where the key focus is to develop next generation climate friendly, super efficient and affordable air conditioning solutions that save on operating expenses, capital expenses and have a significant climate impact.

Dr. S.D. Attri
Deputy Director General,
India Meteorological Department, Government of India

Dr S D Attri is presently the Deputy Director General of Meteorology, India Meteorological     Department, Government of India New Delhi. His areas of interest include Agromet Modeling and Services, Climate Change, Environment, and International activities. He has been Member of Commission for Atmospheric Sciences Management Group of World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Primary Contact of Global Atmosphere Watch in the country and Expert Member of two Task forces of GFCS of WMO, United Nations. Felicitated and awarded Commendation Certificate by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, in November, 2007 for his contribution to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He also served as Editor of Journal: VayuMandal and Referee of National and International Journals. He has published 100 research papers, Met. Monogrpah, books in national and international journals. He is bestowed upon “Best IMD Officer” in 2010 and “Pride of University” in 2018 by GJUS&T, Hisar.

Dr. Hemant Kumar Badola
Advisor (Biodiversity, Climate Change & Green Think Tank Facilitator),
Hon'ble Chief Minister's Office, Government of Sikkim, India

Dr Hemant Kumar Badola is an Advisor (Biodiversity, Climate Change, Green Think Tank Facilitator) to Hon’ble Chief Minister’s Office, Government of Sikkim, India. Formerly, he was Scientist G and Head of the G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development, Sikkim. Over 38 years of extensive research/professional experience along North-western, Uttarakhand, North-eastern Himalayas. He led international Transboundary landscape programs [Khangchendzonga Landscape Conservation & Development Initiative (KLCDI), India along Bhutan and Nepal]: 2013-17. Nodal Person to Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, KBR and Manas Biosphere Reserve, MBR: 2006-17]. Researched in Protected Areas/Biocultural/Agro landscapes: Himachal Pradesh/Sikkim: 1993-2017). Lead author of UNESCO-MAB nomination dossier, KBR (included in World Network of BRs- July 2018); co-author MBR-UNESCO nomination-doc. Contributed substantially to UNESCO ‘World Heritage Site’ (2016) KNP dossier. Member-team constituted by Hon’ble MEF&CC, Govt of India (2016)- assessed Loktak Lake socio-ecological status (Manipur). Led international Working Group for ‘Sikkim Biodiversity Action Plan 2012’. Numerous Expertise-Advisories, including habitat assessment in hydro-power projects. Studied Floral/faunal elements/habitats, Biocultural/Indigenous knowledge/Ecotourism/Wetlands. Research Disseminated widely to society. Published over 100 research papers, 06 Books, 20 policy docs/monographs, 20 technical-reports, 50 popular/miscellaneous articles. Chairperson/Key-note speaker/Resource Person for>250 international/national events. Member-many national/international forums. Internationally travelled. Organized/convened >50 professional events. Delivered >500 popular talks.
 

Dr. Aditya V. Bahadur
Regional Programme Development Manager,
Action on Climate Today

Dr. Aditya Bahadur FRGS is the Regional Programme Development Manager with the DFID funded Action on Climate Today Programme based at Oxford Policy Management. He has 10 years of experience in research, evaluation and practice of DRR, climate change and development. He has published widely on these issues including in highly regarded academic journals. His work has been cited by the IPCC; it has informed DfID’s approach to disaster resilience; and it has also influenced BOND’s (the nodal network of UK INGOs) and concept of resilience. He served as the Research Coordinator of the DFID's BRACED Programme (one of the world's largest community level resilience building initiatives, running in 9 countries). He completed his undergraduate studies at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and has an MA and a PhD in Development Studies (focus on climate change resilience) from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK. Aditya presents his work regularly in high-level intergovernmental forums on climate change and disasters, was granted a Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS) in June 2014 and World Social Science Fellowship in 2015. He was Research Fellow at ODI and is now an ODI Research Associate.

Mr. Abhay Bakre
Director General,
Bureau of Energy Efficiency

Shri Abhay Bakre is a Post Graduate (M. Tech.) in Elect. Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur. He belongs to 1988 Batch of Indian Railways Electrical Engineering Services, Ministry of Railways. He has worked in several Railway projects including Delhi Metro & Kolkata Metro extension projects. He has also worked as Joint Development Commissioner in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and was Nodal officer for National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme. As ED PCRA, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, he has been instrumental in development and implementation of various programs aimed at petroleum & energy conservation in industry, transport, domestic sector etc. He has also taken up nationwide mass media campaign through PCRA and other oil companies to generate awareness among consumers on adoption of simple fuel saving measures in day today life. Before joining BEE, he has worked as Executive Director in the newly created Environment Directorate of Ministry of Railways. He was the nodal officer for developing INDC for the Railway sector along with a roadmap for Green House Gas reduction in Indian Railways. He also participated at the transport sector events of COP 21 held in Paris and COP 22 held in Morocco.

Dr. Andrew Ballinger
Research Scholar,
NC State University / NOAA CICS-NC

Dr. Andrew Ballinger is a research scholar at the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies (NCICS) at North Carolina State University, and NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (CICS-NC), working with the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (URExSRN). In this collaborative role he draws upon his background in weather observations and global climate modeling, engaging with stakeholders in urban communities that are seeking to build resilience to high-impact weather events. Andrew received his undergraduate degree in mathematics and atmospheric science from Monash University in Australia, before moving to the United States where he received his M.S. in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma and Ph.D. from Princeton University. Collaborating with researchers at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) he studied the climatology of tropical cyclones in high-resolution global climate models, probing the sensitivity of simulated tropical cyclone activity to imposed changes in the large-scale temperature gradient. Andrew has also previously worked as a climate scientist for the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence (QCCCE) in Australia, analysing and communicating projected changes in the prevalence of drought and other climate extremes.

Mr. Soumendra Banerjee
Senior Director,
Honeywell

Soumendra Banerjee is the leader for Honeyewell Technology Solutions (HTS),
Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT) India. In this role, Soumendra leads
development and product commercialization initiatives for Advanced Material and UOP.
Soumendra brings extensive experience in the design and operations of refineries and
petrochemical units. He has been with Honeywell for over 18 years with experience in
the engineering division of UOP before moving to Technology development. Prior to his
experience with Honeywell, Soumendra spent 10 years working with Engineers India
Limited, where he spearheaded the design and commissioning of different refinery
units.
Soumendra holds a bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from Jadavpur
University, Kolkata. He is a member of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers,
Indian Science Congress and the American Institute of Chemical Engineering. He holds
24 US and International patents and is Six Sigma Green belt certified. 

Ms. Shabnam Bassi
Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Prabeer Kumar Basu
Former Union Agriculture and Cooperation Secretary,
Government of India

As a member of the Indian Administrative Service (Bihar: 1976), Mr. Basu has held responsible administrative positions in both the State Government of Bihar and in Government of India. He started his career as Sub Divisional Magistrate and then held the position of District Magistrate of district Monghyr and Darbhanga. Thereafter he held posts in Finance, Industry, Urban Development, Disaster Management, Cooperative sector in Government of Bihar. In the Centre was Joint Secretary in Ministry of Power, thereafter in Ministry of Disinvestment and finally retired from the post of Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture.

As a Sub Divisional Magistrate and District Magistrate, he had to deal with cases u/s 107/116/144/145 of Cr.P.C. Further at times enquiries u/s 176 Cr. P.C. had to b e held. We had to also deal with cases under Ceiling Act, Minimum Wages Act, Bonded Labour Act etc. As Registrar (Cooperatives) had to decide cases under the Cooperative Act. As Commercial Tax Commissioner had to decide cases under the Sales Tax Acts. Further, during those days human rights violations were quite rampant, the victims being mainly Dalits. Had to deliver justice to them as SDM/DM. When Justice P. N. Bhagwati was CJI he had decided the famous case of bonded labourers in Bihar around 1984. I was appointed by the Supreme Court as one of the enquiry officers to verify facts on the ground. We worked for about 15 days in the field visiting different villages in the tribal areas of Jharkhand (then part of Bihar) and submitted our report. Later, in 1997-98, I served a High Level Committee set up by Government of India to draw up the policy on Mega Power Projects, Chaired by Justice Bhagwati. I was the Secretary to the Committee and finalised the report. At that time had the privilege of briefing Justice Bhagwati on almost a daily basis on the report of the Committee, which was finalised in 6 months time. In 1999-2000, Government of Bihar set up a one man Anomaly Committee on pay scale matters under the Chairmanship of a sitting Judge of the Patna High Court, Justice Aftab Alam (later he was elevated as an Honourable Judge of the Supreme Court). I was appointed as Secretary to the Committee. We finalised the report within a year. Was part of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Principal Bench, New Delhi as Joint Secretary.
Ministry of Disinvestment was required to finalise the Legal Documents related to disinvestment of PSUs such as the Shareholder and Share Purchase Agreements etc. Joined the Central Administrative Tribunal in February 2013 and worked as Member (Administration) till June 2017. Currently I am sitting with Honourable Justice Rafat Alam, Chairman CAT. This has been a very enriching experience for me to understand how the judicial mind should work and defend individual liberty and rights. During this period also had the privilege of sitting with Justice Swaroop Reddy, Justice Katakey and Justice Basheer and gained tremendously.

Mr. Basu has authoured “Saving The Crown Jewels”, a book on privatisation. The book also discusses various legal issues that came up before the Honourable High Court’s and the Honourable Apex Court during the process of privatisation in India during 2000-2005. He has authored the memoir "One Life", which was released by Mr V K Shunglu, Padma Bhushan and ex-CAG.
He has undergone training in Finance and Budgeting at International Training Institute, Sydney; Wharton School, USA on Competitive Bidding Procedure; and Harvard University on Governance. As Secretary to Government of India, he has been part of several Ministerial level delegations to important international bodies such as of United Nations, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, BRICS etc

Mr. Suman Bery
Non-Resident Fellow,
Bruegel

Till mid-2016 Suman Bery was Shell’s Chief Economist, based in The Hague, The Netherlands. He is currently a Nonresident Fellow of the Brussels think-tank Bruegel, as well as a Senior Fellow of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. He is based in New Delhi. MrBery has recently joined Board of Counselors of McLarty Associates. Suman had earlier served as Director-General (Chief Executive) of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi. NCAER is one of India's leading independent non-profit policy research institutions. At various times Suman was a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, of India’s Statistical Commission and of the Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy. Prior to NCAER, Mr. Bery was with the World Bank in Washington DC with a particular focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. 
At the time of India’s economic reforms (1992-1994), on leave from the World Bank, Mr. Bery worked as Special Consultant to the Reserve Bank of India, Bombay. His professional writing includes contributions on the political economy of reform, financial sector and banking reform and energy trends and policy. He had also contributed a monthly column to the Indian business newspaper Business Standard for more than a decade.

Ms. Preety Bhandari
Director,
Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Division, Asian Development Bank

Preety M. Bhandari is currently the Director for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Division of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC) at ADB, and also serving as Chief of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management thematic group. She is responsible for providing policy and strategic direction to ADB’s climate change program and also leads the work on climate finance, with a particular focus on accessing finance from the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Coordination of ADB’s activities in disaster risk management is also part of her portfolio. Prior to joining ADB, she was heading the Finance, Technology and Capacity Building Program of the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She led the support to the international negotiations on climate finance, which culminated in the launch of GCF and the Standing Committee on Finance. She coordinated the establishment of the Technology Mechanism under the Convention, which includes the Climate Technology Centre and Network. She has also worked as the Director of the Policy Analysis Division at TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) in India. She has over 30 years of experience in environment, climate change and sustainable development, having worked on projects across Asia, and in multicultural and diverse organizations. She is on the editorial board of Climate Policy and has in the past served as a member of the core group on climate change, established by the Government of India to assess India’s strategy for the UN climate change negotiations. She has also helped adjudicate for the Climate CoLab at MIT, which mobilizes and harnesses innovative ideas to address the challenge of climate change.

Dr. Anshu Bharadwaj
Executive Director,
Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy

Dr. Anshu Bharadwaj is the Executive Director at Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a non-profit Think Tank based in Bangalore and Delhi. He has helped develop CSTEP’s research programs in various domains. His research interests are in technology and policy options for India’s clean energy sector. He has contributed to India’s national and state level policy in energy efficiency, renewables and mitigation options. Prior to establishing CSTEP, he was a member of the Indian Administrative Services, 1992 batch - Karnataka cadre. He is a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in Mechanical Engineering and post graduate of Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. He did his PhD and post-doctoral from Carnegie Mellon University, in energy engineering and economics.

Mr. Saurabh Bhardwaj
Fellow and Area Convener,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Saurabh Bhardwaj is a Fellow and area convener at the Center of Climate Modelling at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and an associate faculty at TERI University, New Delhi with around 10 years of work experience in atmospheric sciences, meteorology, climate science and modelling, training and project management. He completed his M.Tech (Atmospheric Physics) and M.Sc. (Space Sciences) from Pune University prior to joining CDAC (Center for Development of Advance Computing) a government supercomputing R&D company as a Member Technical Staff and later worked as a Scientific Application Developer at CGG Veritas, a world leader in geophysical services.
He possesses over nine years of experience in climate science and modeling including over five years of hands-on experience in working with High Performance Computing architecture in combination with various climate and weather models. Climate Extremes and Climate change, weather and climate modelling, parallel processing and grid computing architecture are few of the things he has worked on during his professional career and forms a major part of his interest. His recent work in climate research includes generating extreme climate profile for India, improving model efficacy to minimize uncertainty in forecasting, high resolution climate knowledge generation, capacity building of researchers and policy makers and multi sectoral climate analysis.
His research has been published in Vision, American Geophysical Union, European Geosciences Union and Pollution Research. He has working experience in government, private and non-government not for profit research sectors.

Mr. Mohit Bhargava
General Manager,
NTPC Limited

Mohit Bhargava

Mohit Bhargava (DIN:0007941760) (54 years) Heads the Corporate Planning Department at NTPC Limited, a Maharatna company. NTPC is currently ranked the 12th largest power generating company globally.He is the nominee Director of NTPC on the Boards of its two JV companies, EESL Limited and MejaUrja Nigam Limited.
He is an Electrical Engineer by qualification and has undergone Leadership training at Harvard Business School and S P Jain Institute in Singapore.
He has a rich experience of over 30 years in the power sector. He started his career as an Executive Engineer Trainee in NTPC and has worked at two prestigious projects at Vindhyachal and Dadri. His experience covers commissioning of power plants, maintenance activities, procurement and planning functions at these stations.
As the Head of Corporate Planning, he has overseen the development of the company’s long term Corporate Plans. He is deeply involved in setting the annual targets, preparing and pushing through the various strategic and growth initiatives like identification and investment approval of new projects; accelerating renewable portfolio; pushing the digital and flexible operation initiative; entry into various adjacencies like e-vehicle infrastructure and storage; reduction in power cost; improving efficiency, etc.

Dr. Bharat Bhargava
Ex- Director General,
ONGC Energy Centre

Dr. Bharat Bhargava is Ex-Director General, ONGC Energy Centre, working on various clean energy options, specially hydrogen energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, biotechnology for energy applications, uranium exploration and recovery by In Situ Leaching method, Helium recovery from oil/gas fields and energy efficiency & recovery in oil and gas sector etc. Dr. Bhargava worked with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, in different capacities, from 1989 to 2011. Dr. B. Bhargava is one of the main architects of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, launched in 2010, which has given the Indian solar programme much needed thrust. 

He holds several patents and involved in transfer of technology for manufacture of solar modules etc. He has written/presented papers in a large number of international and national technical journals and conferences. He has been recognized by several international and national institutions for his contributions in clean energy technologies. He is a member of several Expert Committees set up by various Ministries, State Governments and other organizations.

Mr Souvik Bhattacharjya
Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Tanmay Bishnoi
Head - Standards and Research,
Skill Council for Green Jobs

A Chevening Gurukul Alumni 2018 (Fellowship in Leadership and Excellence at University of Oxford), with 11 years of experience in consulting, international business development, project management and capacity building across Solar PV, Clean energy, Clean technology, Electric vehicles & Smart Grams. Adept in leading teams and formulating business strategies, addressing operational issues, resolving performance bottlenecks and achieving revenue and profitability objectives considering people, technical as well as commercial standpoints. Leading the collaborative partnerships with USAID, GIZ, World Bank, NRDC, CEEW, EY, pwc, KPMG, Renewable Energy IPPs, think tanks and multinational companies. 30+ Projects & 200MW+ consultations done for Renewable Energy projects. Advisory Board member of five academic institutions. Developed 47 National Standards & 37 Model Curriculums, in clean energy, sustainable development and waste management domain, and adopted by 500+ training institutions and implemented across 27 states of India. Invited as Subject Matter Expert on Clean Energy, Green Construction and Entrepreneurship development by USAID, GIZ, The Institution of Engineers, NTPC School of Business, amongst others. Co-Author of 11 guidebooks to support National Skill India Mission, Chief Editor and contributing Author for 3 practitioners’ guides for Bankers, Utility engineers and entrepreneurs, registered in Library of Congress catalogues and published by Taylor & Francis, developed under USAID Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment (USAID PACE-D).

Dr. Pravesh Biyani
Assistant Professor,
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology

Pravesh Biyani is an assistant professor at IIIT Delhi. He completed his PhD from IIT Delhi in 2012 and B.Tech from IIT Bombay in 2002, both in electrical engineering. His current research interests lies in data science and optimisation for urban transportation and signal processing.  His recent development works includes building the open data platform the DTC and cluster buses in Delhi and BMTC, Bengaluru.

Mr. Michael Bloomberg
Founder,
Bloomberg LP & Bloomberg Philanthropies; 108th Mayor of New York City (via Video)

Michael R. Bloomberg founded a financial data start-up in 1981 and built it into a global business. In 2001, he was elected mayor of New York City and served for three terms before returning to lead his company. Bloomberg serves as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action, and currently helps lead two networks of cities focused on combating climate change, the Global Covenant of Mayors and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. Through Bloomberg Philanthropies, he supports a range of climate-related initiatives and has been at the forefront of involving the financial community in climate change, serving as Chair of both the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.Following the announcement of the planned U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, Bloomberg joined with California Governor Jerry Brown to launch America’s Pledge, a group of states, cities, and businesses committed to helping the U.S. fulfill its climate agreement obligations. Bloomberg is also co-author, with Carl Pope, of the New York Times bestseller Climate of Hope.

Dr. Sylvia Borbonus
Germany,
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies

Sylvia Borbonus

Sylvia Borbonus joined the IASS as senior researcher in 2015. The economist and political scientist explores how transition processes towards sustainable energy systems in developing countries and emerging economies can be designed in a way that they contribute to development and sustainability goals. To this end, she develops methodologies in order to assess opportunities and conditions of energy systems transformations for society and to identify conflicting goals. Sylvia Borbonus applies transdisciplinary approaches, currently in the project “Mobilizing the Co-benefits of Mitigation Action”. Before joining the IASS, she worked with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, where she led various research and advisory projects. Her focal areas are transformation of energy systems in developing countries and emerging economies and socio-economic impact analysis. Sylvia Borbonus holds a PhD in economics and social sciences, and studied in Cologne, Zurich and Sevilla.

Dr. Sudipto Chakraborty
Material Leader,
Honeywell

Mr. Kaushik Chandrasekhar
Associate Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Chandrasekhar’s background spans the fields of municipal solid waste management, environment law and climate change. He has specific interest in plastic waste management and has had the experience of working with the municipal and state governments in India conducting solid waste audits and techno-economic feasibility assessments. He brings with him a culture of management consulting and expertise in wet, plastic waste management and RDF co-processing in cement plants.

Dr. Ashish Chaturvedi
Director, Climate Change, Environment Climate Change and Natural Resource Management,
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Ashish specialises in climate change mitigation and adaptation, waste management, sustainable consumption and production, and environmental policy. His current focus is on policy and knowledge management aspects of climate change. During 2014-2016, Ashish worked as a Fellow in the Green Transformations Cluster of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex and as a Senior Fellow with adelphi, a German think tank. From 2006-2014, he led the Policy for Environment and Climate component of the bilateral Indo-German Environment Programme. As a Senior Advisor with the Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, he advised the Indian Ministries and Departments at various levels of Government and implemented projects in the area of waste/resource management, climate change and economic instruments. Ashish has published extensively in books, journals and general interest magazines. He has also presented at various national and international conferences. A PhD in Economics from the University of California, Ashish's PhD thesis explored the role of influence activities on democratic policy making processes.

Dr. Vaibhav Chaturvedi
Research Fellow,
Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)

 Vaibhav Chaturvedi is a Research Fellow at the Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW). An economist and policy researcher, he leads the Council's work on Low-Carbon Pathways. His research focuses on energy and climate change mitigation policy issues, especially those impacting India, within the integrated assessment modelling framework of the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). Vaibhav’s recent work includes studies on pathways and policies for achieving India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Mid-Century Strategies within the context of sustainable development and national priorities, the climate policy–energy–water nexus, transportation energy and emission scenarios, HFC emission scenarios and mitigation policy, and nuclear energy scenarios for India. Prior to joining the Council, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Joint Global Change Research Institute/ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA. He has been actively involved in global model comparison exercises like the Asian Modelling Exercise (AME) and the Energy Modelling Forum (EMF). Vaibhav has been a part of Government of India committees on energy and climate policy. He actively publishes in, and reviews articles for, leading international energy and climate policy journals. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a Master’s degree in Forest Management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal. Publications Journal publications  Paladugula AL, Kholod N, Chaturvedi V, et al. 2018. A multi-model assessment of energy and · emissions from India’s transportation sector through 2050. Energy Policy 116, 10-18  Srinivasan S, Kholod N, Chaturvedi V, et al. 2018. Water for electricity in India: A multimodel study of future challenges and linkages to climate change mitigation. Applied Energy· 210, 673-684  Sharma M, Chaturvedi V, and Purohit P. 2017. Long-term Carbon Dioxide and· Hydrofluorocarbon Emissions from Commercial Space Cooling and Refrigeration in India: A detailed analysis within an integrated assessment modelling framework. Climatic Change, 143: 503-517  Chaturvedi V. 2016. Energy security and climate change: Friends with asymmetric benefits.· Nature Energy. News and Views Article, 6 June 2016  Chaturvedi V and Sharma M. 2016. Modelling long term HFC emissions from India's· residential air-conditioning sector. Climate Policy 16 (7), 877-893  Chaturvedi V and Kim S. 2015. Long term energy and emission implications of global shift to· electricity based public rail transportation system. Energy Policy 81, 176-185  Chaturvedi V, Hejazi M, Edmonds J, Clarke L, Kyle P, Davies E, Wise M. 2015. Climate· mitigation policy implications for global irrigation water demand. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 20, 389-407  Chaturvedi V, Clarke L, Edmonds, J, Calvin K, and Kyle P. 2014. Electricity generation· investment for emission mitigation: How much more do we need? Energy Economics 46, 267-278 2  Hejazi M, Edmonds J, Clarke L, Kyle P, Davies E, Chaturvedi V, Wise M, Patel P, Eom J, and· Calvin K. 2014. Integrated assessment of global water scarcity over the 21st century under multiple climate change mitigation policies. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2859-2883  Chaturvedi V, Eom J, Clarke L and Shukla PR. 2014. Long term building energy demand for· India: Disaggregating end use energy services in an integrated assessment modeling framework. Energy Policy 64, 226-242  Clarke L, Fawcett A, Weyant J, McFarland J, Chaturvedi V, and Zhou Y. 2014. Technology and· US Emissions reductions goals: Results of the EMF 24 modeling exercise. The Energy Journal 35  Chaturvedi V, Kim S, Smith S, Clarke L, Yuyu Z, Kyle P, Patel P. 2013. Model evaluation and· hindcasting: An experiment with an integrated assessment model. Energy 61, 479-490  Chaturvedi V, Shukla PR. 2013. Role of energy efficiency in climate change mitigation policy· for India: Assessment of co-benefits and opportunities within an integrated assessment modeling framework. Climatic Change 123 (3-4), 597-609  Hejazi M, Edmonds J, Clarke L, Kyle P, Davies E, Chaturvedi V, Wise M, Patel P, Eom J, Calvin· K, Moss R, Kim S. 2013. Long term global water projections using six socioeconomic scenarios in an integrated assessment modeling framework. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 81, 205-226  Zhou S, Kyle GP, Yu S, Clarke LE, Eom J, Lucknow P, Chaturvedi V, Zhang X, Edmonds, J. 2013.· Energy use and CO2 emissions of China's industrial sector from a global perspective. Energy Policy 58, 284-294  Hejazi M, Edmonds J, Chaturvedi V, Davies E, Eom J. 2013. Scenarios of global municipal· water use demand projections over the 21st century. Hydrological Sciences Journal 58(3), 1- 20  Shukla PR and Chaturvedi V. 2012. Low carbon and clean energy scenarios for India: Analysis· of targets approach. Energy Economics 34, S487-S495  Chaturvedi V, Waldhoff S, Clarke L and Fujimori S. 2012. What are the starting points?· Evaluating base year assumptions in the Asian modeling exercise. Energy Economics 34, S261-S271  Krey V, O’Neill B, van Ruijven B, Chaturvedi V, Daioglou V, Eom J, Jiang L, Nagai Y, Pachauri S· and Ren X. 2012. Urban and rural energy use and carbon-dioxide emissions in Asia. Energy Economics 34, S272-S283  Clarke L, Krey V, Weyant J and Chaturvedi V. 2012. Regional energy system variation in· global models: Results from the Asian modeling exercise scenarios. Energy Economics 34, S293-S305  Shukla PR and Chaturvedi V. 2011. Sustainable energy transformations in India under· climate policy. Sustainable Development 21 (1), 48-59  Chaturvedi V, Kumar B and Dholakia R. 2009. Inter-Relationship between economic growth,· savings and inflation in Asia.Journal of International Economic Studies, Hosei University, Japan. March 2009 issue  Chaturvedi V and Bazaz AB. 2009. Meeting food crop demand in a changing climate: A case· of Mehsana district in North Gujarat. Agriculture Situation in India 66, 257-264 Reports  Sridhar L and Chaturvedi V. 2017. Can India’s Air-Conditioning Service Sector Turn Climate· Friendly? Evaluating the Skill Gap. Council on Energy, Environment and Water, September 2017  Bhasin S, Sridhar L and Chaturvedi V. 2017. Developing an Ecosystem to Phase-Out HFCs in· India: Establishing a Research and Development Platform. Council on Energy, Environment and Water, September 2017 3  Purohit P, Hoglund-Isacsson L, and Bertok I, Chaturvedi V and Sharma M. 2016. Scenario· Analysis for HFC Emissions in India: Mitigation Potential and Costs. CEEW and IIASA Report  Chaturvedi V, Sharma M, Chattopadhyay S, and Purohit P. 2015. India’s LongTerm· Hydrofluorocarbon Emissions under the Reference Scenario: A detailed cross sectoral analysis within an integrated assessment modelling framework. CEEW and IIASA Report  Chaturvedi V, Gupta V, Choudhari N, Mittra S, Ghosh A, and Sugam R. 2014. The State of· Environmental Clearances in India: Procedures, Timelines, and Delays Across Sectors and States. CEEW Report  Chaturvedi, V. 2005. Cost-Benefit Analysis of Watershed Development. Development· Support Centre. Ahmedabad  Chaturvedi, V. 2005. Maintenance of Physical Assets in Watershed. Development Support· Centre. Ahmedabad  Chaturvedi, V. 2004. Financial Viability of Irrigation Co-operatives. Development Support· Centre. Ahmedabad Book Chapters/Working Papers/Briefs  Chaturvedi V, Shukla PR and Ganesan K. 2017. A perspective on the cost of nuclear energy.· Chapter in upcoming book ‘Resurgence of Nuclear Power: Challenges and Opportunities for Asia’, Edited by Nanda Kumar J, G Pant, and RB Grover, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.  Chaturvedi V, Deol B, Seidel S, Jaiswal A, Sah A, Sharma M, Kaur N and Anderson SO. 2016.· Cooling India with Less Warming: Examining Patents for Alternatives to Hydrofluorocarbons. CEEW, NRDC, C2ES, and IGSD Issue Paper, October 2016  Chaturvedi V and Sharma M. 2015. China’s Role in Global HFC Emissions Matters for Phase· Down Proposals. CEEW Policy Brief, August 2015  Dilley S, Ghosh A, Jaiswal A, Chaturvedi A, and Deol B. 2015. Reducing Stress On India's· Energy Grid: The Power Sector Benefits Of Transitioning To Lower Global Warming Potential And Energy Efficient Refrigerants In Room Air Conditioners. CEEW NRDC Interim Issue Brief, March 2015  Chaturvedi V. 2015. The Cost of Climate Change Impacts for India. CEEW Working Paper· 2015/11, March 2015  Ray S, Chaturvedi V, Ganesan K, and Ghosh A. 2015. India’s Intended Nationally Determined· Contributions: Renewable Energy and the Pathway to Paris. CEEW Policy Brief, January 2015  Witi J and Chaturvedi V. 2009. Climate Change Mitigation Potential in South Africa: A· National to Sectoral Analysis. IIM Ahmedabad Working Paper Series Op-eds  Vaibhav Chaturvedi and Lekha Sridhar, ‘The Kigali Breakthrough’. The Indian Express, 25th· October 2016  Arunabha Ghosh and Vaibhav Chaturvedi, ‘Changing the Course of the Planet’. The Hindu,· 19 October 2016  Vaibhav Chaturvedi, ‘Hurdles remain for global clampdown on hazardous refrigerants’. India· Climate Dialogue, 1 August 2016  Ankita Sah and Vaibhav Chaturvedi, ‘Bio-medical waste: What lies in store?’. Deccan Herald,· 4 April 2016  Koyel Kumar Mandal and Vaibhav Chaturvedi, ‘How India Can Factor Climate Change Into Its· Growth Story’. Huffington Post India, 15 March 2016  Vaibhav Chaturvedi, ‘Prakriti Hogi Tabhi Dharti Rahegi, Tabhi Hum Rahenge’. Dainik Jagaran,· 10 Feb 2016  Arunabha Ghosh and Vaibhav Chaturvedi, ‘For a few degrees more’. Business Standard, 22· December 2015 4  Vaibhav Chaturvedi and Kanika Chawla, ‘India’s climate leadership at Paris’. Mint, 18· December 2015 Important positions/engagements  Coordinator Author - Servicing Sector Chapter, National Cooling Action Plan, Government of· India  Member, Government of India expert committee to guide studies on ‘Long term strategies· for low carbon development in India’ (constituted 21st February 2017)  Member, Government of India committee to review the continuance of fiscal incentive· scheme for implementation of HCFC Phaseout Management Protocol in its current form (constituted 26th May 2016)  Expert panel member, IRENA report on ‘Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring the· Economics- Phase II’, under preparation  Internal Steering Committee member, ‘Inter-Model Comparison of Different Transportation· Sector Policies in India’, collaborative research under India-US Sustainable Growth Working Group, Ongoing  Expert panel member, IRENA report on ‘Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring the· Economics’, 2016  Expert reviewer for IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2015 (India special edition)·  Expert reviewer for IRENA report on ‘Renewable Energy in the Water, Energy and Food· Nexus, January 2015  Reviewer for high impact energy and climate policy journals (Climatic Change, Energy,· Energy Policy, Nature Energy, etc.

Mr. Swayan Chaudhuri
Mission Director - AMRUT & Smart Cities Mission,
Government of Goa

Swayan Chaudhuri

Swayan is an Economist, Public Policy Specialist and Administrator having experience in the areas of economic growth, urban and regional development, public finance, poverty alleviation, innovation and public policy. He has been helping to create sustainable, equitable and economically vibrant cities and city-regions across several national as well as international assignments.
In his current capacity as the Managing Director& CEO of Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL), the Smart City Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), he is entrusted with the responsibility of the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission in Panaji City under the aegis of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.
Additionally, Mr. Chaudhuri has been entrusted with the responsibility of implementation of AMRUT Mission in the State of Goa, as the Mission Director, for enhancement of quality of life of its citizens with special focus on providing basic services along with a special focus on pedestrianisation and citizen centric infrastructure, ensuring universal access service for all.
His previous assignments include - as an Executive Director, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (GSIDC) and Director of the Corporation of the City of Panaji, Goa.

Mr. R.K. Choubey
Chief General Manager ( S D),
Gas Authority of India (GAIL)

He has vast experience in  Oil and Gas sector in India’s premier PSUs like Oil and Natural Gas corporation  Limited(ONGC) and Gas authority of India Limited (GAIL). He is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering with Master of Business Administration.
He started his career in the year 1981. After a short stint with   Maharashtra State Electricity  Board, he joined ONGC in the  prestigious  Mumbai Offshore Project. In ONGC  he worked in Operation and Maintenance, Projects , Exploration and production etc. He also worked in the Drilling business of ONGC in Sibsagar, Assam. He joined GAIL in the year 1996 at Pata Petrochemical complex and was involved in Projects, Construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of the plant. In GAIL he also worked in Exploration and production, Project Development, and Marketing. Consequent to his working in these national companies and his postings across length and breadth of the country, he acquired good understanding of business and social environment in India.He is currently heading the Sustainability Group in GAIL.

Mr. Tomasz Chruszczow
High Level Climate Champion for Climate Action,
Ministry of Environment, Poland

A graduate of the Warsaw Technical University, Mr. Tomasz has nearly 35 years of work experience in environmental issues, including industrial emissions, pollution prevention and control in energy intensive industries. He has been Vice-President of CPIV - European glass industry federation (2007-2009), delegate to CCMI - the Consultative Commission for Industrial Change in the European Economic & Social Committee. Has been part of climate negotiations since 2006.
In 2009 he joined the Ministry of Environment as the Head of Climate Change Department. Head of Polish delegation to UNFCCC (2009-2013). As the Special Envoy for Climate Change, he chaired EU’s Working Party during Polish EU Council presidency and the EU delegation to the COP17 in Durban.
He has twice been the Chair of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Implementation (2011-2013 and then 2015-2017). Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice in 2014. Member of the Adaptation Committee in 2012-2015.
Member of the climate change task force in the UCLG - United Cities & Local Governments of Africa.
In December 2017, he was appointed the High Level Climate Champion for COP24.Tasked to coordinate, encourage and promote climate action on every level of government and by all stakeholders, including through the Marrakech Partnership for climate action.

Ms. Olivia Coldrey
Lead Finance Specialist,
Sustainable Energy for All

Olivia Coldrey

Olivia is a lawyer with 15+ years energy sector experience.As technical focal point for finance at SEforALL she supports the SRSG/CEO, management and staff on strategy and long-range interventions to unlock finance and advance SEforALL’s mission to support universal access to modern energy by 2030.Before joining SEforALL Olivia was Director, Sustainable Finance at REEEP where she focused on the effective deployment of climate finance for clean energy projects, leveraging her experience of financing renewable energy technologies through the innovation cycle from R&D through commercial deployment and of advising governments, DFIs and investors (including ADB, ARENA, CEFC and UNDP) on energy policy and regulation. From 2009-2012 Olivia was Investment Director of the Australian Solar Institute, the Australian government's lead solar energy agency. Previously she held legal and strategy roles with Australia's export credit agency, Efic, and as a finance lawyer in private practice worked with Baker & McKenzie and Latham & Watkins. A Fulbright Scholar and U.S. Department of State Climate Change Fellow, Olivia holds law degrees from the University of New South Wales and London School of Economics and an economics degree from the Australian National University. She is based in Vienna.

Mr. André Aranha Corrêa do Lago
Ambassador of Brazil,
Embassy of Brazil

Ambassador Lago has a degree in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro which he obtained in the year, 1981. He obtained a degree in Diplomacy, Instituto Rio Branco (Brazilian Diplomatic Academy) Brasilia in 1983. He completed an Advanced Training Course in Foreign Affairs from CAD, Instituto Rio Branco in 1990. This was followed by a High. Level Studies in Diplomacy from CAE, Instituto Rio Branco in 2004. Ambassador Lago’s diplomatic career included holding positions in Brazil in areas such as Trade Promotion, International Organizations, Protocol, Sustainable Development, Energy and Climate Change. He served as the Director- General of the Department of Energy of the Ministry of External Relations from 2008- 2011. He has also served as the Chief Negotiator or Brazil for the Preparatory Committee meetings for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20 from 2011- 2012. He has been the Director- General of the Department of the Environment of the Ministry of External Relations and Chief negotiator for Brazil on Climate Change from 2011- 2013. He has served in foreign permanent positions at the Brazilian Embassies in Madird, Prague, Washington DC, and Buenos Aires. He has also been the Minister- Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission, Brazilian Mission to the European Union in Brussels from 2005- 2008. He
has served as both, Ambassador to Japan and India. Ambassador Lago has held many positions as Chairman including as a Co- Chair of the Global Bioenergy Partnerships- GBEP from 2008- 2011. He has been the Head of a number of Delegations over the years. His published works include: Stockholm, Rio, ,Johannesburg, Brazil and the Three United Nations Environmental Conference, Publisher FUNAG, Brasilia, 2009. He is married to Beatrice Weiller Correa do Lago since 1990 and together they have four
children.

Mr. Pradeepta Kumar Das
Teacher,
DAV Public School, Noamundi

Pradeepta Kumar Das

Many of my poems have been published in many  magazines and newspapers of national and international reputation like ’Ars Poetica Indiana’, The Golden Vase, The Green Lotus, Replica. Anthology of poetry like ‘We The World Poets', ‘Indian Poets United’ have placed my creative writings..
Many articles in Odia, Hindi and English have been brought out in many national and regional magazines like Kendra Bharati, Patang, Varnali,Mahodadhi etc. About 30 plays in Hindi and Odia (Written and Directed by me) have been staged till now in Baripada (Mayurbhanj, Odisha) and Noamundi (West Singhbhum, Jharkhand). My short stories, poems and plays are still being published in many regional, national and international magazines.Many of my short stories, poems, articles and talks have been broadcast from All India Radio Baripada.
Recently an anthology of short stories entitled ‘Uansi O Anyanya Galpa' in Odia has been published.
As a social worker I am associated with Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari (Baripada branch) a spiritually oriented service mission.
Hobbies and Interests- Painting, Drawing, Singing, Crafting, acting

Mr. Dipak Dasgupta
Distinguished Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Dipak Dasgupta is an international economist with expertise in climate change, finance, agriculture, and macroeconomic policy. He is an expert to UN agencies, World Bank, and other national and international financial institutions, research networks and clean technology companies, and is on the Advisory Board of the Imperial College Business School on climate finance. He was until recently founding Board Member of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the largest specialized global climate change finance institution, representing India and the Asia-Pacific, and chair-facilitator of its Investment Committee. He was also a member of India's negotiating team on climate finance at the UNFCCC negotiations from 2011 to 2015. He is former Principal Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He also established and headed the Climate Change Finance Unit at the Ministry.

Dr. Alekhya Datta
Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Harish Dave
Deputy Managing Director,
NABARD

Mr. H R Dave is Deputy Managing Director and Whole Time Director of NABARD, the Development Bank for Rural India. Among others, he steers the climate change interventions of NABARD, both at policy and execution level. He holds Post Graduate Diploma in Management from India’s Premier B School -Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.  Prior to assuming the charge of DMD of NABARD, Mr. Dave has held various positions in NABARD, including that of Director of Bankers’ Institute of Rural Development [BIRD]. He has also been extensively involved in providing advisory services to national and international agencies.
Mr Dave is currently the Chairman of NABSAMRUDDHI Finance Ltd, Vice Chairman of the Governing Council of Bankers’ Institute of Rural Development (BIRD) and Director on the Board of NABARD Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd (NABCONS). Both BIRD and NABCONS have a strong national and international presence in climate change action.

Mr. Yvo De Boer
President,
The Gold Standard Foundation

Yvo de Boer was recently appointed as President of the Gold Standard Foundation, which works though certification to ensure maximum impact on climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Yvo also works with development agencies to ensure their strategic and organizational alignment with the challenges of the day.

From 2014 to 2016 he served as Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a treaty-based International Organization with 28 member countries, working in 25 countries to develop and implement green growth strategies. During his tenure he revitalized GGGI’s long term strategy, expanded the number of country programs, brought financial stability to the Institute and significantly expanded its operational partnerships.

Before this, Mr. de Boer served as KPMG’s Global Chairman of Climate Change & SustainabilityServices (CC&S). In this role, he ledKPMG’s international network of climate change and sustainability consulting businesses,which comprise several hundred sustainability professionals in over 60 countries. His focus was mainly on helping companies to develop a broad definition of value which recognizes social, human, environmental, intellectual capitals in addition to financial capital.

Before joining KPMG in 2010, Mr. de Boer led the international process to respond to climate change in the role of Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2006 to 2010.During his tenure he raised the issue of climate change to the highest levels of political and media attention and introduced a strong focus on the need to understand the role of international financial flows.

Previously Mr. de Boer has served as Deputy Director-General of the Dutch Environment Ministry, led Dutch and EU delegations during numerous international negotiations and held  leadership positions on a variety of international bodies including the Environment Policy Committee of the OECD , the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the World Economic Forum Agenda Council on Climate and the Energy Group of the world Business Council for Sustainable Development. He has served as a member of  the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and acted as an advisor to the World Bank.

Mr. Asif Khan Dehlvi
Founder,
Delhi Karavan

Asif Khan Dehlvi, born and brought up under the mystical influence of Sufi fakirs of Chiragh Delhi, is one such storyteller, born out of years of silently absorbing experiences and life around him.
Like everyone else, his career too started with a typical corporate job, but his heart yearned for a deeper connect with people and places. Out of this passion was envisaged a heritage group called ‘Delhi by Foot’. In November 2013, Asif rebranded his stories and ‘Delhi Karavan’, came into shape.
Through the Karavan, Asif has taken his musafirs to a beautiful journey to Delhi’s rich heritage, culture and life of it’s people and rulers. Most people refer to Delhi as their ‘mehbooba’ (lover), but Asif begs to differ, calling this city of djinns as his ‘buzurg’ (the elderly). A buzurg under whose shade he weaves his stories.
It is his vision to make Delhi Karavan, an endless journey of stories, and he dreams of taking the karavan to the entire length and breadth of the country.
Asif Khan Dehlvi, is also a poet and speaker, having been invited to various forums to share his experiences and stories. He also loves to capture unusual stories around him and framing stories through his pictures.

Mr. Augustin Delisle
Head of Energy and Digital Division,
AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT

Augustin Delisle

Augustin Delisle is in charge of the Green Energy Sector for the French Development Agency in India. He has operational and management responsibilities for the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions with the strategic objective of partnering with the Indian government to successfully achieve its energy transition. He has over 10 years of experience in project finance in the energy sector at various stages of progress going from the origination to the implementation and the restructuring of stressed assets. Augustin holds a master degree in finance from the University Paris Dauphine – France.

Mr. Milind Deore
Director,
Bureau of Energy Efficiency

Milind Deore

Shri. Milind Deore, Director, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is leading the implementation of Demand Side Management Programs, PAT scheme in four new sectors, Energy Efficiency Programs in SMEs and Strengthening of State Designated Agencies (SDAs). He is graduateChemical Engineering and also done his M.B.A in Financial Management and Masters in Energy Management. He is also certified Energy Auditor by BEE. He is working with Bureau since last five years. Before joining to Bureau, he worked with various government and private institutions/companies for energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainability.

Mr. Nitin Desai
Chairman,
TERI

Mr. Nikhil Deshpande
Senior Vice President,
Reliance Industries Limited

Nikhil Deshpande has an extensive strategic and operational experience with fortune 100 corporations in both mature and developing markets. He has worked in the International Downstream Petroleum & Petrochemicals Industry His experience spans 25 years across global markets and a consolidated functional expertise in Business Strategy, Global Business Development, Enterprise Sales/ Marketing, Strategic Alliances/New Ventures, Operations and P&L Management. Nikhil presently works with Reliance Industries Ltd. As the Business Leader& Head - Sustainable Solutions& Circular Economy for the Petrochemicals sector. He leads the strategy for sustainability and circular economy and is responsible for commercializing the sustainable products & solutions portfolio. Prior to joining Reliance Industries, he has held regional and global roles with DuPont, Shell and Baker Hughes- GE. Nikhil is globally traveled with a deep, broad knowledge of local and international business practices. He has successfully bootstrapped overall business strategies on key services and products, driving it from concept to implementation. He holds a B.Engg. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pune.

Mr. Shubhashis Dey
Program Manager Energy Efficiency,
Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation

Shubhashis Dey

Shubhashis is a Climate change and energy efficiency expert with 15 years of experience in providing advisory services to governmental agencies, multilateral / bilateral organizations and business in India, Indonesia, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, England and Jordan on projects related to energy efficiency, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation in sectors such as industry, transport, forestry, water, urban infrastructure and buildings.
Shubhashis is currently working at Program Manager at Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. Shubhashis provide strategic planning, leadership, and guidance to Shakti’s Energy Efficiency program. I manage a multi-million rupees grant portfolio for Shakti Foundation. After joining Shakti, I have mobilized philanthropic efforts to support new initiatives like energy efficiency in small and medium enterprises; energy efficiency in affordable housing scheme and cooling for all (includes space cooling & cold chain).
Prior to joining Shakti in 2016, Shubhashis was working with Ernst & Young as Manager – Advisory, and has worked with Sodexo, Eaga Energy and McKinnon & Clarke in the past. He is Post Graduate in Energy Management from Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management and BE in Electronics Engineering from Nagpur University.

Mr. Darshi (Sukhdarshan) Dhaliwal
CTO,
TORO WATT Corp. - Canada

Darshi Dhaliwal

Darshi Dhaliwal is the CTO of TORO WATT Corp. - Canada. An electrical engineer with a passion for Sustainable HVAC. He is the pioneer of Hybrid Cooling Solutions with a focus on Energy Efficiency. Darshi has dedicated over 40 years to designing and developing Low Energy Cooling solutions for replacing conventional air conditioners starting from residential to commercial, industrial and ICT applications. He was the founder president of multiple chapters of ISHRAE and is now President Emeritus.

Mr. Saurabh Diddi
Director,
Bureau of Energy Efficiency

More than fifteen years of professional experience combining intellectual and managerial experience in the field of energy efficiency, climate change, green growth and global carbon market. As Director in Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India, primary responsibilities are to provide strategic, technical, and operational guidance for the Bureau’s knowledge and policy program in the energy sector. Formulated and managed “National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE)” under National Action Plan for Climate Change, India. The NMEEE plan targeted to unleash investment worth US$12 billion on Energy Efficiency in India.
Deep technical knowledge and experience on policies and instruments to mainstream Energy Management and Climate Resilience in development strategies and programs; as well as with turning Energy Management & Climate policies into action.
Demonstrated in-depth experience in catalyzing and leading partnerships that engage the government sector, private sector, multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental organizations for national and international development in the areas of energy and climate issues. Working across practice and disciplinary boundaries, and with multiple stakeholders in building collaborative alliances for results.  
Extensive experience with analytical work and knowledge exchange, as well as strong written and oral communication skills with proven experience in dealing with the media, external constituencies and expert groups. Ability to influence dialogue and policy on energy & climate change, and in related areas that are impacting the energy & climate change agenda.

Ms. Jenny Dissen
Corporate Relations and Partnerships,
NOAA Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites / NC State University

Ms. Dissen is the Corporate Relations and Partnerships lead at NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, a research institute within the NC State University Office of Research and Innovation. Her work in engagement and partnerships entails advancing the utilization of environmental information for public and private sectors, including catalytic support for innovation on the adaptation timescale. She supports the Division Chief of Climate Information Services at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and the NOAA NCEI Assessments team in the US-India Partnership for Climate Resilience activities.

Prior to CICS-NC, Ms. Dissen worked at Accenture in their North American Utilities Practice specializing in utility operations and deployment of large-scale business transformation solutions.  She also worked for the William J. Clinton Foundation in their Clinton Climate Initiative in Southeast Asia. Ms. Dissen has a Masters in Civil Engineering - Environmental Systems Analysis, and Bachelors in Environmental Engineering, both from NC State University. She has received certificates in Climate Change and Society from UNC Asheville and Harvard Business School Executive Education Program.

Mr. Anthony Eggert
Director,
ClimateWorks Foundation

Anthony Eggert is a director at ClimateWorks Foundation which mobilizes philanthropy to solve the climate crisis and ensure a prosperous future. Anthony comes to ClimateWorks with 20 years of public and private sector experience working on clean energy technologies and policies. Prior to ClimateWorks, Anthony served as the founding director of the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy dedicated to leveraging university expertise to inform better policy. Anthony public sector experience includes serving as an appointee of Governors Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger including as Senior Advisor to the Chair of the California Air Resources Board, Commissioner of the California Energy Commission and Deputy Secretary of California Environmental Protection Agency where he helped implement California’s landmark clean energy and climate policies. Anthony’s started his career as an automotive engineer and program manager at Ford Motor Company working on regulatory compliance and advanced vehicle technology development. Anthony received a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison and master degree in transportation technology and policy at UC Davis.

Mr. Tareq Emtairah
Director Department of Energy,
UNIDO

Tareq Emtairah

Tareq Emtairah is the Director of the Department of Energy at UNIDO. His work experience spans over 22 years in developed and emerging economies with a progressive focus on sustainable industrial transformation, energy transition, policy advocacy, applied research and capacity development. Mr. Emtairah holds a PhD in Industrial Environmental Economics from Lund University in Sweden; a Master’s degree in Environmental Management and Policy also from Lund University.

Mr. Nicolas Fornage
Regional Director,
French Development Agency - AFD

Nicolas Fornage

Nicolas Fornage, 56 years old, holds an MSc in Civil Works & Water Engineering, and is a Senior Chief Engineer of the French Administration. His areas of expertise are on renewable energy & hydropower, urban water & sanitation, climate change, and environmental & social due diligences. He is a member of the International Hydropower Association.
After several contracts in African countries for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was recruited by AFD in 1999, and has worked since in France, in Africa and in Asia. He was appointed in August 2015 as the Regional Director for French Development Agency (AFD) in South Asia. He is based in New Delhi, and covers AFD’s interventions in India and Bangladesh.

Mr. Samujjal Ganguly
General Manager,
Exide industries limited

Samujjal Ganguly, an Electronics Engineer with more than 25 years of experience in Renewable Energy Sector, especially Solar, Wind, Hybrid and Energy Storage.
Presently associated with M/S Exide Industries Ltd and deputed as CEO of M/S Chloride Power Systems and Solutions Ltd. Extensively working for the Solar Power and Energy Storage. Have worked with M/S Vikram Solar Ltd as Vice President Projects & O&M and M/S Luminous Renewables for more than a decade.
During the tenure in Vikram has executed several large scale Ground Mounted Grid Connected Solar Projects and demonstrated the first Floating Solar Plant in India.

Mr. Dida Gardera
Assistant Deputy Minister for Environment Conservation,
Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs

April 2017 - Now: Assistant Deputy Minister for Environment Conservation Deputy for Energy Management, Natural Resources and Environment, the Coordinating Ministry for the Economic Affairs. 2016 - 2017: Head of Division for Economic and Social Welfare Center for Strategic Policy, Secretariat General, Ministry of Environment and Forestry; 2015 - 2016: Head of Division for News and Publication Bureau of Public Relation, Secretariat General, Ministry of Environment and Forestry; 2012 - 2015: Head of Division for Information Management Deputy Assistant Data and Information, Deputy for Capacity Building and Technical Facilities Development, Ministry of Environment 2000 - 2012: Government Officer in the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Indonesia; 1995 - 2000: Government Officer in the Environment Impact Management Agency of the Republic of Indonesia Education; 2001 - 2002: MSc in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries, London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE),London, The UK; 1989 - 1995: Bachelor - Environmental Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bandung, Indonesia; Other Positions; 2017 – current: Head of Alumni Association for Environmental Engineering of Bandung; Institute of Technology (ITB); 2014 - 2016: Lead Author of The Global Environment Outlook sixth (GEO-6) for the region of Asia and the Pacific.

Mr. Sudhir Garg
Joint Secretary (MSME),
Ministry of MSME

Dr. Prodipto Ghosh
Distinguished Fellow,,
TERI

Prodipto Ghosh is involved in research and teaching at the interface of science, economics, philosophy, and public policy. Currently, he is Distinguished Fellow at TERI. Earlier he was member of the PMs Council on Climate Change, Advisory Committee on G-20 matters of the Ministry of Finance, and member of the National Security Advisory Council. He is Adjunct Faculty at the Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh (where he lectures on Indian macroeconomic policy and public finance), TERI SAS and formerly Visiting Fellow at the Smith College, Oxford.
He was a member of the IAS from 1969 to 2007, when he retired as Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests. He has also held the positions of Economic Advisor and Additional Secretary to the PM, Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, and Senior Environment Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, Manila. He has a Ph.D in Economics and Policy Analysis from the Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, and a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi, and has received Alumni Achievement Awards from both institutions. He is also the recipient of the BP Pal Centenary Memorial Award. 

Prof. Ashok Ghosh
Chairman,
Bihar State Pollution Control Board

Dr. Ashok Ghosh is working as Professor and HoD, Research at Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre since 1st July, 2016. He is also working as Chairman of Bihar State Pollution Control Board since 10th January,2018..He superannuated as Professor-in-Charge of Department of Environment and Water Management, A.N. College, Patna, India on 30th June after 44 years of active service. Currently he is working on a multinational (Indo-Dutch-Bangladesh) research project DELTAP for arsenic mobilization in Gangetic floodplains of Bihar supported by NWO-Wotro – The funding agency of The Netherlands Government. Dr. Ghosh is also working on DST-UKIERI supported project Nutri-SAM jointly with University of Salford ,UK, and another Indo-German project INNOWATER supported by DST, Government of India. Recently (October,2017) Dr. Ghosh has been awarded another International project FAR-GANGA from DST/Newton Bhabha Fund. Dr. Ghosh has published more than 50 research papers and presented his research findings in International Seminars/conferences in India and abroad (USA, UK, Australia, Ireland, Bangladesh, Spain, Germany, Turkey, The Netherlands and Sweden). He has also authored five book chapters published by International publishers. Dr. Ghosh has been awarded Erasmus Mundus Fellowship in 2010, 2014 and 2015 for collaborative research with University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe, Germany and Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Dr. Ghosh has worked as Chairman of SEAC, Bihar (State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority) by Government of India from July 2014 to July 2017.

Mr. Sujoy Ghosh
Country Head- India,
First Solar Power India Pvt. Ltd.

Sujoy Ghosh is the Country Head for First Solar in India. He has been with First Solar for the past 6 years, and has supervised the build out of the company’s India business resulting in an overall installed base of 2GW in India, which represents a 10% share of the Indian market for First Solar’sCdTe thin film PV modules. He has also been responsible for executing the company’s strategy to develop utility scale solar PV assets and in his tenure the company has created 260MWac of utility scale projects with its own capital as a developer.
Sujoy has 25 years of industry experience in India, and joined First Solar from GE, where he was the Regional General Manager for GE Energy’s Power and Water business. In his 9 years with GE, he has worked in a diverse range of businesses from T&D (SCADA, network management and sub-station automation) to Thermal Power Generation (Gas and Steam Turbine and gasification) to Renewables (Wind). For the last 5 years, he led GE’s Thermal Products and Renewable Sales in India/Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Dr. Arunabha Ghosh
Chief Executive Officer,
Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)

Arunabha Ghosh

Dr Arunabha Ghosh is a public policy professional, adviser, author, columnist, and institution builder. As the founder-CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, since 2010, he has led CEEW to the top ranks as one of South Asia's leading policy research institutions (6 years in a row). In 2015, he was invited by France, as a Personnalitéd’Avenir, to advise on the COP21 climate negotiations. In 2018, the UN Secretary-General nominated him to the UN's Committee for Development Policy. He is the author of four books and writes a monthly column in the Hindustan Times and theBusiness Standard. He is also a member of the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority for the National Capital Region. 

Mr. Anirban Ghosh
CSO,
Mahindra Group

Ms. Bigsna Gill
Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Prashant Girbane
Director General,
Maharatta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA)

Prashant Girbane

Mr. Prashant Girbane is the Honorary Director at Pune International Centre, a global Think Tank based in Pune where he has had an opportunity to contribute in PIC publications (national and state public policy papers). He has significant exposure to entrepreneurial ventures in space of e-commerce and ‘Artificial Intelligence’.
In recent past he has taken keen interest in teaching and has delivered lectures at academic institutions including IIM Ahmadabad and Symbiosis, Pune. Currently he is associated with Pune based institute like Symbiosis and MIT through their ‘academic councils’. He also serves as the President of IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Association, Pune Chapter.
Earlier, Mr. Girbane has worked with Tata Consultancy Services in various domains and geographies. His work experience covers engagements across dozen plus countries, including UK, US, Switzerlnad, Singapore and HongKong. It encompasses the doamins of Capital Markets and e-Governance.
During this stint he has advised Governmental, multilateral and corporate entities including Swiss Banks, UK government departments and Common wealth Secretariat.
Before TCS, Mr. Girbane has worked as a ‘National Consultant’ at United Nations in India for its Development Programme (UNDP).
Mr. Girbane left his first corporate job from his business school to be a volunteer in the earthquake affected Kutch, Gujarat in 2001. While in campus, he was interviewed by BBC World for organising India's first international annual business school festival, ‘confluence’.
Mr. Prashant Girbane is a B.E in Chemical engineering from UDCT (now called ICT) and also holds an MBA from IIM Ahmadabad.

Mr. Montty Girianna
Deputy Minister for Coordinating Energy Management, Natural Resources and environment,
Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs

Mr. Abhishek Goyal
Deputy General Manager,
Tata Sons Pvt. Limited

Abhishek Goyal

Abhishek has around 16+ of diverse experience and currently he is part of the Environment Services team at Tata Sustainability Group (TSG). He has a Master's degree in Environment Economics and Management from University of York, UK, and a Master's degree in Business Administration from Indore University.
Prior to joining TSG, he was employed with McKinsey & Company as an Analytics Specialist in their Sustainability and Resource Productivity practice where he contributed to the development of greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement cost curves for countries, cities and corporations. In an earlier stint Abhishek worked with Ernst & Young's Climate Change and Sustainability Services, where he managed carbon mitigation projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. Abhishek has also worked on multiple projects related to sustainability reporting advisory, assurance, training and capacity building programmes across varied industry sectors.

Mr. Emmanuel Guerin
International Group Coordinator,
European Climate Foundation

Dr. Sumila Gulyani
Program Leader, Infrastructure and Sustainable Development,
The World Bank

Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Gupta
Additional Secretary,
NITI Aayog

Shri R. P. Gupta is an IAS Officer of 1987 Batch of Gujarat cadre. He did B. Tech. from IIT, Kanpur in Aeronautical Engineering. Apart from working in the field assignments in earlier part of his career as District Development Officer, Municipal Commissioner, District Collector etc., he mainly worked in the field of education, land record and energy at the policy making levels. In every field, the focus was on streamlining the system and introduction of modern technology to make the system more people friendly and responsive to their needs. In the area of land records, digitization of village maps and land parcels and synchronizing them with satellite imagery along with geo-stationery tagging was done. Resurvey of state of Gujarat using modern technology was also started this time. In the field of education, he introduced completely transparent computerized system of teachers’ recruitment enabling the State to recruit tens of thousands of teachers purely on merit in a short period of one month. His other contribution was in conceptualizing and implementing an annual assessment of quality of education in about 35000 Government schools in the state of Gujarat in digitized format to compare schools, tehsils and districts across the State but also enabling improvement or deterioration over time and assessing teachers performance. He worked in the Ministry of Coal for about two and a half years and in Energy Department in the State of Gujarat. He also worked as Secretary, Department of Food and Civil Supplies dealing with the Public Distribution System (PDS). In this capacity, apart from fully computerizing the PDS right from Fair Price Shop to State Government level, system of biometric authentication was implemented to eliminate the leakages. In this capacity he also dealt with LPG and Kerosene distribution through PDS as cooking and lighting fuel. Presently, he is working as Additional Secretary in NITI Aayog and looking after Infrastructure-Energy, International Cooperation along with Health,Education in rural and urban sectors.

Dr. Gaurav Gupta
National Professional Officer,
World Health Organization

Gaurav Gupta

Dr Gaurav Gupta works with World Health Organization – India office as National Professional Officer for Injury and Disability Prevention. In line with WHO’s objectives, he works with various stakeholders to ensure progress towards highest possible level of health, in close coordination with the government and various stakeholders. He has a total work experience of more than 15 years. Previously, he supported WHO’s National Polio Surveillance Project in the areas of polio eradication and routine immunization strengthening in field operations. He has also worked on assignments with USAID and has clinical experience in public and private sector.

Mr. Akash Gupta
CEO,
Mobycy

Akash Gupta

Akash Gupta is the Founder of Mobycy, India’s first dock-less bicycle sharing app. As the chief evangelist, Akash is responsible for building the nascent venture from ground-up. His vision for Mobycy is to nurture a greener& fitter cycling India. To Mobycy, Akash brings years of executive-level leadership experience in marketing and rapidly scaling up tech and tech-assisted businesses at Mobikwik, Snapdeal, Dell and Airtel. 

Before founding Mobycy at the intersection of green-tech and fitness-tech, Akash was with MobiKwik as Vice President & Head of Marketing and was instrumental in placing MobiKwik amongst the leading payment tools in India and beyond. Under his leadership, MobiKwik’s user-base increased 160% to 65 million in just two years. This marketing-led growth going in parallel with growth in revenue and high rate of return and efficiency of marketing spend. While at MobiKwik, Akash was also the face of the organization in news and media around digital payments advocacy and dialog. At Snapdeal, Akash was heading Acquisitions & Alliances for Mobile Marketing, where he led a 5X growth of daily app acquisitions and drove mobile revenue growth while maintaining a Top 10 rank on AppStores. Prior to Snapdeal, Akash lead the 4G network launch and nation-wide acquisition for 4G at Airtel.
After a Bachelorsof Engineering in Computer Science, Akash went on to pursue his MBA from IMT Ghaziabad. Akash has been an avid speaker & has been featured by various media houses as an expert on startup marketing skills. Akash loves watching movies & finishing IMDB Top 250 is on his hit list. He loves travelling with his wife & friends and thinks travelling gives a lot of worldly perspective & helps growing an individual from within.
Akash has a penchant for fitness & his startup Mobycy wants to make every Indian a fitter individual.

Mr. G K Gupta
Joint Secretary,
MNRE

Mr. G K Gupta is currently working as Join Secretary at Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India.  He is currently heading various Renewable Energy Technology / Programme such as Solar Roof Top Projects, Solar plants certification, Green Energy Corridor, Geothermal Energy, Solar Scheme for Farmers, Ocean/Tidal, Solar Agri Pump Scheme, Solar Street Light, Solar Home Light Systems,Energy Access relating to Solar pumps, Micro Grids, Guidelines & SBDs, CPSU Scheme, Grid Connected PV&ST-I Canal Top Solar Projects,Scheme for Greening of Islands, Swedish Energy Agency: Andaman Project, GST Cell, UNDP/GEF project on scale up of Access to Clean Energy for Rural Productive uses,MNRE-DFID Project on Energy Access Policy Fund, IGEN – Access & IRE : Access to Energy in Rural Areas & Integration of RE into Electricity System, Solar Thermal (Concentrator, Solar Cooker), Solar Water Heating, Solar R&D (PV&ST),GIZ Solar Thermal Plant, Battery Testing (R&D),  etc.

Dr. Akhilesh Gupta
Adviser/Scientist-G & Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO),
Department of Science & Technology

Akhilesh Gupta obtained his M.Sc. degree in Physics from Lucknow University and PhD degree in Atmospheric Sciences from IIT, Delhi. He worked in India Meteorological Department; National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting and Disaster Management Cell of DST during 1985-2007 in various capacities. During 2007-09, Dr Gupta has been the Adviser to the Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences. Dr Gupta was Secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC) during 2012-13.
Currently, he is heading Climate Change Programme (CCP) of DST coordinating two National Missions on Climate Change under National Action Plan on Climate Change. Dr Gupta has published over 180 research papers in various National and International journals and proceedings of conferences. He is co-editor of 5 books, author of over 200 articles and nearly 300 reports. Dr Gupta was a member of National Coordination Team which drafted India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change in 2008. Dr Gupta is a member of over 75 national and international level committees and groups in various capacities. Dr Gupta is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and Fellow of Indian Meteorological Society. He was awarded D.Lit (Honoris Causa) by JRH University in 2013 and Honorary Professorship by Amity University Rajasthan.

Dr. Vijay Habbu
Senior VP,
Reliance Industries Ltd

Dr. Vijay G. Habbu is a PhD from the Univ. of Leeds, UK in Polymer science, a post-doctoral fellow at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA researching in high performance Materials, a Chartered Colourist & a Fellow of Society of Dyers and Colourists (UK) - CCol, FSDC. Dr. Habbu is also  member of various professional bodies.
Additionally, he is on the Editorial boards of the Journal of Packaging Technology & Research as well as Colourage.Dr. Habbu is a Past President of the UDCT Alumni Association (UAA). Dr. Habbu was a Senior Scientist and Head of Polymer Processing Dept. at NCL, Pune.
He has been with Reliance since 1994 in the following capacities -

1.Headed R&D of Reliance Polyester
2.Presently working on Sustainability Assurance for Reliance Petchem Sector.

Teaches polymer science at various institutes
Distinguished Fellow of Polymer Science at ICT
A Technical Advisor to PET industry associations (PACE and PCMA)
An Expert member on several Governmental committees (e.g. Indian Pharmacopoeia, FSSAI.BIS)
Part of a lead team that is engaging with various Governments/agencies in connection with the bans on Plastics

Ms. Marianne Hagen
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Norway

Marianne Hagen has been Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since November 2017. She has previously worked as Head of Communications at the Royal Court and as Adviser for the CEO of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association. She has been a member of Akershus County Council and Executive Board and has held various posts in the Conservative Party in Akershus County. Marianne Hagen has carried out undergraduate studies in Political Science and Law. She has board membership experience from four sectors: culture, health, energy and finance. She has also been Deputy Chair of DNB Savings Bank Foundation and Chair of the Board of Dextra Musica.

Mr. Mahesh Harhare
Chief Resilience Officer, Pune,
100 Resilient Cities, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation

Mahesh Harhare works as Chief Resilience Officer for Pune city as part of the 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation. He is currently working on preparing Resilience Strategy for Pune city. He has over14 years of experience in the field of urban management, urban governance including in its ambit policy and strategy, city infrastructure and investment assessment, institutional assessment, project feasibility and development, transaction advisory etc. He has demonstrated experience of working on complex assignments involving project development and transaction advisory, urban policy issues; and has commitment to improve the situation of urban citizens. Key assignments include – Policy for Urban Sanitation, City Development & Sanitation Plans, water and waste water recycling PPP projects, assessment of municipal finances, PPP database, Industrial Policy for Maharashtra, business strategies for private water sector companies etc. During this tenure, he has worked on key urban sector related assignments supported by external funding agencies like ADB, IFC, GIZ, USAID, BMGF; various state governments and more than 40 Urban Local Bodies in India. Mahesh has done MTech in Urban Planning after his graduation in Civil Engineering. He has also doneExecutive program in Management from IIM Calcutta.

Mr. Taj Hassan
Special Commissioner of Police - Traffic, Delhi,
Delhi Traffic Police

Taj Hassan is presently working as Special Commissioner of Police, Traffic in the Delhi Police. He is an IPS (RR) Officer of 1987 batch. He has a wide experience of handling law and order, crime, VIP security, traffic management, communal strife, Naxal issues, industrial security, civil aviation security, coastal security, terrorism in the North East, etc. He has served in Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Bihar in various capacities. He has also worked as DIG in CISF, a Para military force responsible for industrial and airport security and in Narcotics Control Bureau as ADG, a nodal agency for enforcement of law relating to Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and collection of intelligence for fighting drug trafficking and the abuse of illegal substances. He was awarded President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in the year 2005, and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in the year 2011 for his exemplary services. He has also written a Novel titled ‘The Inexplicable Unhappiness of Ramu Hajjam’, published by Hachette India.

Mr. Kebin He
Dean, School of Environment,
Tsinghua University

Kebin He is the Dean and professor of School of Environment in Tsinghua University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Dr. He received the Distinguished Young Scholar Award from Natural Science Foundation of China and led the Creative Research Group of “Multi-media pollution complex and the controlled chemistry”. He is now a member of the National Environmental Protection Committee, the vice chairman of Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, the chairman of National Environmental Science and Engineering Teaching Steering Committee, the China Emissions Working Group chair of Global Emissions Initiative, the environment team leader of Global Energy Assessment, and a member of International Council on Clean Transportation, and a member of Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities Center. Dr. He has devoted to the research field of complex air pollution especially PM2.5 over years. He has promoted the development and application of the new dynamic regulation technology for regional air quality management by combing high-resolution atmospheric emission inventories, the multi-dimensional source apportionment for complex pollution, and multi-pollutant collaborative control technologies. Dr. He led the development of an online platform of Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC), established an internationally leading research team in the field of dynamic emission inventories, and made a great contribution to China’s air quality management with improved source apportionment and quantitative assessment.

Mr. Vidar Helgesen
Special Envoy for the Ocean,
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Vidar Helgesen (born 21 November 1968) currently serves as Norway’s Special Envoy for the Ocean. Prior to this Helgesen was
Minister of Climate and the Environment (2015-2018), Minister of EEA and EU Affairs (2013-2015) and Chief of Staff to Prime
Minister Erna Solberg (2013-2015). Helgesen was Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and
Electoral Assistance from 2005 to 2013 and State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2001 to 2005. He
graduated from the University of Oslo with a Master of Law. 

Mr. Roland Hwang
Managing Director, Climate and Clean Energy Program,
Natural Resources Defense Council

Roland Hwang

Roland Hwang directs the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate & Clean Energy
Program and is based in their San Francisco, California office. Mr. Hwang joined NRDC in
2000 after working for seven years at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Mr. Hwang is an
expert on clean vehicle and fuels technologies and is the author or contributing author
of eleven NRDC reports.
Mr. Hwang serves or has served on numerous advisory panels and committees,
including the California Plug-in Electric Vehicle Collaborative, the National Academy of
Sciences Committee on Fuel Economy, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on
Barriers to Electric Vehicle Deployment, and the U.S. EPA Mobile Source Technical
Review Subcommittee. Mr. Hwang was also part of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr. Hwang has previously worked for the U.S. Department of Energy at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Air Resources Board.
Mr. Hwang received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1986 and his
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1988, both from the University of
California at Davis. He also received a Master’s in Public Policy in 1992 from the
University of California at Berkeley. 

Mr. Anand Iyer
Chief Project Manager,
National Institute of Urban Affairs

Anand Iyer 

Anand Iyer has a Masters in Architecture & Critical Theory, University of Nottingham, U.K. and G.D. Architecture, School of Architecture, CEPT (now University), Ahmedabad, India.

In addition to professional work with design firms, over the last 20 years, he has worked with Government agencies, at State and Central level on Policy issues; the Private Sector, on Strategy & Planning in Infrastructure; and as Academic Coordinator & Associate Professor at different Universities in India.
Anand is presently Chief Project Manager, at the National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi (an autonomous research &policy think-tank of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Govt. of India), handling Program Management and aspects of Organization growth & structuring.
NIUA works only in the Urban sector in India, and the work profile lends him to work with various partner organizations at global, national and local levels; which he develops and sustains through relevant engagements and projects as per their strengths.
His research interests lie in the Social, Political & Ideological perspectives in Sustainable Urban Development; which he investigates through policy, legislation and implementation aspects.

Dr. A K Jain
Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change

Dr. Jain is presently working as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Government of India where he led the team towards preparation of the long term energy demand and supply projection tool – IESS, 2047 (www.indiaenergy.gov.in).Shri Jain has over three decades of administrative experience at the field and policy formulation levels in various Ministries/Departments in the state and central governments. Between 2003 and 2008, as Director and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, he was closely involved with policy formulation and implementation on the upstream and downstream development of the gas sector in India, including on exploration, the award of acreages, and the pricing and distribution of natural gas. Shri Jain is also leading the effort towards framing the new National Energy Policy of the country. Shri Anil Kumar Jain is serving as Part-time Director on the Board of NPCIL since 20th August 2015. He is also on the Board of BHAVINI, Public Sector Enterprise of DAE and GTNfW, a not-for-profit company.

Mr. Ashish Jain
Director,
Indian Pollution Control Association

Mr. Ashish Jain is a post graduate in Environment Management and Founder Director of Indian Pollution Control Association (NGO), Director in RecMech Enviro Pvt. Ltd., Founding Member and Treasurer of Society for Indoor Environment, Secretary General in Citizen Environment Improvement Society, Founding Member of Clean Himalaya, and Member of Indian Science Congress. He is also appointed as the expert member in the national committee constituted by Central Pollution Control Board for improving the Solid Waste and Plastic Waste Management Rules and Co-author of Edit Book "Urban Environmental Crisis in India: New Initiative in Waste Management and Waste Water" published by Cambridge Publishing Scholar, UK. He has more than 17 years of professional experience in the field of Solid Waste Management, Air Pollution and Environment Education and published various research papers and articles on these subjects. His expertise lies in execution and planning of solid waste management project for town, cities, campus, industries, corporate, and institutes with an articulated environmental emphasis. His professional work encompasses introduction of new technologies related to waste minimization, community engagement, promotion of recycling, and explore sustainable solutions for healthy society. He also possesses the research and development approach and inventor of Aerosol Destruction Machine for the safe disposal of Aerosol Bottle and has patent for the Wall Mounted Baler. He has also developed manual and electric baler for the waste traders in rural areas. He has done research work sick building syndrome of air tight building and vermicomposting technology at IIT Delhi. He has established air testing laboratory for monitoring indoor and ambient air quality and operating vermicomposting unit of 30 MT capacity. He has rich experience in recycling of all kind of waste including municipal solid waste and plastic waste and conceived the concept of joint EPR, first ever in India to manage plastic waste. He is leading India's first EPR for plastic waste management at national level. He works at grass root level with informal sector for the improvement of social and economic status of rag-pickers. He understand the entire supply chain of waste management from waste generator to recycler and disposal and his work has benefited many recyclers with respect to getting more and good quality waste materials for their industry.

Dr. Sreenivasan Jain
Managing Editor,
NDTV

Dr. Preeti Jain Das
Senior Fellow,
TERI

Dr Preeti Jain Das is a Senior Fellow at TERI and leads the Institute’s research and project-related activities in land acquisition legislation arena. A doctorate in Sociology from IIT, Delhi, she is an Indian Revenue service officer of 1991 batch on deputation to TERI. Her areas of interest span gender, energy, land rights and involuntary displacement. The issue of equity and distributive justice in resource use forms the underlying motif of her work. She conducts short term training programmes on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 and is engaged in building scholarship on land acquisition laws and rehabilitation issues through publications and conferences.

Mr. Labanya Prakash Jena
Manager - Climate Finance,
Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)

Labanya Prakash Jena

Labanya Prakash Jena is currently working as a Manager – Climate Finance in Climate Policy Initiative’s (CPI) Delhi office. At CPU, he is engaged in research and consulting activities related to policy, regulation, and investment aspects of green financing. In addition, he is also engaged in designing and analysis of new financial and business ideas at CPI’s Green Finance Lab aiming to drive capital into the climate / renewable energy sector in India. Prior to CPI, he has worked in Moody, Emanation Partners, Skylar Capital, and Mandrill Capital Management in various capacities. He is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Charterholder from CFA Institute. Labanya is also a management graduate and holds a Masters Degree in Economics.

Mr. Ashish Jindal
Consultant,
EESL

Ashish Jindal

Mr. Ashish Jindal is currently working with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL), Ministry of Power, Govt. of India, as an Energy Efficiency Expert-Technical. He is a sustainability and climate change professional with more than 9 years of experience in implementation, policy, research and consultancy assignments of lighting, renewable, HVAC and electrical systems.
He was involved in development of various regulations, manual, codes, design, evaluation, review and energy audits for more than 150 buildings across globe for energy efficient system. He was distinguished speaker in many national & international conferences and involves in various awareness generation, enabling policy, formulation of norms, and standards progamme of climate change related projects. As working with TERI and PwC, he has handled various projects related to Building energy efficiency, industrial energy efficiency, energy audits, resource efficiency, benchmarking studies in India and abroad.
Mr. Jindal holds the Master degree in Energy Systems and Bachelor degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from DIT, India. He has written various publications like “Compendium on Energy Efficiency in Buildings”, “Roadmap for Incorporating Energy Efficiency Retrofits in Existing Buildings” etc. along with article on “Usage of lights during festivals” and has various interviews like “Light up Futures” with ECO Earth Care Magazine etc.
Mr. Jindal is currently working in a project named Promoting Market Transformation in Energy Efficiency for new technologies like Air-Conditioner Program, Smart meters, Tri-generation, E-Vehicles in India which is supported by Global Environment Facility (GEF), kFW, ADB and UNEP. He is also involved in Partial Risk Guarantee Fund for Energy Efficiency (PRGFEE) and Partial Risk Sharing Facility for Energy Efficiency (PRGFEE), HCFC Phase out Management Plan (HPMP) etc. He is also working towards ESCO market transformation and to scale up energy efficiency financing in India.
He had headed projects of all scales and typologies for buildings on sustainability with expertise in resource (energy and water) management/consultancy/audit/conservation and clean energy systems with diversified work experience under the umbrella of and Climate Change-Research and Development.

Ms. Anu Jogesh
Policy and Governance Lead,
Acclimatise

Anu is the Policy and Governance Lead for Acclimatise. She is based in Acclimatise’s New Delhi office and co-leads adaptation and risk resilience projects in India and South Asia. Anu has expertise in the multi-level governance of climate change with a special focus on sub-national climate planning in India, and national adaptation planning globally. She is a qualitative researcher with over 13 years’ experience in climate risk management, policy analysis and communications. Prior to joining Acclimatise Anu was a senior researcher with the Centre for Policy Research. She was a business and environmental journalist between 2001 and 2009.Anu holds an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford.

Mr Shanmuganathan K
Associate Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Aneesh Kadyan
Executive Director - EFM & Property Management,
CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd

Aneesh Kadyan

Aneesh Kadyan is the Executive Director - Operations,EFM & Property Management at CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd, a leading, Fortune 500 real estate services firm where he heads the operations of a large team of professionals in the building and facility management arena. He is a post graduate in Mechanical Engineering and has over 23 years’ experience in management of services in technology intensive environments. His areas of interest include Maintenance management, corporate governance, Strategic planning and technology interventions in Industry. Aneesh is a Professional Engineer (PE), Active member of ISHRAE, a certified Energy Auditor and an IGBC Accredited Professional (AP)

Ms. Livleen K Kahlon
Associate Director,Environmental Education and Awareness Area,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Ms Livleen Associate Director, The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi has over 20 years' experience of working with governmental and non- governmental organizations in the fields of environment research, outreach and conservation education. She joined TERI in 2002, and since then has been actively engaged in creating a niche for environment education both within the organization and outside. She has experimented and implemented several programs around basic education designs and innovative, multidisciplinary ideas for youth of all age groups. 'Catching them young' is the motto behind the activities designed under the banner of environment education at TERI and the focus is on channelizing focus of students towards sustainable development goals (SDGs). Science popularization is an important field of her interest and she is involved in design, delivery, and management of indoor and outdoor environment education programs through formal and non-formal teaching methods.

Ms Livleen is involved in several projects on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), with schools and higher educationinstitutions. As a core competency she supports active engagement with youth to motivate them in acquiring 21st century futuristic skills. As an active member of her working group, she is involved in cutting edge research on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and has contributed in bringing out several books, newsletters, workbooks, manuals, films and other IEC material.

Mr. Nils Ragnar Kamsvåg
Ambassador,
Royal Norwegian Embassy

September 2015: Ambassador to the Republic of India; 2010 – 2015: Ambassador to Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Belgrade; October 2006: Deputy Director General, Section for West Balkan;  Affairs, MFA; 2005 – 2006: Project Manager, Crisis Management, MFA; 2003 – 2005:  Norwegian Representative to the Palestinian Authority, Al Ram; 2001 – 2003: Ambassador, Middle East and North African Affairs, MFA; 1997 – 2001:     Minister Counsellor, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Beijing; 1994 – 1997:Counsellor, Norwegian Delegation to the European Union,  Brussels; 1993 – 1994:Head of Information Division, MFA; 1990 – 1993:   Director of Public Affairs, Norsk Hydro; 1989 – 1990: Senior Executive Officer, Political Department, MFA; 1985 – 1989: 1. Secretary of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Rome; 1983 – 1985: 2.  Secretary of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Beirut; 1981: Joined MFA; Education: M.A. History, University of Oslo         

Dr. T C Kandpal
Professor,
Centre for Energy Studies, IIT Delhi

Tara Chandra Kandpal is presently a professor of solar energy at the Centre for Energy Studies of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. Prof. Kandpal has a Master's degree in Physics from Kumaon University, Nainital and a Ph. D. degree in Solar Energy from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. His current areas of research interest include solar thermal utilization, techno-economics of renewable energy technologies and renewable energy education with special focus on India. Prof. Kandpal, along with other colleagues and research students have attempted to develop simple yet generalized frameworks that facilitate (i) estimation of the utilization potential of various renewable energy technologies and identification of niche areas for intervention, (ii) financial feasibility assessment of renewable energy projects with internalization of technical parameters, and (iii) analysis of various existing and potential incentives for promoting renewable energy utilization. Prof. Kandpal has taught a large variety of courses in the field of energy in India and abroad. He has also been involved in administrative activities at IIT Delhi in several different capacities.

Mr. R N Kansara
Project Executive,
Gujarat Energy Development Agency

Rajesh Kansara

Rajesh is a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Gujarat University.
He has worked as engineer at Gujarat State Fertiliser corporation and Indian Rayon, gaining wide experience of the fertiliser sector and the textile sector.
He joined as project executive at Gujarat Energy development Agency, Gandhinagar in 1990.
He has been working with the Energy Conservation department since 2012.
Mr. Kansara is presently involved in various Energy Conservation related activities; to be carried out every year by the State of Gujarat through the Agency, since 2012-13.
As State Nodal Agency of BEE, he has to look after the implementation of EC Act 2001 in the state.
He has been organising half day workshops at different Industrial Associations, having different clusters, creating EC awareness and motivating them for Walk through Energy Audit of their MSME.
He has also been organising Energy Auditor /Energy Manager meets for sharing EC experience they have gained and implementing various EE Technologies for betterment of productivity.
He has also been dealing with 74 Designated Consumers (consuming huge amount of energy) from different sectors under the PAT scheme. All DCs have to reduce their Specific Energy Consumption(SEC) by 4 to 6 %, by adopting various energy conservation measures as well as more energy efficient technologies. He has been involved in the activity of implementation of Energy Conservation Building code (ECBC) at commercial buildings as well as residential complexes. This involves activities like issuance of ECBC code, notification of rules for implementation of ECBC. Rajesh is also involved in projects of Waste Heat Recovery in steel rerolling mills of a cluster and having good experience of Energy saving that will be replicated in other rerolling mills of Gujarat state.
He is also inviolved in the EE project of replacing energy efficient motors at 5 different chemical industries in close coordination with TERI, INDIA.
He has been associated with fora like JIICA and JITMAP, working as the technology match making platform for MSME of India.

Mr. Utsav Kashyap
Senior Manager (Environment & Forest),
Tata Steel Limited

Utsav Kashyap

I natively belong to Jaipur Rajasthan, from where I completed my schooling. I completed my graduation from Indian School of Mines (Indian Institute of Technology) - Dhanbad in Environmental Engineering. I also completed online courses on “Environmental Management and Planning” & “Water Resource Management and Planning from Pune University”. After graduation, I Joined Tata Steel Limited in July 2010 where i was responsible for Environment Management of Chromite Mines and beneficiation plant of Tata Steel Limited, which is situated in Odisha State. I was responsible for environmental compliance, which includes the field compliance of conditions, awareness sessions, interaction with government and Non-government agencies. After gaining around 4 years of experience, I was given responsibility of Environment Management of Iron Ore Mines of Tata Steel Limited, known as Ore Mines and Quarries (OMQ) Division as Senior Manager (Environment). OMQ Division is comprises of 4 mines in Jharkhand and Odisha states. In OMQ also, I was responsible for complete Environment Management, Compliance. Further, after 3.5 years’ experience, I was given responsibility of Environment and Forest of West Bokaro Colliery of Tata Steel Limited. West Bokaro Colliery in situated in Jharkhand State, which I am currently posted.

Mr. Rajeev Kathpalia
Partner,
Vastu Shilp Foundatation

Rajeev Kathpalia

Rajeev Kathpalia was born at Roorkee, India in 1958. He is a Graduate of the College of Architecture, Chandigarh 1979 and of Washington University at St. Louis, 1984 with a Masters Degree in Architecture and Urban Design. He has Worked in Delhi, Kuwait and St. Louis, U.S.A. and currently practices from Ahmedabad.
He co-founded Mansar with Radhika Doshi in 1987. Mansar - is a Fusion of two Sanskrit Words, Mana Proportions and Sara - essence - A design Laboratory for experimenting with architecture, urban design, fashion, photography and exhibition design. The practise is the recipient of JK Cement’s 1993 Commendation Award and has won several national design competitions, Notable being the all India Mass housing scheme for CIDCO in 1988 and Urban Design Guidelines for part of Navi Mumbai in 1998.
Mansar's Works have been recognized and published in several journals within India and abroad. Since 1995 Mansar has been amalgamated with Vāstu Shilpā Consultants, a partnership between the two principals of Mansar and Dr. B V Doshi.
His ongoing projects include large urban design and planning projects, including revitalization of the historic core of Hyderabad and very high density low income urban mass housing. Architectural projects integrating conservation and recycling of fast depleting water resources is another area of his exploration. He is visiting faculty at the School of Architecture and the Urban Design program at CEPT, Ahmedabad. He has also taught at the Urban Design program, School of planning and Architecture, New Delhi. His Concerns on the unprecedented and uncoordinated urban growth in India have lead to his conducting multi-disciplinary design exercises with planning, urban design, architecture and landscape students within the theme of In search of India's future Cities.

Ms. Nanki Kaur
Regional Programme Manager, Adaptation and Resilience Building,
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

I am a regional programme manager for adaptation and resilience at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. I have over 17 years of policy relevant experience in the area of climate action, natural resource governance, pro-poor development and aid effectiveness. My current work focuses on public policy responses to addressing the impacts of climate change in developing countries. I am working with partners to leverage inclusive investment in climate resilient development; deliver climate resilient social protection interventions; and design climate resilient enterprises. I have experience of working with government, civil society and private sector partners at local, national and international levels. My skills include policy analysis, training, capacity building support and facilitation within action-research programmes.

Ms. Daljeet Kaur
Climate and Environment Adviser,
Department for International Development

I have a double Master’s degree in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College of London and Environmental Planning from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. I have worked as a qualified development sector professional for over a decade at various positions and roles. I joined DFID India as the Climate and Environment Adviser in the Urban Energy and Green Growth (UEGG) team, recently (July 2018). Presently in DFID India, I am leading the work on mainstreaming climate change into design and implementation of technical assistance prorgammes. I am also leading the implementation of Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth (ICRG) which is supporting three states in India in delivering MGNREGS. The aim of the programme is to improve abilities of poor and vulnerable people to cope with climate change impacts by building climate resilient infrastructure under the Government of India’s (GoI) safety-net Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Prior to joining DFID I worked with NITI Aayog (Think Tank for Government of India) to rank states on the basis of their performance on key social indicators from Health Water and Education, and assessed incremental improvement of states with respect to each other.

Prof. Francis (Frank) Kelly
Professor (PhD, FRSB, FKC, FMed Sci),
King's College London

Professor Kelly holds the chair in Environmental Health at King's College London, where he is Director ofthe Environmental Research Group, Director of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit on Environmental Hazards and Deputy Director of the MRC-PHE Centre for Environment & Health.  

Prof Kelly leads a substantial research activity which spans all aspects of air pollution research from toxicology to science policy. He has led studies of the urban airshed within London including the impact of the introduction of London’s Congestion Charging Zone and Low Emission Zone. During his leadership the London Air Quality Network (http://www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/Default.aspx) has developed into a 1st class dissemination and education resource for London residents. Professor Kelly’s research is currently examining the toxicity of PM associated metals and quinones, diesel and biodiesel exhaust emissions, wood smoke and the identification of biomarkers of exposure.A new area of investigation is ambient microplastics including heir identification and potential health effects.

Following a recent restructuring by Professor Kelly at King’s College London he is now the Director of the Department of Analytical, Environmental and Forensics Sciences.  This new Department has brought together all the analytical scientists in the College who can now share resource and technical expertise. The Department consists of two main Groups, the Environmental Research Group and King’s Forensics both of who have improved performance. 

Prof Kelly has published over 340 peer-reviewed papers as well as many conference papers and books (as author or editor) on the toxicology and health effects of ozone, nitrogen dioxide and particulate pollution. In addition to his academic work Prof Kelly is past President of the European Society for Free Radical Research and past Chairman of the British Association for Lung Research. He has provided policy support to the WHO on air pollution issues and he is Chairman of COMEAP the UK’s Department of Health’s Expert Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants. 

Mr. Ashish Khanna
MD & CEO,
Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd

Mr. Khanna has over 30 years of cumulative experience with focus on project management and contracts in both India and abroad. Mr. AshishKhanna is the President - Renewables, Tata Power and also holds position as MD & CEO of Tata Power Solar - India's largest integrated solar company. He joined Tata Power in 2007.
Under his leadership Tata Power Solar emerged as no.1 rooftop player in the industry. He has been instrumental in streamlining the business for increased efficiency and profitability by focusing on building state-of-the-art technology, engineering and strengthening customer and employee satisfaction. His relentless pursuit of excellence has helped Tata Power Solar build strong competencies leveraging technology and innovation. Tata Power Solar has more than doubled its revenue under the visionary leadership of Mr. Khanna and during this period the company has commissioned several challenging and industry landmark projects.

Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai
Chairman,
Advent International Private Equity, India Advisory Board

Naina Lal Kidwai

Naina Lal Kidwai is Chairman, Advent Private Equity India Advisory board and Chairman, Altico Capital India Ltd; a Non-Executive Director on the boards of Max Financial Services, CIPLA, Nayara Energy and Larsen and Toubro and Past President of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry). She retired on December 2015 as Executive Director on the board of HSBC Asia Pacific and Chairman HSBC India and in April 2018 from the global board of Nestle. 
An MBA from Harvard Business School, she makes regular appearances on listings by Fortune and others of international women in business and is the recipient of awards and honours in India including the Padma Shri for her contribution to Trade and Industry, from Government of India.
Her interests in Water and the environment are reflected in her engagements with The Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, International Advisory Council of the Inquiry of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Global Commission on Economy & Climate, Chair of FICCI Sustainability Energy and Water Council and Chair of the India Sanitation Coalition. 
She has authored 3 books  including the bestsellers “30 women in Power: Their Voices, Their Stories” and “Survive Or Sink : An Action Agenda for Sanitation, Water, Pollution, and Green Finance”.

Mr. Edwin Koekkoek
Counsellor, Energy and Climate Action,
Delegation of the European Union to India

Edwin Koekkoek

Edwin studied Environmental Sciences at the "Wageningen University & Research" in the Netherlands.  He worked for 7 years in the Netherlands' Ministry of Environment, in the first 5 years as part of the Dutch delegation to the UN Climate Change negotiations (UNFCCC), the UN aviation organization (IACO) and the UN maritime organization (IMO), and in the last 2 years as senior policy advisor in the area of air quality. He then worked for almost 5 years for the Environment Committee (ENVI) of the European Parliament, inter alia in the area of climate change and renewable energy. After that he specialized in the legislative procedures of the European Union (EU) and the negotiations between the Parliament and the Council of the EU. In total he worked 11 years in the Parliament, during which he also worked in the Cabinet of the President of the European Parliament, advising him inter alia on energy and climate change issues.

Mr. Pawanexh Kohli
CEO & Chief Advisor,
NCCD

Pawanexh Kohli leads NCCD, an autonomous advisory body to the Government of India. An industry leader, he chose to shift into public service to contribute in nation building efforts. As Chief Advisor on cold-chain and agri-logistics matters, he helps guide government interventions and associated policies. He brought key concept level changes to agricultural marketing policies and seeks solutionsthat are pragmatic and are environment friendly.
Mr. Kohli contributes as a thought leader on global fora and counsels various executive and steering committees of industry &government. Kohli has authored various papers and as guest lecturer at various institutions, including on notable platforms such as the Lok Sabha Speaker’s Research Initiative, UK’s House of Lords, National Defence College, among others. The industry awarded Kohli for ‘Exemplary Thought Leadership’, conferred him the firsthonorarylife time member of ISHRAE, the title Cold-chain Personality in 2010,and under his leadershipin 2014NCCD was honoured with “Agribusiness Leadership Award” a first in the country.Kohli is also conferred the title Honorary Professor by University of Birmingham and he a knowledge partnerandmember of the inter-ministerial Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income, and on the Empowered Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol. His opinions stem from more than 3 decades of global multi-disciplinary experience in shipping, food logistics systems,business processes and policy development.

Dr. Mohan Lal Kolhe
Professor,
University of Agder

Professor (Dr) Mohan Kolhe is currently working as full professor in Energy Systems Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and Science with focus on Smart Grid and Renewable Energy Systems. He has also received the offer of Hafslund Professorship in Smart Grid from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).Prof. Kolhe has more than twenty-five years' academic experience at international level on electrical and renewable energy systems. He is a leading renewable energy technologist and has previously held academic positions at the world's prestigious universities eg University College London (UK / Australia), University of Dundee (UK); University of Jyvaskyla (Finland); and Hydrogen Research Institute, QC (Canada).
Prof. Kolhe was a member of the Government of South Australia's first renewable energy board (2009-2011) and actively contributed on developing renewable energy policies for South Australia.Prof. Kolhe's academic work range from the smart grid, grid integration of renewable energy systems, energy storage, electrical vehicles, home energy management system, integrated renewable energy systems for hydrogen production, techno-economics of energy systems, solar and wind energy engineering, development of business models for distributed generation.

Mr. Srinivas Krishnaswamy
CEO,
Vasudha Foundation

Chief executive officer of the Vasudha Foundation, New Delhi. Mr Krishnaswamy, an economist by training, has over a decade of experience working on the issues of economic reforms, sustainable development and the environment. The Vasudha Foundation, founded in 2010, aims to promote environment-friendly, socially just and sustainable models of development by focusing on alternative technologies and lifestyle solutions.

Dr. Somasundar Krothapalli
Adviser/Sci-G,
Ministry of Earth Sciences

Ms. Smita S Kudarikar
General Manager (Energy Conservation),
Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA)

MEDA is a State Nodal Agency in renewable energy sector and state designated agency in energy conservation sector. Promoting usage of Energy in efficient ways and formulation of schemes and policies to enhance the efficient usage of Energy, Genesis of framework in respect of Energy Conservation Policy 2017 of State of Maharashtra that includes formulating the GR that includes 9 different sectors along with the guidelines & methodology of this GR. Formulation of Maha ECBC rules defining the mechanism of Energy Conservation Building Code in Maharashtra.
PAST RESPOSIBILITIES - Work Experience in MSEDCL: Testing section (testing of sub stations, lines, panel, breakers, energy meters), Infrastructure works plan department ( installation execution and development of electrical distribution network and infrastructure projects, formulation of new project in electrical  distribution infrastructure for three districts),Material management in Discoms, operation and maintenance of Distribution network, Quality control section.
Other Work Experience- Worked as a lecturer in Engineering College.

Mr. Neeraj Kuldeep
Programme Associate,
Council on Energy, Environment and Water

Neeraj Kuldeep is a Programme Associate at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), where his research revolves around solar and wind markets and the socio-economic benefits of renewables, including jobs and skilling in the sector. He is particularly interested in the policy, regulatory and economic aspects of rooftop solar, and is currently leading a project to design new business models to accelerate the deployment of rooftop solar in the Delhi region. Neeraj also works on energy storage technologies, electric vehicles and grid integration, and often cross-pollinates ideas and analysis with other teams on subjects like the assessment of the criticality of battery minerals in India. At The Council, he has worked and published extensively on the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), skill gaps in the solar and wind energy sectors, wind deployment scenarios, assessing the employment potential in the renewable energy market, applications and economics of energy storage technologies, and long term assessments of grid electricity tariffs and alternates to the grid for commercial and industrial consumers. Neeraj holds an undergraduate degree in Energy Science and Engineering, and an M. Tech in Energy Systems from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay.

Dr. Ashwini Kulkarni
Scientist F,
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology

Affiliation : Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, India Work Experience : 30 years of Reaserch Experience Present position: Scientist F, Project Director – Short Term Climate Variability and Prediction ; Associate - Center for Climate Change Research Research Area : Asian Monsoon variability and tele-connections; Science of Climate change and Asian monsoon variability in coupled and regional climate model simulations and projections ; Applications of Statistics in Atmospheric Research; Honours • Recipient of 10th IITM Silver Jubilee Award, 1997 • Contributory author of Chapter 14 of IPCC 5th Assessment Report “Climate Phenomena and their Relevance for Future Regional Climate Change” • Adjunct Professor, Pune University, India • Member of “Empirical Statistical Downscaling Group-Asia” • Invited Reviewer for IPCC reports Publications : Reviewed Scientific Journals : 50 Book Chapters : 3 IPCC Assesment Report : 1(chapter 14 of AR5) • Provided expertise in preparation of National Communications-I, II and III , State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC) to various states of India under MOEF & CC.

Dr. Sunil Kumar
Gen. Manager,
NABARD

Dr. Sunil Kumar, Fellow, IIM Lucknow, MBA (IRMA), CAIIB, MA (Eco). Currently working as General Manager, NABARD at its Head Office in Mumbai.
Has 30 years of working in various departments and offices of NABARD. He has worked as faculty member in Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknow for 5 years and as Vice President in NABARD Consultancy Pvt. Limited (NABCONS) for two years.
Currently, he looks after Climate Change Vertical of Farm Sector Policy Department of NABARD at its head office Mumbai.
His areas of interest include farm sector policy formulation, agriculture markets, commodity futures market, climate finance, project management, risk management and investment and treasury management.

Mr. Anand Kumar
Secretary,
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Mr. Anand Kumar is a career civil servant. He joined Indian Administrative Service in the year 1984 and was allotted to Kerala State. He holds M. Phil degree with distinction from University of Delhi and MBA degree with honours from University of Queensland, Australia. During his career he has held many important positions in Tourism, Infrastructure, Industry, Biotechnology, Finance, Revenue, Elections and Governance sectors under the State and Federal Governments. During initial stages of his career, he served as District Collector and Magistrate of Idukki and Calicut Districts in Kerala. He was assigned challenging duty of managing the relief camps on Iraq - Amman border and repatriation of Indians during Kuwait - Iraq war of 1990. While in Kerala Tourism, he was instrumental in setting up a new Institute in Tourism and Travel Management, District Tourism Promotion Councils and also giving a new direction to branding, promotion and marketing of Kerala Tourism. He was part of the team which launched ‘God’s Own Country’ Campaign and planned introduction of House Boats in Kerala. He served as Deputy Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India and conducted landmark Bihar Legislative Assembly elections in 2005. He was appointed as Chief Technical Adviser for Nigerian General Elections 2007 by UNDP. He served UNDP, Nigeria for the purpose from 2006 to 2008. He has since acted as a resource person for UNDP on Elections and Governance having done assignments in Cambodia, Lebanon and Belgium. He designed international campaign ‘Find What You Seek’ that received First Golden Gate Award in Berlin and domestic campaign ‘Go Beyond’ while working as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. In Infrastructure sector, Mr. Kumar scripted first Port Privatisation Policy for the country. He wasFounding Managing Director of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL). Currently he is serving as Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India. In spare time, Mr. Kumar writes and paints.

Mr. Vinod Kumar
Principal Executive Director - Safety,
Railway Board

Dr. Satish Kumar
President and Executive Director,
Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy

Satish Kumar

Dr. Satish Kumar is an international energy efficiency expert and serves as the President and Executive Director of Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE). In his current role, he has led AEEE’s transformation into a leading energy efficiency policy think tank and business enabling entity through a combination of thought and programmatic leadership, collaboration and partnerships with Indian and global public, private and peer organizations. He has served as a senior energy efficiency advisor or technical expert to the MoEFCC, NITI Aayog, EESL, BEE, BIS and DST. Prior to AEEE, he was the Vice President and Energy Efficiency Ambassador and led the Energy Management business at the Schneider Electric India, a Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and led a very successful, USAIDsupported, bilateral energy efficiency technical assistance program. In his more than 25 years of professional career, he has held leadership positions in business, policy advisory, research and non-profit organisations in the USA, India and Europe and is recognized as a triple-sector leader. He has a Bachelor of Architecture from IIT Roorkee, a Ph.D. in Building Science from Carnegie Mellon University and was selected by Schneider Electric for its Business Leadership Executive Program at University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School and received the LEED Fellow status from the US GBC in 2014.

Mr. Amit Kumar
Senior Fellow and Senior Director,
TERI

Mr. Amit Kumar is a Mechanical Engineer with specialization in thermal engineering from University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) where he was awarded the University Gold Medal.
As Senior Director, Social Transformation Division, he is responsible for initiatives focusing on energy access, holistic rural development, and community engagement. Earlier, Mr. Kumar had also led research activities in the fields of renewable energy and resource efficient process technology applications in TERI.
He has been working on the development and diffusion of cleaner and renewable energy resources based technological solutions in India for over 34 years. His experience ranges from policy and programme formulation, through project implementation, to the design and development of renewable-energy technologies, as well as manufacturing of solar energy devices. His exposure combines different facets of renewable energy industry as well as research domain. 
Mr. Kumar was actively involved in projects related to the development of Sri Lanka’s policy framework for renewable resource based electricity generation and the integrated energy management master plan for Bhutan, in addition to coordinating part of a multi-country GEF-supported study to assess solar and wind resources in developing countries. He has also managed design, construction and commissioning of one of the largest solar ponds in the world, at Bhuj in western India from 1987 to 1996, as well as Asia"s first solar powered cold storage in the early eighties. Besides leading the initiative to develop solar-biomass based cold storage-cum-power generation systems for decentralized, rural applications, he has also been working on a programme for accelerated usage of biomass-based clean energy solutions in the rural villages and micro, small, and medium enterprises.
He is actively involved in taking forward South - South cooperation in Africa and the Pacific Island countries. In his capacity as the Regional Programme Advisor, REEEP (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership) South Asia Secretariat; he oversees REEEP activities in the region. He has travelled widely as an invited expert.
Mr Kumar is also coordinating SE4All Capacity Building Hub; one of the global hubs of the UN supported Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4All).
As Dean (Distance & Short Term Education), TERI University between 2014 and 2016, Mr. Kumar was responsible for development and outreach of University’s online courses, management & faculty development programmes, and other skill enhancement initiatives.

Dr. Rajiv Kumar
Vice Chairman,
NITI Aayog

Dr. Rajiv Kumar has a wide experience of having worked in government, academia, and industry as well as in multinational institutions. A founding director of Pahle India Foundation, Dr. Kumar was a Fellow at CPR and earlier the CEO of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He has also been Chief Economist at CII and Secretary General of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce &Industry (FICCI). He was a professor at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and serves as the Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. In the government, he was Economic Advisor with Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance and Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices (BICP), Ministry of Industry. He was Principal Economist at Asian Development Bank, Manila where he spent 10 years. Prior to his appointment as Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, he served on many Boards including that of RBI and SBI.

Dr. Ashvini Kumar
Senior Director,
TERI

Dr. Ashvini Kumar is Senior Fellow and Senior Director, Renewable Energy Technology Applications, TERI. He took the post after superannuation from the post of the Managing Director of the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI), which is a Government of India enterprise set up for implementation of the National Solar Mission. Dr Kumar joined SECI as the Director (Solar) in October 2012 and thereafter continued as MD until July 2017. During his time in SECI, he steered it to develop and implement wide ranging programmes in solar and wind energy. He is credited with turning around SECI into a positive net worth company during 2014-15. Before joining SECI, he worked with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, in various capacities for over 26 years.

Ms. Aanchal Kumar
Energy Economist,
EESL

Ms Aanchal Kumar is an Environment Officer at Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). She has pursued a Masters in Economics with a specialisation in Environment and Natural Resources from TERI School of Advanced Studies. At EESL, she has been a key team member of the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme launched by the Honourable Prime Minister of India in January 2015, with the aim to promote high quality LED lighting in the domestic sector. She has worked on research studies in collaboration with the World Resource Institute (WRI), UNFCCC, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and, AEEE. She is a part of the International Secretariat at EESL and has worked on due diligence studies across energy conservation measures like lighting, energy storage and combined heat and power. She is presently working on creating a Sustainable Development Unit at EESL. Her current role also entails resource mobilisation through international funding from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, KfW, AFD etc. She is passionate about achieving more with fewer resources and creating the right balance between fulfillment and sustainability.

Mr. Awadhesh Kumar Jha
Vice President – Charge & Drive and Sustainability,
Fortum India Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Awadhesh Jha is the Vice President – Charge & Drive and Sustainability, Fortum India. Fortum, a clean energy company has embarked upon a journey in India to transform mobility in India by providing Energy as a Service (EaaS) to Electrical Vehicles. Starting with a pilot of 4 AC Type-2 Charging Points in October 2017, presently it is operating 36 DC Fast Public Charging Points in Hyderabad and Mumbai Sub-Urban areas. While these DC charging point serve to 4-wheelers passenger cars, it has also launched a pilot project of Battery Swapping for 3 –wheelers.
He has been working with Fortum since July 2014. Prior to Fortum he worked with Ministry of Water Resources for 15 years followed by six years in Hindustan Power Projects Private Ltd where Awadhesh was instrumental in securing concession of hydro projects and its development.
Awadhesh has over 28 years of experience in the energy industry spanning across Government and Private sector. He brings with him first-hand experience in Policy formulation, Strategic Planning, General Management, Business Development, Project Development in PPP mode, Land Acquisition, Environment & Forest Clearances and its compliances, Contract Documentation & Management, Techno- Commercial Negotiation, Asset Management of Solar Projects, establishing and running new business in Power Sector by assuming leadership position in Private and Government sector.
Awadhesh is responsible for Sustainability also in Fortum India. He has been instrumental in developing EHS management system and procedures in Hindustan Power projects and for Fortum India as well. Sustainability Due Diligence and Supplier’s assessment to sustainability/EHS standards has been one of his strength area. He is a Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner (CSAP).
A Civil Engineering Graduate, Awadhesh also holds a Master’s in Business Administration for Working Managers from IIM- Lucknow.
Awadhesh is quite active on LinkedIn and shares his thought across various topic ranging from electric mobility to hydro to sustainability. In his leisure he likes to indulge in reading, watching Bollywood movie, cricket matches etc. During his college days he was an avid orator and quiz participants.

HE Ms. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
Former President, Sri Lanka (1994-2005),
Member, World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid

Chandrika Kumaratunga entered mainstream politics in 1993 when elected Chief Minister of the Western Provincial Council. She became Prime Minister in August 1994 after her party won the parliamentary elections. She was elected twice as Executive President in 1994 and 1999 serving for 11 years as President. Her campaign was built on good governance, ending corruption, a negotiated political solution to the ethnic crisis and economic development for all. 
Ms. Kumaratunga was the only political leader to offer a political solution to the conflict in the form of Devolution of Power to the Regions, including those inhabited by the minority communities, in the new Constitutional Proposals. This could not be implemented as the government could not obtain the required 2/3 majority in parliament.   When the LTTE resumed its armed conflict, Kumaratunga urged the government forces to exercise caution and to minimize civilian casualties. Even after the LTTE attempted to kill her, Kumaratunga persisted in her quest for Peace. A landmark agreement was signed between Government and the LTTE in June 2005.
Retired from active politics in 2005, after serving two terms as Executive President, she continues to work towards her vision of a more inclusive and democratic Sri Lanka through the CBK Foundation for Democracy and Justice (FDJ)and the South Asian Policy and Research Institute (SAPRI), two non-profit, non-political bodies Chandrika established shortly after leaving office. She is the current Chairperson of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

Ms. Rachel Kyte
CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll),
& Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for SEforAll (Via Video)

Rachel Kyte is Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She is a leading advocate for sustainable development and drives SEforALL’s work to mobilize action towards its 2030 goals on universal energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energy. As SRSG, she is the UN point person for the global goal on sustainable energy.
Until December 2015 Rachel Kyte served as World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, leading integration of climate across the Bank Group’s work as well as support for an ambitious agreement at the 21st Convention of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 21). She was previously World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development and was the International Finance Corporation Vice President for Business Advisory Services.
A recipient of numerous awards for leadership for climate action and sustainable development, she is a Professor of practice in sustainable development at Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Mr. Paul Laidler
General Manager,
Power Roll

Paul is a practised general manager with international business experience from aerospace, consumer products, plastics, electronics, engineering, technical ceramics, specialist coatings, holography, printing, cleantech and consultancy. With a degree in Materials Science and an MBA, he has spent the last 12 years developing and commercialising innovative products in the renewables sector. At Power Roll, Paul’s main role is to manage multiple projects and secure grant funding, build external partner networks, identify commercial opportunities and provide operational support.Paul is a practised general manager with international business experience from aerospace, consumer products, plastics, electronics, engineering, technical ceramics, specialist coatings, holography, printing, cleantech and consultancy. With a degree in Materials Science and an MBA, he has spent the last 12 years developing and commercialising innovative products in the renewables sector. At Power Roll, Paul’s main role is to manage multiple projects and secure grant funding, build external partner networks, identify commercial opportunities and provide operational support.Paul is a practised general manager with international business experience from aerospace, consumer products, plastics, electronics, engineering, technical ceramics, specialist coatings, holography, printing, cleantech and consultancy. With a degree in Materials Science and an MBA, he has spent the last 12 years developing and commercialising innovative products in the renewables sector. At Power Roll, Paul’s main role is to manage multiple projects and secure grant funding, build external partner networks, identify commercial opportunities and provide operational support.Paul is a practised general manager with international business experience from aerospace, consumer products, plastics, electronics, engineering, technical ceramics, specialist coatings, holography, printing, cleantech and consultancy. With a degree in Materials Science and an MBA, he has spent the last 12 years developing and commercialising innovative products in the renewables sector. At Power Roll, Paul’s main role is to manage multiple projects and secure grant funding, build external partner networks, identify commercial opportunities and provide operational support.Paul is a practised general manager with international business experience from aerospace, consumer products, plastics, electronics, engineering, technical ceramics, specialist coatings, holography, printing, cleantech and consultancy. With a degree in Materials Science and an MBA, he has spent the last 12 years developing and commercialising innovative products in the renewables sector. At Power Roll, Paul’s main role is to manage multiple projects and secure grant funding, build external partner networks, identify commercial opportunities and provide operational support.Paul is a practised general manager with international business experience from aerospace, consumer products, plastics, electronics, engineering, technical ceramics, specialist coatings, holography, printing, cleantech and consultancy. With a degree in Materials Science and an MBA, he has spent the last 12 years developing and commercialising innovative products in the renewables sector. At Power Roll, Paul’s main role is to manage multiple projects and secure grant funding, build external partner networks, identify commercial opportunities and provide operational support.Paul is a practised general manager with international business experience from aerospace, consumer products, plastics, electronics, engineering, technical ceramics, specialist coatings, holography, printing, cleantech and consultancy. With a degree in Materials Science and an MBA, he has spent the last 12 years developing and commercialising innovative products in the renewables sector. At Power Roll, Paul’s main role is to manage multiple projects and secure grant funding, build external partner networks, identify commercial opportunities and provide operational support.

Ms. Babni Lal
Economic Adviser,
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

Mrs. Babni Lal belongs to the 1987 batch of Indian Economic Service. She is a post graduate from the Delhi School of Economics from where she passed out in 1984 . She served briefly in an Insurance Company (about 2 yrs) before joining the Indian Economic Service in 1987.
Her earlier stints in the Government of 31 years have involved postings in the Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of HRD , Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Textiles. She is currently posted in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as Economic Adviser where she heads the Transport Research Wing which is responsible for bringing out inter-alia four publications relating to Accidents statistics, Road Statistics, SRTUs and Road Transport .
She has trained at the IMF Washington DC, ADB, Manila, IDS Sussex, UK, NUST, Pakistan, IIM Lucknow, Reserve Bank of India, Institute of Economic Growth , Indian Ports Management Institute, NIRD, Hyderabad, Institute of Social Sciences Bangalore, IIT Kharagpur on subjects such as Macro Economic Diagnostics, Poverty Alleviation, Trade and Investment Integration, Financial Markets , Data Analytics etc.

Dr. Bhure Lal
Chairman,
Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority

A man of multifarious interests and strong commitment to values, Bhure Lal is one of those rare administrators who have made their mark wherever they have worked. His stint with the Government of India started as Director of the Enforcement Directorate, dealing with Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) where he worked with utmost sincerity and brought powerful FERA offenders to book, making the Directorate known all over the country. He has worked with two Prime Ministers of the country as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office. His second tenure at the Central Government started as Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission; Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs; Chairman, Food Corporation of India; and Secretary, Coordination and Public Grievances, Government of India.

Mr. Rajesh Lalwani
Founder,
Blogworks

Rajesh Lalwani is the Managing Director of Scenario Consulting, a brand consulting firm focussed on creating brands for a connected world. 

Prof. Richard Lampitt
Professor Richard Lampitt,
National Oceanography Centre

I am an observational biogeochemist with >100 peer-reviewed publications. A main focus in the past has been on the factors that control the downward flux of material from the top of the ocean into the interior and from there to the seabed.
I have been heavily involved in the establishment and management of a global network of open ocean multidisciplinary observatories, particularly in the Atlantic. I have specific responsibility for the sustained observatory on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the Atlantic.
My current interest and research focusses on issues of direct societal concern. Iserve on the GESAMP committee on marine geoengineering which draws to a close in 2019. My main focus is however onplastic contamination which may prove to cause serious damage to ecosystem structure and function. I have established and lead the Microplastic Research Team at the UK National Oceanography Centre.

Mr. Peter Levi
Energy Analyst,
International Energy Agency

Peter Levi

Peter Levi is an Energy Analyst in the Energy Technology and Policy division of the International Energy Agency (IEA). He focuses on analysing energy-intensive industries, but also on cross-cutting technology and policy themes with respect to decarbonisation. Prior to joining the IEA, Peter worked for three years in the private sector as a consulting engineer. Peter also attended the University of Cambridge for PhD (graduation pending) and MPhil post-graduate degrees, and the University of Bristol for an MEng undergraduate degree, all in engineering.

Dr. Rajeevan M
Secretary to the Government of India,
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)

Dr. M. Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, is well known for his research work in Tropical Meteorology including monsoon variability, seasonal monsoon forecasts, climate change, cloud-radiation interaction and prediction of convective weather systems. He has more than 30 years of experience both as an operational forecaster and also as an active researcher. He contributed significantly for developing many application tools and prediction models for societal applications like long-range monsoon prediction models, gridded climate data sets and many other climate application products for regional climate services. His research contributions include analysis of climate variability and change using observed data, understanding cloud-radiation interaction, Earth’s radiative balance, three dimensional structure of tropical clouds and variability and prediction of mesoscale weather systems. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI); a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, Paris; and a High-level Advisor to the Commission of Climatology of the World Meteorological Organization for Global Framework for Climate Services.  He was also a member of the WCRP-CLIVAR Asian-Australian Monsoon Panel.  Dr.Rajeevan has published more than 110 peer reviewed research papers with an h-index of 40.

Ms. Prima Madan
Lead Consultant- Energy Efficiency and Cooling, India Program,
Natural Resources Defense Council

Prima Madan

Prima Madan is an energy and climate change expert working with NRDC’s India team, focusing on cooling and energy efficiency in buildings and appliances. She has over 12 years of experience in planning, management and implementation of energy and climate change projects in South Asia. Her areas of work include energy efficiency, clean energy, energy access, air quality and climate resilience.Before joining NRDC, Prima worked with International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC)’s South Asia office as a Senior Project Manager. She spearheaded a number of IIEC’s key projects including designing a national level fund for energy efficiency, working with states to identify their RE and EE opportunity and more recently, on tackling the issues related to air quality management in India. Prima began her career with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) including working on the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). While at TERI, she was instrumental in preparing climate change vulnerability and coping capacity index for states of India for the 13th Finance Commission of India. Prima holds a M.Sc in Economics from University of Nottingham, UK and a B.A (Hons) in Economics from Hansraj College, Delhi University.

Mr. Toshizo Maeda
Deputy Director of Kansai Research Centre,
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies

Toshizo Maeda

Toshizo Maeda is the Deputy Director of IGES Kansai Research Centre specialized in urban environmental management and low-carbon and environmental policies (P. E. Jp (Environmental Engineering). Before joining IGES, he worked for UNDP Malaysia Office as a program manager of the Energy and Environment Cluster, CTI International Co., Ltd. as a civil engineer and Japan Overseas Cooperative Volunteers program as a high school teacher in Ghana. He graduated from Sanitary Engineering Division, Hokkaido University, and obtained a Masters Degree on Environment, Development and Policy from Sussex University.

Ms. Aditi Maheshwari
Senior Operations Officer,
IFC - International Finance Corporation

Dr. Nandini Maheshwari
Head, Business Development,
Uber India

Dr. Prakash Chandra Maithani
Adviser,
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

P C Maithani

Dr. P. C. Maithani is currently an Adviser in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India. Among other responsibilities, he currently leads policy and regulation, hydrogen and fuel cell, and energy storage group in the Ministry. He has worked on numerous policy issues related to energy and the environment including climate change as a delegate to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He holds a doctorate in Physics and Post Graduate Diploma in Public Policy and Management from IIM, Bangalore. He has contributed to many papers and articles and authored two books ‘Renewable Energy in the Global Context’(2008) and ‘Achieving Universal Energy access in India: hallenges & Way Forward’(2015).

Mr. Ajai Malhotra
Distinguished Fellow & Senior Advisor (Climate Change),
TERI

Ambassador Ajai Malhotra holds an M.A. in Economics from Delhi School of Economics. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977 and worked at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, and Indian missions in Bucharest, Geneva, Kuwait, Moscow, Nairobi, New York and Washington DC. He retired as Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, after thirty seven years of distinguished service. Since April 2014, Ambassador Malhotra is Distinguished Fellow & Senior Adviser (Climate Change) with TERI, New Delhi. He is also currently Independent Director of ONGC and of ONGC Videsh Limited; Member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council, Geneva; Chairman & Managing Trustee of CHIKITSA, an NGO providing free primary health care to the needy; Chairman & Managing Trustee of SHIKSHA, an NGO providing free education to underprivileged children; Chairman, Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum; and Chairman, NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies.

Dr. Ramana Murthy V Mallavarapu
Director,
Ministry of Earth Sciences, National Centre for Coastal Research

Dr. Murthy is a Scientist-G, Director, National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Ministry of Earth Sciences. He also looks after the groups of Ocean Structures/ Island Desalination, and Coastal and Environmental Engineering at National Institute of Ocean Technology,. His area of specialization are : Port and Harbour Structures, Wave Structure Interaction Studies, Offshore and Coastal Hydrodynamics, Coastal Engineering & Measurements and Coastal process modeling including Tsunami & Storm surge and Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management. His Qualification include B.E (Civil), M.Tech (Planning), CEPT, Ahmadabad, M.Tech in Ocean Engineering, IITM, Chennai and Ph.D, Ocean Engineering, IITM, Chennai. Dr. Murthy started his career in 1991 at Vishakhaptanam Port Trust as a Design Engineer, in 1997 at Engineers India Ltd as Senior Engineer, 1999 at Ministry of Earth Sciences, ICMAM-PD, Scientist-D to Scientist – F and at NIOT from 2009 as Scientist-G. The Awards Received by him are: National Geo Science Award 2010, Ministry of Earth Sciences Award 2006. and American Bureau of Shipping Award 1997 at IIT Madras. His Major Achievements include: Commissioning Desalination Plants in UT Lakshadweep, Setting up Tsunami Model for National Tsunami Warning Center at INCOIS, Hyderabad for prediction of Tsunami, Urban Flood Warning System for Chennai, Beach Restoration at Pondicheery and Kadalur Periyakuppam, Feasibility studies for Offshore Wind, Shoreline Management plans for many parts of country and Coastal Zone Management plans for Goa and Gulf of Kachchh. The Membership and Committees by him are : Member Expert Appraisal Committee for Infrastructure Development, Coastal Regulation Zone, Violation cases, Member International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research, IAHR, Member BIS for Revision of IS 4651 and Tsunami code, Member IRC for Sealink code, Member Pondicherry Coastal Zone Management Authority, Member Task for developing Coastal Protection strategies for Gujarat, Member CPDAC and President Ocean Society India His Publications include 38 International Journals, 7 International/National Conferences and 57 Invited Talks and the trainings imparted are 2 which are International and 18 National trainings.

Mr. Koyel Mandal
Climate Change Expert,
IPE Global Ltd

Koyel Mandal

Mr. Koyel Kumar Mandal has experience in the provision of policy and program advisory services, in multidisciplinary technical areas related to climate change and natural resource management. Currently, he works with IPE Global as a Climate Change Expert on the Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth Program that looks at design and implementation of climate resilient rural infrastructure. Previously, he has worked with organizations such as the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), Institute for Financial Management and Research, and the Indian Forest Department. Mr. Mandal has a background in Economics and Public Policy.

Mr. Karan Mangotra
Fellow,
TERI

Dr. Piyush Mathur
CEO,
Simpanetworks

Dr. Ajay Mathur
Director General,
TERI

Ajay Mathur is Director General of TERI – The Energy & Resources Institute, and a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. He was Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in the Government of India from 2006 till February, 2016, and responsible for bringing energy efficiency into our homes, offices, and factories, through initiatives such as the star labelling programme for appliances, the Energy Conservation Building Code, and the Perform, Achieve and Trade programme for energy-intensive industries.
Dr. Mathur was earlier with TERI from 1986 to 2000, and then headed the Climate Change Team of World Bank in Washington DC. He was President of Suzlon Energy Limited, also headed the interim Secretariat of the Green Climate Fund. He has been a key Indian climate-change negotiator, and was also the Indian spokesperson at the 2015 climate negotiations at Paris. He is a global leader on technological approaches to address climate change; recently, he joined the global group of industrial, financial and think-tank leaders to co-chair an Energy Transitions Commission which will suggest ways for companies and countries to move towards climate-friendly energy futures. 

Mr. Mihir Mathur
Founder Director,
DESTA Research LLP

Mihir is an interdisciplinary researcher committed to create and advocate systemic solutions to our environmental and economic problems. His expertise is in the areas of System Dynamics Modeling, Climate Change Adaptation, Group Model Building, Systems Thinking, Training and Capacity Building. Mihir began his career in banking and stock markets, and moved into the social sector in 2009. He worked in the Climate Change Adaptation Programme of Watershed Organisation Trust, Pune, before moving to TERI, New Delhi. At TERI he worked extensively on policy testing and evaluation of environmental policies using system dynamics modeling and systems thinking. Mihir founded DESTA Research LLP in 2018, a firm dedicated for developing sustainable solutions through use of systems thinking and system dynamics modeling. His current projects are with Ashoka Trust for Research in Environment and Ecology (ATREE), Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Center for Study of Science, Technology & Policy (CSTEP). He is a visiting faculty for systems thinking and system dynamics modeling at Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Hyderabad, Indian School of Development Management (ISDM), Noida and School for International Training (SIT), Jaipur. He has previously been a visiting faculty at Sadhana Center for Management and Leadership Development (SCMLD), Pune. Mihir did his BCom from MS University, Vadodara and Post-Graduation in Finance from SCMLD. He has written book chapters, journal papers and presented his work in several conferences worldwide. More about his work could be found at https://mihirsmusings.wordpress.com/

Ms. Chand Tulal Mazumdar
Head of Public Policy - India and South Asia,
Uber India Systems Pvt Ltd

Mr. Doudou Mbye
Head, Partnerships & Advocacy Branch, External Relations Division,
UN-Habitat

Doudou Mbye

Mr. Mbye’s career as an International Civil Servant started with UN-Habitat (then UNCHS) in January 1995 as the agency’s lead person in a rehabilitation and reconstruction programme in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide and war. After tours of duty in Rwanda and Djibouti with UNCHS, Doudou joined UNOPS as the Regional Programme Coordinator for the Nile River Basin Initiative in Entebbe, Uganda. While serving with UNOPS, Doudou focused onbusiness development and resource mobilization to foster sustainability of operations under his purview as Division Chief of the Abidjan Office then UNOPS Regional Director for West & Central Africa. Prior to returning to UN-Habitat, Doudou led the UNOPS team in Aceh, Indonesia to support UNICEF’s largest post-tsunami school and health facilities reconstruction programme in North Sumatra& Nias Island. Over the years, he has acquired skills in managing and scaling-up delivery in challengingenvironments.  He is bilingual (English and French) and widely traveled in Africa, Asia, Europe,Latin and North America.
Doudou was appointed Head of UN-Habitat’s Partnerships & Advocacy Branch on November 1, 2018.
Doudou is a national of the West African state of The Gambia. 

Dr. Arjun Ram Meghwal
Hon'ble Minister of State,
Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

                   I was born in a middle class family of Kismidesar Village (Bikaner) to Mr. Lakhu Ram Meghwal and Mrs. Heeradevi on 20 December 1954. I got my primary education from the Government school of our village and secondary education from the Jawahar Jain Secondary School at Bheenasar. I got married to Panadevi on 12 May 1968 in the village Nal Badi, when I was studying in the 8th standard. After marriage, I continued my studies further and got the graduation degree in Arts (B.A.) & Law (L.L.B.) from the Sri Dungar College, Bikaner (Rajasthan). After that, I did post graduation from the same college and got the Masters Degree in Arts (M.A). Later, I did Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the Philippines University. 
            During my school days, I have developed a profound interest in music, thanks to my teacher Mr. Laxman Singh Rathore. I loved to participate in the speech competitions organized in our school Bal Sabhas. I was a regular member of the Morning Prayer reciting team of our school. As the financial condition of my family was not so good, I had to weave at home and also help my father at farms during the rainy season. My father has strictly warned that he won't allow me to continue my studies further if I got failed in any of my exams. But I was strongly determined to continue my studies further at any cost. It was a very tough time for me because there was no study environment; but I worked hard and managed to complete my graduation in Arts (B.A) in the year 1974. Then I started fighting competition exams in order to get a good government job because without money it was impossible for me to continue my studies further. 
             I applied for the Indian Post and Telegraph Department and luckily got recruited as a telephone operator. Later, I was transferred to Telephone Exchange, Sangaria Mandi, and Sri Ganganagar. While working as a telephone operator, I was also pursuing my LLB degree course and helping my father at farms in part time. After a few months, I started participating in the Baba Ramdev Jaagran Programmes and some months later, I fought the board elections for the post of General Secretary of Akhil Bhartiya Telephone Traffic Association. Again, I was lucky to won the election and got elected as General Secretary. During my tenure, I had to attend many state and central level meetings and this gave me an opportunity to know the organization closely.

            I completed my graduation in Law in the year 1977 and post-graduation in Arts in the year 1979 as a regular student. In 1982, I passed the RAS Exams and got elected for the Rajasthan Udhyog Seva. I was appointed as Assistant Director in the Jila Udhyog Kendra. Then, I worked as the General Manager of Jila Udhyog Kendra of Jhunjhnu, Dhaulpur, Rajsamvad, Jaipur and Alwar.

                        When I was appointed in the Sri Ganganagar district, Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangrah was the same district. During my tenure, I put all my efforts to make arrangements for Uttaranchal-Rajasthan Krishi Udhyog Utsav, initiate the industrial use cotton bansati (dry wood of cotton) andstart the export of the Kinnu and Malta.
            In the year 1994, I was fortunate to get recruited as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) under the Mr. Harishankar Bhabda, the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan at that time. While working as OSD to Dy. CM, I was also incharge of General Manager of Jila Udhyog Kendra, Jaipur for four years. During this tenure, I enjoyed many opportunities to travel different parts of our country to escort the Deputy CM of Rajasthan. This gave me a huge exposure in the Indian politics and in the same year, I was elected as the State President for Rajasthan Udhyog Seva Parisad for tenure of four years. Then, I was appointed as Additional Collector (Development) in Barmer. It was a great occasion for me to serve a border region and gain the knowledge of famine relief and rural development process. Later, I won the election of General Secretary for Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Welfare Society, Rajasthan. During my four years tenure in the society, I grabbed many opportunities to perform social work for common people of India. Thanks to my promotion in the Indian Administrative Services (I.A.S), I worked on many administrative posts like Deputy Secretary, Technical Education; Special Secretary, Higher Education; Managing Director, Rajasthan Laghu Udhyog Nigam Limited; Additional Commissioner; Commercial Tax Department; District Collector and District Judge, Churu. 

I was deeply impressed by the feeling of patriotism and the social services of RashtriyaSwayamsevakSangh and this inspired me to visit their social service programmes very often. My regular visits to RSS social service campaigns made me realize my social responsibility and also inspired me to establish "Bhawna Meghwal Memorial Trust" to work for the noble cause of our society. The volunteers of my trust helped me a lot in serving the poor and needy but intelligent students by providing them study material and encouraging them by awarding certificates and mementos. Whenever, my trust honours the senior citizens or organizes a blood donation camps or community marriages for poor people, it gives me satisfaction.
            I was overwhelmed by the honour that the people of Churu gave to me by publishing a Book on my works with the title - "EK COLLECTOR AISA BHI". While working on different administrative posts, I enjoyed a good relationship with Bharat Vikas Parishad, Seva Bharti, Seema Jan Kalyan Parishad, Aadarsh Vidhya Mandir and many other institutions. In the year 2009, I got a great opportunity to serve the common people of India. It was the time when I got elected as the Member of Parliament while representing the Bhartiya Janata Party from Bikaner Constituency. On 2nd June 2009, I took my oath as the Member of Parliament in LokSabha and those were of course the most unforgettable moments of my life. I worked very hard for the development of my constituency &in continuation to that, with the support of people I got elected for the 2nd time from Bikaner Constituency in Lok Sabha in general election 2014.   During the course of my 2nd term as a MP,I was nominated as   of the Chairman, House Committee Loksabha &Chief Whip of BJP in Lok Sabha. On July 5, 2016, I took oath as Minister of State in Union Council of Minister. Our dynamic Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji has given me responsibility for the Finance & Corporate Affairs Ministry& later on I have been given the responsibility as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs & Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation. I have travelled to Philippines, Thailand, Belgium, Nepal, Nigeria, Mali, Kenya, Germany & Italy in connection with the official tours.            

 I am very thankful to God for making me capable to serve my people for the cause humanity!

Ms. Taru Mehta
Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Klaus Milke
Chairman,
Steering Group of "Foundations20"

Klaus Milke

Klaus Milke is Chairman of the Steering Group of "Foundations20" (www.foundations-20.org) with the background as Founder and Chairman of Stiftung Zukunftsfähigkeit (www.stiftungzukunft.de). Since 1991 he is also in the Board of Germanwatch, a German development and environmental Non-Governmental Organization very much focused on climate and energy (www.germanwatch.org). Since 2005 Klaus is Chairman of Germanwatch. He has graduated economics, followed by studies of sociology and political science and - with experience in the executive board of a middle sized company - he is today consulting governments, corporates and civil society groups. By advice, moderation and advocacy work he is active in various networking and campaigning processes mainly on climate and energy and on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda “in, with and from” Germany with the SDG. Klaus Milke (68) lives in Hamburg.

Mr. Edward Millard
Director, Landscapes and Communities,
Rainforest Alliance

Edward Millard is Director, Landscapes & Communities, based in Rainforest Alliance’s London office. His primary responsibility is to develop new multi-sector, landscape-scale initiatives,based on commodity supply chains in priority countries in Africa and Asia. He works in close coordination with internal teams and builds external relationships with donors, companies and other stakeholders to further Rainforest Alliance’s vision of sustainable land management and secure livelihoods in high biodiversity countries. Edward has been a senior manager in Rainforest Alliance for 12 years. Previously, he worked as a business development manager for Oxfam Fair Trade for 14 years and Conservation International for 11 years, spending extensive time in Africa, Asia and Latin America, supporting small-scale producers in the forest product, craft, agricultural and tourism sectors to improve their competitiveness and open new markets. He is a graduate in business administration andfinance. He has published three books and several journal articles on small-scale business development. He is a board member of GoodWeave International, an international organization to eradicate child labour in the rug and textiles industries, and an independent assessor for a UK charity. He lives in Oxford and is married to an education professional from Peru.

Mr. Manohar Miryala
Assistant General Manager,
National Housing Bank

Mr. K.K. Mishra
Director,
Ministry of Power, Government of India

Sri KK Mishra is a career civil services officer of 2003 batch in IRTS. In his present assignment he has been a key architect in conceptualization, designing and implementation of major schemes of Ministry of Power viz Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna – Saubhagya (energy access, household connection and last mile connectivity), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna – DDUGJY (strengthening and augmentation of sub-transmission and distribution network in rural area).  Through these schemes India is targeting to achieve universal household electrification by March 2019. He had been a key in designing Integrated Power Development Scheme – IPDS (strengthening and augmentation of sub-transmission and distribution network in urban area) and National Smart Grid Mission – NSGM (Smart Grid initiatives in India) too. Government of India is investing more than Rs1.5 Lakh Crore through these schemes in the Power Distribution Sector across the country. In his earlier assignments he has worked in Freight Operations, Terminal Management, Service Delivery, Public Relations under Ministry of Railways in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, UP, Delhi and MP. He is recipient of Railway Minister’s National Award for Administration, the apex award of Ministry of Railways. He won first prize at Annual International Conference on Public Policy Hackathon at IIM Bangalore. His interests include Public Service Delivery, Infrastructure Development, Cross Functional Area of Infrastructure-Economic Development-Human Development & Gov 2.0. In 2015 Sri Mishra led a group of 51 to arduous  Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, which involves night stay of 5  nights at over 15000 ft in China and passing crosses of over 19500ft. He has co-led mountaineering expedition too in Himalayan region. A veteran of many Marathons, now he is training from Triathlon: Swimming, Cycling & Running. Sri Mishra holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy from IIM Bangalore, MBA Financial Management from Pune university, MA Economics and BSc Mathematics from University of Lucknow.

Mr. Arun Kumar Mishra
Director,
National Smart Grid Mission

Shri Arun Kumar Mishra is the director of National Smart Grid Mission. As part of the Ministry of Power’s efforts towards grid-modernization, he has been instrumental in coordinating load dispatch centers’ functions identifying scheduling, real-time and study applications including SCADA requirements to support the applications with engineering verification of control center application software including testing during development at vendor works (GE Harris) as well as site testing.  He has been involved infeasibility studies for establishment of three-tier hierarchical control centers for modernizing load dispatch and communication infrastructure of the Northern region of India, including issues like coordination of SCADA requirements, security function and scheduling functions.He is a distinguished member of CIGRE India: National Study Committee D2 - Information System & Telecommunication Member BIS Sectional Committee LITD10: Power System Control and Associated Communications. He is a member in several other working groups in many prestigious associations.

Mr. C K Mishra
Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

C.K. Mishra joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1983 and currently heading the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Government of India. Prior to this, he was Secretary incharge of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and also held the additional charge of Ministry of AYUSH for some time. Before his elevation as Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, he was Additional Secretary & Mission Director, National Health Mission, who ledone of the largest public health programme globally.  Born in Patna, Bihar, C.K. Mishra earned his Bachelor’s Degree in History (Hons) from St. Stephens College, Delhi University.  In addition to this, he has received a Post Graduate Diploma in Media Law at NALSAR, Hyderabad.  He has also completed the Advanced Leadership Programme from Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), Australia.

Mr. Shailesh Kumar Mishra
Director,
Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd.

Mr. S.K. Mishra joined as Director (Power System), Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI) in February, 2018.  He is lookingafter hybrid, wind, solar, PMC projects and working closely with CTU/CEA for ensuring the evacuation system of renewable systems across the country.He is also representing SECI as Director inBoD of Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Corporation Pvt. Ltd. (APSPCPL) and Lucknow Solar Power Development Corporation Ltd. (LSPDCL)

Prior to join SECI,Mr. S. K. Mishra held the position ofExecutive Director (QA&I and CMD Coordination Cell), working with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., a Govt. of India Navratna Enterprise.He was entrusted with responsibility as head of CMD Coordination Cell formed with a purpose to strategically guide POWERGRID through process innovations, inter-departmental coordination and early spotting & resolution of issues.In this assignment, he was also responsible for ensuring the development of the Industry on a whole through Quality control and vendor development programs.

Mr. S. K. Mishra started his career as an Executive Trainee in NTPC transmission division in 1985 after completing hisgraduation in Electrical Engineering from NIT, Bhopal.  He is also a certified Energy Auditor.He joined POWERGRID in 1991.

Mr. Shantanu Mitra
Senior Climate & Environment Adviser,
DFID

Shantanu Mitra

Shantanu Mitra is currently Senior Climate & Environment Adviser in the Asia Regional Team of the UK Department For International Development (DFID). He has over 20 years’ experience working on international development, including economic advisory positions with DFID in London, China, India, Bangladesh and Thailand. In addition he has led DFID’s work on climate change in India, and headed DFID’s Indonesia office for 3 years. Prior to joining DFID he worked as a researcher at the World Institute of Development Economics, UN University, and as an economist in the UK government Department of Health working on health service reform and public expenditure issues. He completed his undergraduate and Masters degrees in economics at the London School of Economics.

Mr. Ankan Mitra
Head Regulatory Affairs,
Tata Steel Ltd

Head Regulatory Affairs, Mining & Steel – Tata Steel Ltd
20 years of experience in the Mining and Metals Sector (1999 – 2012: NMDC Ltd, 2012 - Tata Steel Ltd).
B Tech (Mining Engg) from IIT(ISM), Dhanbad – 1999 Batch
PGDM (Fin and Mktg) XLRI Jamshedpur
Worked across various segments of mining operations at NMDC and currently looking after policy analysis and advocacy in the present role at Tata Steel.

Mr. Vineet Mittal
Chairman,
Avaada Group

A serial entrepreneur, Vineet is known for visionary leadership and execution abilities. His strengths lie in envisioning and implementing large-sized complex projects and building up global organizations. Vineet’s strong emphasis on generating sustainable clean energy has led to the creation of Avaada. He has built one of leading renewable energy companies in India, with a portfolio of ~1 GW solar and wind power projects. These projects further created thousands of jobs which resonates with Vineet’s philosophy of bringing electricity into villages and towns will immediately change their economic profile An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Vineet is on B20’s taskforce for financing growth and infrastructure and is also a member of its cross thematic group called anti-corruption and responsible business conduct. He is an active participant of key global initiatives like the P4G and the Terawatt Initiative. Vineet is the President of the Solar Power Developer’s Association and Chairman of the solar task force at ASSOCHAM. He is the former India Chair of World Business Council of Sustainable Development (WBCSD)’s program on Renewables Low Carbon Technology platform. He was felicitated twice as 'The Solar Power Man of the Year' in 2014 and 2012 and named 100 Most Power Solar Business Leaders in Indian PV Market 2017. Vineet has also been recognized with the 'Global Excellence Award in Renewable Energy 2015' as well as the ‘Global Solar leadership Award 2015’, in view of his contributions to the sector. He has been invited as expert in forum series - IHS Energy's CERA Week, WEF's flagship events in Davos among others, on innovation - low carbon finance - growth through sustainable energy; presented white papers on sustainable energy, incentivizing efforts of forestation and public-private-participation for rural community development.

Mr. Amit Kumar Mittal
Technical Director,
First Solar, India

Mr. Mr. Amit Kumar Mittal is currently working as technical director of First Solar, India. Mr. Mittal has 29 years of experience in Solar Power, Thermal Power and Nuclear Power industry. He gas experience in engineering, construction management, quality assurance and control, project management, team management and Concrete Technology.
He has Expertise in developing and streamlining systems, enhancing operational effectiveness and meeting operational goals within cost, quality and time parameters.
He has also expertise in CdTe Solar PV module technology, energy simulation, PV plant engineering, project management, construction, commissioning and O&M.

Mr. Srinivasu Moturi
Sr. GM,
Voltas Limited

Srinivasu Moturi

Vasu is a specialist in product development, market analysis, Business strategy preparation and implementation, value engineering, lean & mass manufacturing techniques, new business development strategy planning, Building Energy Efficiency, HVAC Project execution /Customer service areas.

Dr. Sajid Mubashir
Scientist 'G',
Department of Science and Technology

He is member-secretary for the (new) DHI-DST Technology Platform for Electric Mobility (TPEM), which will implement demand-driven R&D / Roadmap based program to develop technologies in: Battery & Charging Infrastructure; Vehicle Systems Integration; Electrical Components; Materials & Manufacturing. Most of the R&D Projects will be in Public-Private-Partnership mode, as Consortia Projects. The Mission will also establish half dozen major Centers of Excellence in Electric Mobility research. His earlier assignments were: Member R&D at the National Automotive Board (NAB), Department of Heavy Industry. He was a member of Collaborative Automotive R&D (CAR) Program (2004-2010), and Home Grown Technology Program (HGT) (1997-2005).

Mr. Sudipta Kr. Mukherjee
Vice President and Plant Head,
Haldia Energy Limited

A graduate of Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, he did MBA in Operations Management from IGNOU. He served in CESC Limited in O&M of thermal power stations for 25 years and now working as Vice president and Plant Head of 2 X 300 MW thermal power station of Haldia Energy Limited at Haldia. He has wide experience in Project management, construction, and O&M of thermal power plant employing best practices. He also presented papers on various facets of power plant operation and maintenance in various national and international conferences, seminars and symposiums.

Ms. Mohua Mukherjee
Program Ambassador,
International Solar Alliance

Mohua Mukherjee

Mohua Mukherjee has worked as a senior development professional and team leader for over twenty-five years at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC, most recently as the Head of India Energy where she was leading the US$1 billion Solar Energy Program. Ms. Mukherjee has worked in diverse sectors in 44 countries for the World Bank. She has also worked as an investment banker and head of Corporate Finance in Citibank Nairobi, Kenya for close to five years. She has a BA and MA in Economics and an MBA in International Finance all from Boston University, and an Executive Education in Public Private Partnerships from Harvard University. In March 2017, after thirty-one years of service, Ms. Mukherjee left the World Bank and moved to Bangalore, India for family reasons. Mohua is now the Program Ambassador for International Solar Alliance (ISA) headquartered in India. She is working with one of the ISA’s financing partners, to design a funding instrument for stand-alone solar appliance companies.

Mr. Deb Mukherjee
Senior Vice President,
The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry

An entrepreneur, professionally qualified as a lawyer, with over 33 years work experience in diverse business domains, engineering systems, information technology solutions and later in energy services for the last 15 years. Was Executive Chairman of Eaga Energy India Pvt Ltd ( subsidiary of Eagaplc UK FTSE 250 company ) until 2012. Currently is an Investor and Country Director for Power Roll Ltd UK and also Managing Director of Cenergist Ltd UK - India Operations, an energy services business with operations in the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and now India. Is also incubating an IT start up Teknowlegion Ltd in Kolkata, India.
Has served on various Trade Committees in India and the UK and spoken at several international seminars on Sustainability Issues, Energy Efficiency, Renewables, Water Management and on Business Strategies.
He is the Senior Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also chairs the Energy and Environment Committe of the Chamber.

Mr. Jaideep Mukherji
CEO,
Smart Power India

SPI, a subsidiary of the Rockefeller Foundation was established in 2015 to develop and scale sustainable models to accelerate electricity access and spur economic development amongst the rural undeserved communities. SPI’s electricity access initiatives focus both on the mini-grid models, as-well-as partnering with the public and private sector actors towards developing grid based models for achieving viable and sustainable electricity delivery. As the CEO of SPI, Jaideep leads a multi-sectoral team, driving a mission to provide for innovative solutions to address India’s rural electricity access challenge. Jaideep is an accomplished corporate leader and strategist with an extensive experience of building organizations and scaling-up new initiatives. In the past, he has led the Asia-Pacific operations of d.light, the world’s largest clean energy product enterprise credited with bringing affordable and reliable solar lighting devices to the underserved geographies. Jaideep also spearheaded McCain Foods’ India debut, pioneering the development of the frozen foods market and innovated contract farming practices and agriculture supply chain development across emerging markets. Jaideep holds a B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and is passionate about solutions that result in business and social win-wins.

Ms. Neha Mukhi
Sr. Climate Change Specialist,
World Bank

Ms. Rashmi Murali
Research Associate,
TERI

Mr. Ashwani Muthoo
Director - Global Engagement & Multilateral Relations Division,
International Fund for Agricultural Development - United Nations

Ashwani K. Muthoo, a national of India, has extensive experience in international cooperation, agriculture and rural development, management and development evaluation.

He currently holds the position of Director of the Global Engagement and Multilateral Relations Division in IFAD.  Prior to his current position, he was Deputy Director of the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE).

Mr Muthoo has experience of working in more than 50 developing countries in all regions, and is fluent in English, Hindi, Italian and Portuguese, and understands French and Spanish.

Mr. Manish Narula
Senior Director-Business Development.,
Jinko Solar, India

Mr. Manish Narula is currently working as Senior Director of Business Development (India) at Jinko Solar Co. Ltd. Before that he worked in various companies like assolar head at Essel Green Energy Pvt Ltd., Head – Business development of Green India, general manager- solar projects at Jindal India thermal power limited etc.

Mr. David Nelson
Executive Director,
Climate Policy Initiative

David Nelson is executive director of Climate Policy Initiative’sEnergy Finance practice, a multidisciplinary team of economists, analysts, industry and finance professionals. The team is based in London and Delhi, but works globally with governments, energy companies and investors to develop financial instruments and design new markets that will lower the cost of the energy transition.
Before joining CPI, David worked as an investor and strategic advisor to energy and utilities companies and their regulators in Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Australia for more than 20 years. 
David was senior vice president and global sector leader for Energy, Utilities, and Commodities at Alliance Bernstein, where he managed research for the Bernstein Value portfolio and the commodity hedge fund. Prior to working at Bernstein, David was a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, and before that at Arthur D. Little. He started his consulting career at the economics consultancy Putnam, Hayes and Bartlett. David has degrees in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Wharton.

Mr. Dilip Nigam
Advisor,
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Presently working in MNRE (Govt. of India). His specialization is in Solar and Wind Energy. After working in Private sector initially for few years, he joined the Ministry in 1987. He has worked in wind energy programme of the Ministry for 16 years, when many important policies for development of wind energy  sector in the country were initiated. He had worked for almost 14 years in Solar Energy Programmes. Currently, he is working as an Advisor in National Solar Mission and helping in the development of critical renewable energy schemes to promote solar power development in the country.

Ms. Annie Notthoff
Senior Western Advocacy Director,
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Annie Notthoff

Annie Notthoff is the Senior Western Advocacy Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in San Francisco and Sacramento. She directs a broad range of state based initiatives to promote climate action, public health and environmental protection.  She led NRDC’s efforts to get many of California’s nationally significant environmental laws enacted including: the Marine Life Protection Act (1999), Pavley Clean Car bill (2002), Global Warming Solutions Act (2006), climate and land use (2008), water policy reforms (2009), Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act (2015), 2030 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets and Equity (2016), and extending California’s price on carbon to 2030 and strengthening local air quality controls (2017).   Ms. Notthoff is a board member on the State Coastal Conservancy and she served on the board of the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) for over 20 years. She has held appointed positions on several state and federal advisory committees.  In 2015, Ms. Notthoff was honored to receive a CLCV Northern California Environmental Leadership Award.  She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon and a Masters of City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.  She and her husband Dwight Holing live in Orinda and have two adult children.

Dr. Neha Pahuja
Fellow,
TERI

Dr. Prosanto Pal
Senior Fellow,
TERI

Mr. David Palchak
Engineer,
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

David joined the Strategic Energy Analysis Center at NREL in 2012. His work on high renewable energy power systems focuses on low-cost options for system balancing, such as coal flexibility, demand response, storage, and operating reserves. He has collaborated extensively with the Government of India to help them achieve an efficient, reliable power system through robust planning models, including technical leadership of India’s first renewable energy grid integration study (Greening the Grid). Other work in India includes assisting states in planning their transmission and distribution systems. He has also worked on grid integration studies for North America, the Philippines, and Kazakhstan. Prior to NREL David received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University where he performed research on electrical load forecasting and demand-side management.

Mr. Debajit Palit
Director & Senior Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Debajit Palit

Mr Debajit Palit works in the field of clean energy access, distributed generation, rural electrification policy and regulation, solar photovoltaics, and biomass gasification.
Mr Palit joined TERI in 1998 and has been since working on projects related to technology adaptation, resource assessment and energy planning; project implementation; policy and regulatory studies; monitoring and impact assessment; and capacity building. He has vast national and international experience working in projects for UN organisations, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and National Governments across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, and Thailand in Asia; and Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Uganda in Africa. He has authored a book on rural electricity distribution franchisees, edited various books, contributed around 30 technical papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and has participated in more than 30 national and international conferences and workshops.
He is also leading the 'Lighting for All' Working Group under the Energy for All Partnership of Asian Development Bank.
Mr Palit holds a Master’s degree in Physics and has completed post graduate diploma in Non-Conventional Energy Technology.

Dr. Suneel Pandey
Senior Fellow,
TERI

Dr. Pradeep Chandra Pant
Scientist-F, Director,
MNRE

Holder of Masters and Ph. D Degree in Physics (Energetics of Solar Energy Systems) from CCS University Meerut, he has been associated with the Renewable Energy Sector in India for over 36 years and has been working with the Ministry for over 3 decades. He has hands on experience in planning, development and implementation of various renewable energy projects for rural, domestic, institutional and industry applications.
Dr. Pant has represented Ministry in a number of committees such as Governing Council of ANERT Kerala, Executive Committee of MGIIREPD Bangalore, Power Sector Skill Development Council, National Task Force on Green Jobs, Steering Committee of National Mission on Power Electronics, ET-28 and ET-11 Committees of BIs for formulation of Standards of SPV systems and Battery. He is a life member of Solar Energy Society of India, Indian Society of Lighting Engineers, Fellow of International Energy Foundation. He will now be representing Ministry in its RE-Invest series of Investors’ Meet & Expo.
Dr. Pant is the Coordinator for International Training Activities at the National Institute of Solar Energy under Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme and has organized 14 programmes with 315 participants from 73 countries so far. Also instrumental in getting NISE accredited with Non-aligned Movement Centre for S&T (NAMCS&T) as one of the research centres for students of NAM countries to undertake research activities at NISE.
He is steering HRD, Innovative Projects, Support to States and Energy Storage programmes in the Ministry since 2009. New schemes such as National Solar Science Fellowship, National Renewable Energy Fellowship, support for lab and library up-gradation, institution of RE Chairs, institutionalising RE education and training mechanism in the country, support to CIIE Initiatives of IIM Ahmedabad, support to Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States, support to SNAs etc. have been initiated and being implemented. Also coordinated climate change activities in the Ministry for about one year.
Dr. Pant has been the Guest faculty at National Power Training Institute (for MBA Power Electronics), IIT Delhi, DTU, TERI University, MANIT Bhopal etc. under Quality Improvement Programme for the faculty members. He has published more than 10 research papers, PI and CoPI of collaborative research projects, guiding PhD and MTech students (two students have been awarded PhD), and written guest editorial of special editions of some journals. Reviewer of research papers in peer reviewed international journals of repute such as SOLMAT, Solar Energy.

Mr. Jayant Parimal
Chief Executive Officer (Renewable),
Adani Green Energy Limited

Shri Jayant Parimal is an IAS Officer (1989 batch).  He has done his B.E in Electrical in 1988 from MNIT, Allahabad, CFA in 2002 from ICFAI, Hyderabad, Masters of International Law & Economics in 2004 from World Trade Institute, Bern and LL.B in 2007 from Gujarat University.
During his long and illustrious career in Indian Administrative Service, Mr. Parimal has worked in various capacities with Government of Gujarat and Government of India, till 2006.
Presently, Shri Jayant Parimal is working as Chief Executive Officer (Renewable Energy) in Adani Group, looking after Group’s Renewable Business.  Before joining with Adani Group, he was with Reliance Industries Limited, as President (Special Projects) in Mumbai.

Dr. Ila Patnaik
Professor,
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy

Ila Patnaik

Dr Ila Patnaik, professor at NIPFP, New Delhi. Prior to this, she was Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India. Other former positions include Non-Resident Senior Associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and regular columnist at Indian Express. She holds a BA (Economics) from DU, an MA (Economics) from JNU

and a Ph.D.(Economics) from  University of Surrey. Her research interests include international macroeconomics, finance and emerging economy business cycles. Her research on these topics has been published in scholarly journals such as the Journal of International Money and Finance, the World Bank Economic Review, International Finance, and in collected volumes. Dr Patnaik served on various working groups and task forces of the Ministry of Finance, such as those on taxation of financial products, and those to create agencies, including the independent Public Debt Management Agency, the Resolution Corporation, the Financial Redress Agency and the Financial Data Management Centre. National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi. Prior to this, she was the Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India. Other former positions include Non-Resident Senior Associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and regular columnist at the Indian Express. She holds a BA (Economics) from Delhi University, an MA (Economics) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a Ph.D. (Economics) from the University of Surrey. Her research interests include international macroeconomics, finance and emerging economy business cycles. Her research on these topics has been published in scholarly journals such as the Journal of International Money and Finance, the World Bank Economic Review, International Finance, and in collected volumes. Dr Patnaik served on various working groups and task forces of the Ministry of Finance, such as those on taxation of financial products, and those to create agencies, including the independent Public Debt Management Agency, the Resolution Corporation, the Financial Redress Agency and the Financial Data Management Centre.

Mr. Carl Pendragon
CEO,
SKYMINING

Carl Pendragon is an inventor, philosopher and entrepreneur, with 25 years’ experience in energy markets. During the 1990s, Carl disrupted electricity markets where competition was slow to take hold after demonopolization. In 2009, he started to search for a solution to permanently stop climate change, which resulted in the concept, technology and platform Skymining. At the core of Carl's work lies the insight that is not enough to slow down climate change - we have to take action to reverse it. As such, Skymining reverses the flow of carbon in the biosphere; sending carbon from the atmosphere back to the earth. The reversed flow is then used to produce carbon negative fuel to replace fossil fuels, as well as organic food and renewable fibers, while restoring degraded ecosystems. There is enough carbon in the sky to completely solve the problems of fossil fuel replacement, food security, soil degradation and climate change. There is enough wealth in the sky to make Skymining profitable for everyone and to eradicate poverty forever.

Mr. Girish Pillai
Member Traffic,
Railway Board

Girish Pillai 

Shri Girish Pillai has taken over as the New Member Traffic, Railway Board on 01st July, 2018. Prior to this, he was General Manager, West Central Railway, Jabalpur from 01st September 2016 to 30th June, 2018.  He is an Indian Railway Traffic Services (IRTS) officer of 1980 Batch. He joined Railways in January, 1982. Shri Girish Pillai has done M.Sc. (Maths) & M. Phil. from Delhi University.
During his long career, Shri Girish Pillai  has held several important assignments in the Ministry of Railways including- Additional Member (Tourism &  Catering) and Infrastructure, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Advisor (Infrastructure) Railway Board, Chief Operations Manager, Western Railway, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Division, Western Railway, Executive Director (Perspective Planning), Railway Board, Chief Passenger Transportation Manager, Western Railway, Chief Traffic Planning Manager, Western Railway, Director in Department of Ocean Development under Central Staffing Scheme and various other posts on Zonal Railways.
Shri Girish Pillai has vast knowledge and experience in various Departments of Indian Railways like Planning of Long/Medium-term plans including Corporate Plan, Policy and Strategic Planning matters, International Agreements & Protocols, Project Development & related studies, Planning of major infrastructure projects on Indian Railways, Five Year Plans of Railways, Dedicated Freight Corridor Projects, International Co-operation, Public Private Partnership and FDI in Railways, High Speed/Semi High Speed Trains, Tourism & Catering etc.

Mr. Suresh Prabhu
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation,
Government of India

A relentless passion to serve the nation drives Suresh Prabhu, who from being a practicing Chartered Accountant has gone on to hold many coveted, challenging, distinguished and responsible positions. He has held portfolios as Union Cabinet Minister in the Government of India in the ministries of Environment & Forest, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Power, Railways, Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation. Heading all these Ministries at different times and delivering his very best always, he has accomplished the challenging task of putting crucial policies in place and creating concepts which hugely benefitted the people and the country. Suresh Prabhu is extremely hardworking, devoted to work and honest to the core. He leaves his mark and has created a niche for himself in every position he has held.  
Beginning his promising career with a degree in Commerce from University of Mumbai, he went onto complete graduation in law, and became the Fellow Chartered Accountant from the prestigious Institute of Chartered Accountants of India securing all India rank 11. Presently he is pursuing PhD in Climate Change from Germany and PhD in State Public Finance from University of Mumbai.
A man with a wide range of interests, he is an ardent sports lover, holding posts of Vice President Table Tennis Federation of India & Chairperson Maharashtra State Table Tennis Academy. He is Chairperson of the NGO, Manav Sadhan Vikas Sanstha, a human resource and development organization. He is also Chairperson of Konkan Kala Academy and leads many charitable organizations.

Ms. Khushbu Prajapati
Executive,
Tata Steel

Working since last 5 years with the CSR wing of Tata Steel I have intensive working experience in education sector working with the children of government schools of Tata Steel Operational areas. During this period I have majorly involved in creating interactive learning techniques for students of class 3-5 and creating awareness among the community towards education and its importance. Graduated from Tata Institute of Social Sciences with Master in ‘Habitat Policy and Practice’ an interdisciplinary program which focuses on issues developing in urban areas in the fields of water, affordable housing, solid waste management, climate change & sustainable development, urban planning & governance, infrastructure finance I always had deep interest in Environment related issues. My internship was also on “Assessing the Solid Waste Management system of Jamshedpur city”. I started my first work with Center for Environment Education at Kolkata handling project on waste & electricity management in Kolkata schools. I have intensively worked on below areas during my course work; Qualitative research study on ‘Environmental Awareness in 11th class students’; Presented a case study on ‘TATA Steel and Sustainable Development’ for Ecology and Urban Environment; Paper on- Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture, Opportunities for CDM in Building sector, Shift from Government to Governance and Indian scenario

Mr. Shri Prakash
Distinguished Fellow, Transport & Urban Governance,
TERI

Mr. Prakash joined TERI in July 2011 as Distinguished Fellow, after a long and distinguished service in Indian Railways. His association with TERI goes back to 2003-2004 as a Visiting Senior Fellow.
His career with the Indian Railways spanned over 37 years where he held numerous key positions in different Zonal Railways and the Railway Board. Mr. Prakash retired as Member (Traffic), Indian Railway Board and Secretary to Government of India in December 2009. Upon retirement he was appointed as Chairman, Standing High Powered Committee on Infrastructure Planning, Business Development and Project Monitoring on Indian Railways. During his tenure, the Committee prepared a comprehensive report on future strategies for Indian Railways.
He has held several senior positions in Railway Board and Northern and Eastern Railways. Prior to becoming Member of Railway Board, he was General Manager of Northern Railway, one of the most prominent Railways of India, responsible for about 25 per cent of Passenger traffic of Indian Railways. During his time at the Railway Board, he held the posts of Executive Director Tourism Transportation (M), Executive Director (Statistics & Economics) as well as Executive Director and Team Leader of Project for development of Long Range Decision Support System.
He also managed implementation of FOIS on Indian Railways – a comprehensive system to manage freight train operation on Indian Railways.
As Member (Traffic), Mr. Prakash was Head of Traffic Department in Ministry of Railways and responsible for Commercial, Operating & Marketing functions and management of freight and Passenger Business on Indian Railways. In addition, he also held supplementary assignments and was Chairman of various public sector undertakings such as Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), and Pipavav Railway Corporation Ltd (PRCL) and was also Chairman of the Executive Committee, Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).
Mr. Prakash has rich experience in working across Departments and his specializations include Operations, Planning, Information Technology, and Safety besides General Management. He is a Post Graduate in Mathematics with M.B.A.

Mr. Neeraj Prasad
Practice Manager,
World Bank

Mr. Ghanshyam Prasad
Chief Engineer,
Ministry of Power

Shri Ghanshyam Prasad is the Government Nominee Director of POSOCO. He has done his B. Tech (Electrical Engg.) from Indian Institute of Technology, BHU, Varanasi and M. Tech (Energy and Environment Management) from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He has also done his MBA in Finance. He is presently working as Chief Engineer in Ministry of Power, Government of India. His present assignment is Reforms and Restructuring (R&R) in Electricity Sector and Operation and Monitoring (OM) of electricity grid. He is responsible for the amendment of the Electricity Act, Tariff Policy, Bidding guidelines for solar and Wind, etc. He is also responsible for the smooth operation of the Electricity Grid in the country, activities related to Disaster Management related to power sector and schemes under Power System Development Fund (PSDF). Earlier to this, he worked as Chief Engineer (Distribution) in Central Electricity Authority and Director (Transmission and OM) in Ministry of Power. As CE (Distribution), CEA, he initiated the 1st draft Distribution plan. He has experience in the areas of Power System Operation at Regional Load Despatch Centres, long term generation planning, performance monitoring of all the power stations, monitoring of coal supplies to all the power plants, cross border power trade with neighbouring countries, Distribution etc. He has also served for around six years in Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commissions and has looked after various reforms in electricity in India.He has visited various countries like Canada, USA, UK, Japan, Turkey, Australia, Germany, Spain, France, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal on electricity sector assignments. He has been appointed toour the Ministry’s board in November 18.

Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs,
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs , Government of India

Hardeep Singh Puri was inducted into the Council of Ministers, Government of India, as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs on 3 September, 2017. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is the designated ministry of the Government of India at the national level to formulate policies, sponsor and support programme, coordinate the activities of various Central Ministries, State Governments and other nodal authorities and monitor the programmes concerning all issues relating to housing and urban affairs. The Ministry is the part of the government where three of the Prime Minister’s flagship programmes are anchored – Swachh Bharat Mission, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Smart Cities. These programmes are part of a bold and ambitious agenda for planned urbanization which when implemented, individually and collectively, will involve a paradigmatic shift and have a transformative effect. Prior to his induction in the Council of Ministers, Shri Puri had a distinguished four-decade career in diplomacy spanning both bilateral relations and the multilateral arena, having held Ambassadorial level posts in London, Brazil and as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in both Geneva (2002-2005) and New York (2009-2013). He also served in India’s missions in Tokyo, Colombo and Geneva earlier. He is one of the few Indians who has presided over the United Nations Security Council and the only one to have chaired its Counterterrorism Committee. He served as Vice President at the International Peace Institute in New York and as Secretary-General of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism (2014-2016) in New York appointed by it. He is the author of 'Perilous Interventions: The Security Council & The Politics of Chaos, a Harper Collins publication (September 2016). Among his other publications are, India’s Trade Policy Dilemma and the Role of Domestic Reform, Carnegie India (February 2017).

Mr. Manjeev Singh Puri
Ambassador of India to Nepal,
Ministry of External Affairs

Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri

Manjeev Singh Puri assumed charge as Ambassador of India to Nepal on March 25, 2017. He presented his credentials to the Right Honourable President of Nepal on March 26, 2017. 
Prior to Kathmandu, he was Ambassador of India in Brussels from 2014-2017, accredited to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg. Earlier he had served as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN in New York from 2009 to 2013. He was a senior member of India's Security Council team during the years 2011-2012, when India served on the Security Council. 
Puri is a member of the Indian Foreign Service, having joined the service in 1982. In the course of his Foreign Service career, apart from Brussels and New York, he has served twice in Germany (in Bonn and Berlin), in Cape Town, Muscat, Bangkok and Caracas.  In Delhi, he has served as Joint Secretary (UN- Economic & Social) and Deputy Chief of Protocol.
He was closely involved with India's participation in the G8-G5 Summits from 2005 and led the Indian delegation for the first meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Brussels in July 2007 and the presentation of various reports by India at the Human Rights Council.
Major areas of his interest are climate change and sustainable development. He was a lead negotiator in India's delegation for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. He was also a key member of India's delegation at various Climate Change negotiations, including the Major Economies Forum and the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen in December 2009.He is on the Advisory Board of TERI in his personal capacity.
He has a Masters degree in Management and did his BA (Honours) in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

Mr. Dhruba Purkayastha
Director,
Climate Policy Initiative

Dhruba is Director for US India Clean Energy Finance Facility (USICEF) with Climate Policy Initiative. USICEF is Project Preparation and Pipeline Development Facility for Distributed Renewable Energy projects in India for enabling debt financing from private sector DFIs with OPIC as the Principal DPI. Earlier Dhruba worked as theProgram Manager for International Finance Corporation as the Program Manager for Investment Climate Advisory and with The World Bank as a Senior Specialist in the South Asia Finance and Private sector unit in lending operations for infrastructure financing,public private partnerships,SME finance, banking and capital market reforms and technical assistance in Investment Climate.  He has over 20 years of experience in credit rating, management consulting, investment banking, and internationaldevelopment financingand has worked on project assignments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, China, Korea and Philippines. Dhruba has advised a wide range of government and public sector institutions, banks and financial institutions, multilateral institutions, regulators in areas of policy and institutional development for infrastructure, housing, climate and SME financing,  developing financial infrastructure for improving access to finance, credit risk management, regulatory compliance and portfolio management. Dhruba is Bachelor of Engineering, Post Graduate in Management from IIM, Calcutta and PhD in Financing Infrastructure from IIT Delhi. 

Dr. VENKATA RAMANA PUTTI
PROGRAM MANAGER,
WORLD BANK

Mr. Rashmi R R
Distinguished Fellow, Earth Science and Climate Change,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Shri Rajani Ranjan Rashmi is former Chief Secretary of the Government of Manipur and belongs to the Indian Administrative Service (Manipur-1983).  During 35 years of his distinguished career in public service, he has dealt with policy making in various fields in the government at the Centre, State and abroad.
Shri Rashmi has wide experience in the area of environmental planning and management. He held the position of Special Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change from 2016-17 and was also its Joint Secretary from 2008-2013. In these roles, he was India’s principal negotiator under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, besides supervising other environmental policies in the field of pollution and environmental clearances.
His other areas of expertise are international trade and public finance. He was Adviser in India’s Mission to European Union in Brussels from 2001 to 2005, and later Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry (2014) where he oversaw state trading and plantation commodity exports.
He was Finance Secretary of the state government of Manipur for almost 8 years in various stints. In 2008, he was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for his contribution to management of finances in the state.
Shri Rashmi holds a graduate degree in Economics from Patna University and is MBA from the Free University (Vriet Universitiet) of Brussels. He is married and has two children.

Dr. Shruti Rai Bhardwaj
Additional Director,
MoEF&CC, Government of India

Dr Shruti Rai Bhardwaj is Additional Director in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India. She has more than 10 years of professional experience and specializes in the fields of environmental policy design & coordination, multilateral environmental conventions and multilateral funded progamme management. She has worked in various environmental sectors including air pollution and hazardous waste management. Currently she is working with Control of Pollution Division of the Ministry. She is responsible for implementation of various regulatory provisions, projects and programmes pertaining to air pollution in the country including the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

Mr. V Ramakrishnan
Director,
Poseidon Solar

Mr. V Ramakrishnan is currently working as director of Poseidon Solar, Tamil Nadu.

Mr. K Ramanathan
Distinguished Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Abhishek Ranjan
AVP and Head Renewables & DSM,
BSES Rajdhani Power Limited

Abhishek Ranjan

Mr Abhishek Ranjan is Additional Vice President (System Operations) and Head – Renewable and DSM initiatives at BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL). He is managing a team engaged in Day ahead and Intra-Day (real time) power scheduling in South and West Delhi at BRPL, a distribution Licensee in Delhi, while following cost-effective multi-source power procurement strategy. The team uses Statistical Demand Forecast model development for accurate prediction of day ahead and intra-day demand thereby ensuring prudent power procurement strategies from a mix of long term and short term sources.
As Head – Renewable and DSM initiatives at BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), he is also spearheading initiatives related to Renewable and new / emerging technologies including solar rooftop net-metering, EV charging and protocols, models for implementation of EV charging network, energy storage, energy efficiency & management related initiatives in the organization.
Mr Abhishek Ranjan is a professional with PGDM (General Management) from XLRI Jamshedpur and a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) from National Instritute of Technology, Bhopal, having over two decades of experience in Power Generation and Distribution as well as Information Technology sectors. He has worked in the areas of development of Enterprise systems in the Utility as well manufacturing domain for global MNCs. He is a Certified Energy Manager by Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, GoI.

Mr. Michael Rantil
Principal Advisor,
Swedish Energy Agency

Michael Rantil has a vastexperience from research financing acquired from work at several Swedish research agencies.
He has also been deeply engaged in the climate field as a member of the Swedish delegation to the UNFCCC climate negotiations with responsibility for technology transfer issues, and as Manager for the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN), an international cooperation program which raises private financing for energy projects in developing countries.In addition, he has been a board member of Climate Technology Center and Network (CTCN) and the UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee, where he also served as chairman.
Further on Michael has been representing Sweden in several functions to the International Agency e.g. he chaired the Technology Collaboration Programs Solar, Heating and Cooling andthe IEA Energy and Environmental Technologies Information Centres (EETIC)and held the position as the Swedish delegate to the Committee on Energy Research and Technology (CERT). Until recently Michael also represented Sweden in the policy oriented steering group to the European Commission - Strategic Energy Technology (SET-plan).
Michael is currently based in New Delhi for the Swedish Energy Agency as a Principal Advisor, with the primary task to build partnership between Swedish and Indian governments and to promote Swedish SMEs in the energy field.

Mr. P Raghavendra Rao
Secretary (Chemicals & Petrochemicals),
Ministry of Chemicals & Petrochemicals

Mr. P. Raghavendra Rao is an IAS Officer of 1985 batch: Haryana Cadre. Mr. Rao belongs to Andhra Pradesh in South India.
Before joining as Secretary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Govt. of India in March 2018, Mr. Rao held various important assignments in the State Government of Haryana as Additional Chief Secretary of Town and Country Planning, Housing, Women and Child Development, Urban Development, Rural Development, Environment and Finance Departments. He also worked as Executive Director (Finance) in the Food Corporation of India.

Mr. Gangadhara Rao
Solar Consultant,
Ananyavijaya Consultancy LLP

Mr. Rao is currently running an independent Solar Consultancy named as Ananyavijaya Consultancy LLP. Mr. Rao is a senior Project & Process Engineering professional with 25 years’ multi-functional experience in Silicon Processing & Speciality Chemicals. He has hands-on experience in integrated PV Solar manufacturing plants- Tri-CholoroSilane, Mono Silane, Polysilicon, Ingots, Wafers and PV Modules. He worked at Lanco solar Pvt. Ltd. as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Ms. Rajasree Ray
Economic Adviser,
Deaprtment of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Rajasree Ray

Ms. Rajasree Ray is presently working as Economic Adviser in Department of Economic Affairs and handling the matters relating to the climate change finance and sustainable development matters. Ms. Ray completed her post-graduation in Economics from Calicut University in Kerala. She was selected in the Indian Economic Service in 1995and since then, she has dealt with various subjects relating to natural resources, agriculture and food policy and climate change of about two decades. As part of Government of India, Ms. Ray has a wide and diverse experience having served in Indian Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, Railways, Environment & Forests and Finance. Ms. Ray has been a member of the Indian negotiating team in the UNFCCC and other bodies such as G-20 working groups. As the Deputy Secretary (Climate Change) in the Indian Ministry of Environment & Forests, Ms. Ray focused on Climate Change Adaptation and Finance issues.  In her previous assignment as Additional Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, she dealt with issues related to Climate Change Finance. Ms. Ray was the member of the Inter-Governmental Committee on Sustainable Development Financing set up by UN General Assembly and the Standing Committee on Finance established under the UNFCCC. She was a member of the Indian delegation negotiated the historic Paris Agreement on climate change in December, 2015. She also served as a member on the Board of Green Climate Fund representing Asia-Pacific Group in 2018.

She has authored several papers on issues related to Climate Change including Climate Change Adaptation, Vision for the GCF, Gender and Climate Change and Climate Change Financing.

Dr. Y B K Reddy
Dy. General Manager (PV),
Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd.

Dr. Reddy is currently working as a Deputy General Manager at Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), New Delhi. He earned his Ph.D. in 2005 from Sri Venkateswara University. He has had extensive work experience in various companies, like serving as General Manager of Engineering and Technology at Sujana Energy Limited, and R & D manager at Moserbaer Photovoltaic limited etc.

Dr. Cornelius Rhein
Policy Officer,
European Commission - Directorate-General for Climate Action

Cornelius Rhein

Dr Cornelius Rhein is a German lawyer and works for the European Commission since 2000; from 2007 on ozone-depleting substances and fluorinated greenhouse gases. He participates in the meetings of the Montreal Protocol and was involved in the drafting and negotiation of the EU Regulation on fluorinated greenhouse gases. Since 2018, he coordinates within the Directorate-General for Climate Action the relationship with India.

Mr. Mohamed Ridouani
Hon'ble Mayor,
City of Leuven

Mohamed Ridouani

Mohamed Ridouani (39) is Mayor in the city of Leuven and was previously responsible for Education, Economy and Urban Development. Mohamed Ridouani is Leuven born. His parents migrated from Morocco to Leuven in the early 70’s. He graduated as a master in economics and completed a post graduate in international relations. He started his career as a business consultant at Deloitte. In 2007 Mohamed was elected to the city council for the Flemish Labour Party. He was immediately appointed as Deputy Mayor and therefore he left the business world to fully focus on his political duties. Together with the knowledge institutions in Leuven, Ridouani aims to reinforce the sustainable and innovative character of the city. He’s the inspirer of Leuven 2030, in which more than 300 companies, organizations and citizens are united to turn Leuven into a sustainable and CO2-neutral city by the year 2030. Ridouani is also the founder of the education council which conjoins everyone in the educational field to attain the best tuition possible for every child in Leuven. Ridouani also initiated Leuven MindGate, an economic platform with 400 members that will boost Leuven as the world’s hotspot for health, technology and creativity. Mohamed Ridouani was elected Mayor in October 2018. He stands for positive change and aims to turn Leuven into one of the most caring, green and prosperous cities in Europe, in cooperation with the citizens.

Mr. John Roome
Senior Director, Climate Change,
The World Bank

John Roome is Senior Director for Climate Change at the World Bank. He joined the World Bank in 1989, working initially in Africa, and has since held various positions including Operations and Strategy Director for Global Practices and Cross Cutting Solutions, Director for Sustainable Development in the Bank’s East Asia and the Pacific Region, Operations and Strategy Director in the Bank’s South Asia region and as Operational Quality Director in the Bank’s Africa region. His experience spans water, urban, transport, energy, rural, agriculture, environment, and social sectors, as well as disaster risk management and climate change. Before joining the World Bank, John worked in Europe for Monitor Company, a leading corporate strategy consulting firm, and at Old Mutual, a South African Life Assurance Company. He was educated at Oxford University, where he obtained Masters Degrees in Econometrics and in Management Studies, and the University of Cape Town where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Statistics and Actuarial Science.

Mr. Vinay Rustagi
Managing Director,
Bridge to India Energy Private Limited

Vinay has been Managing Director at BRIDGE TO INDIA since 2013. He advises companies, developmental institutions and policy makers on a vast range of strategic, policy, financial and business development challenges in the Indian renewable market. He is passionate about developing successful business models that solve India’s energy problems in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Prior to this, Vinay spent over 15 years as a project financier and financed a number of solar, wind and waste-to-energy projects in Asia and Europe. His previous job stints include a role at Standard Chartered Bank as Senior Director, Project Finance besides working at National Australia Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank and ICICI Securities.

Vinay holds an MBA degree from London Business School and IIM Ahmedabad in addition to BE Mechanical from Delhi Technological University.

Mr. B C Sabata
Director,
Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Combating Climate Change, Department of Environment, Govt. of NCT of Delhi

Dr B C Sabata is currently working in the Department of Environment (DoE), Government of NCT of Delhi as senior Scientific Officer. His major qualifications are PhD (Aquatic Pollution of River Hooghly), M.Sc, (Botany), M.Phil and MBA in Disaster Management. His areas of interests are Environment and Conservation, Integrated Impact Assessment, Environment Education, Renewable Sources of Energy, Environmental Pollution Control and Environment Education. Having 23 years of research experience he held the post of Lecturer in Botany in Arunachal University from 1992-1999, JRF and SRF at Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata from 1985-1992. He is presently looking after Eco- clubs in schools and colleges of Delhi. Assistance to NGOs for environment conservation programmes.

Dr. Karsten Sach
Director-General,
Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Karsten Sach

Dr. Karsten Sach is Director General, “International and European Policy, Climate Policy” in the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Germany. Before he assumed that office in 2016, he led the Sub-Department “European and International Policies” for twelve years. Since 1999 he is the German chief negotiator at the UNFCCC conferences of the parties.
1998/1999 he served as Deputy Head of Division "International Cooperation, Global Conventions Climate Change” in the Environmental Ministry. Before that, he was the Environment Attaché of the Permanent Representation of Germany to the European Union in Brussels for four years. He entered the Environment Ministry in 1991.
Before joining the ministry, Dr. Karsten Sach was teaching environment and economic law. He studied law in Kiel and Freiburg and has a PhD in law.  

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs
Director, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network,
Columbia University

Jeffrey is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed the Earth Institute from 2002 to 2016. He is also Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. He has been advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees. He has authored numerous bestseller books. His most book recent isA New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism(2018). Sachs was twice named as Time magazine’s 100 most influential worldleaders,andwasranked byThe Economistamong the top three most influential living economists.

Prof. R Saravanan
Professor, R&AC Lab,
Anna University

R Saravanan

Prof R Saravanan is with over 25 years of experience in the field of Energy Conversion in buildings, solar heating, cooling systems and combined power & cooling systems. He holds a PhD in Solar Cooling from IIT Madras and has published 65 International Journal papers and presented around 140 papers in both National and International Conferences.
Prof Saravanan has carried out many research projects for various Government of India Departments and participated in the Marie Curie Research Fellowship Program sponsored by EU. He has also carried out consultancy work in the areas of Refrigeration & Air conditioning from various Government and Private organizations.
He is the recipient of the Young Scientist Research Grant Award and Ramanna Fellowship award from the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India and has won The Emerson Cup 2010 & 2011 awards in the area of retail and refrigeration category. He has also guided his student in winning the Bry – Air award 2014 on the development of combined cooling and drying of agro products.
Currently he is the Member in E2 Commission of IIR on Heat Pumps and Energy Recovery and Chair, Technical Committee, ISHRAE, New Delhi and H & AChair – ASHRAE Chennai Chapter.  He has also held various positions like, Chennai Chapter President, Regional Program Chair, National Chair Students and Regional Director in ISHRAE.

Dr. O S Sastry
Senior Advisor - Renewables,
Maxop Engineering Co. Pvt. Ltd.

Dr. O S Sastry is currently working in Maxop Engineering Corp. Noida. He is a retired Director General, of National Institute of Solar Energy, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India. He joined the MNRE as a senior scientific officer, and involved in countries` Solar Energy Programme execution. During 1992 he joined Solar Energy Center (SEC) as in-charge of National Photovoltaic Test Facility. He is responsible for design, establishment and accreditation of the photo voltaic test facility (PVTF) of SEC as per IS 17025, quality system of NABL. He was also responsible for setting, development and up-gradation of additional test centers for PV module and systems testing across the country. He has also established SPV modules outdoor test beds for long term performance evaluation of different PV technologies at SEC. As a part of long term performance of PV modules he also executed joint collaborative projects with NREL, USA and AIST Japan.

Mr. Santosh Satapathy
Sr. Manager (Mine Planning), Sukinda Chromite Mine FAMD,,
TATA Steel Ltd.

Mr. S K Satapathy, a mining engineer by profession, is at present, working as a practicing Mining Engineer in Sukinda Chromite Mine of Tata Steel. He is having working experience of 28 years in different facets of mine management including, mine planning, mine operations, environment management, mine safety and capability development etc.
Besides mining, he is having interest in environment, community development, literature and social work.

Mr. Pankaj Kumar Satija
Chief Regulatory Affairs,
Tata Steel Ltd.

A graduate mining engineer from IIT(ISM), Dhanbad with PGDBM from XLRI, Pankaj Satija has blended mining operation with framework of Safety, innovation and Environment. A PMP certified professional has undergone Indo German Manager Programme at Germany and Global Advance Management Programme at China. He is a LEAD Fellow of cohort 19.
Pankaj Satija is working for Tata Steel Ltd as Chief Regulatory Affairs. He has more than 24 years of experience in Strategic Planning, Project Management, Mine Planning, Mining Operations, Production and Maintenance. Under his leadership, vetiver plantation experiment was carried out first time in Indian mining industry with collaboration of IIT Kharagpur at Joda East mine of Tata Steel in 2012. He has been in task force for Sustainable Development Framework for Indian Mining Industry constituted by Ministry of Mines. Under his leadership, Sukinda chromite mine of Tata Steel became the first mine in the country where pilot launch of SDF (Sustainable Development Framework) was done in Jan 2016. Under his leadership, Noamundi became the first mine in country where pilot launch for Drone Application in Mine Monitoring (DAMM) was launched in Jan 2017. ‘SABAL - Centre for Abilities’ (2nd in India) was also started at Noamundi under his leadership which is grooming PwD (Person with Disability) for a brighter future by offering various skill development courses.

He is the recipient of FIMI Gem Granite Sustainability Award 2014-15 and Excellent Performer Award   2015 from Legasis. He is member of QP & NOS committee and Governing Board of Skill Council of Mineral Sector. He is a member of National Council of MEAI. He is a recipient of Best Corporate Management Innovative Excellence Award 2016-17 at GeoMinTech symposium, Bhubaneswar. He is the recipient of Bala Gulshan Tandon Excellence Award from FIMI for his significant contribution towards assisting the mine achieving excellence through Sustainable mining for 2016-17.He is the recipient of IME Journal annual award for innovation in 2017.MEAI bestowed Service Excellence Award for his contributions to mineral sector of the country for 2017-18.He has been associated with professional bodies and has numerous papers in National and International Journals to his credit.
 

Mr. Rabindra Satpathy
Director-Solar Business,
Jakson Engineers Limited

Rabindra Kumar Satpathy heads the solar business unit at Jakson. In this role, he is responsible for the complete manufacturing & business operations for PV modules, MMS, Solar products & rooftop business. Rabindra is an electrical engineer with more than 33 years of experience in operational & leadership roles across leading organizations in the renewable energy sector in India and abroad. In the past he has worked in Tata Power Solar, RIL Solar Group, Shell Solar, Solar World, Trina Solar and Emami Power. Rabindra is currently the ExCo& Board Member of International Solar Energy Society (ISES) with HQ at Freiburg, Germany.

Dr. Naresh Saxena
Secretary (Retired),
Planning Commission

Naresh Saxena

Naresh Saxena has been a career civil servant. Topper of his batch (1964) in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Dr. Saxena retired as Secretary, Planning Commission. He also worked as Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, and Secretary Minorities Commission in Government of India. During 1993-96 he was Director, National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, where he also worked as Deputy Director from 1976 to 1980. On behalf of the Supreme Court of India, Dr Saxena monitored hunger based programmes in India from 2001 to 2017. He has chaired several government committees, such as on 'Women's Land Rights', ‘Identification of poor families’, ‘Implementation of Forest Rights Act’, ‘Joint Review Mission on Elementary Education’ and 'Bauxite Mining in Orissa'. He was a Member of National Advisory Council, chaired by Ms Sonia Gandhi during 2004-08 & 2010-14.
Author of several books and articles, Dr Saxena did his Doctorate in Forestry from the Oxford University in 1992. He was awarded honorary PhD from the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2006. He has worked on development issues in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, East Timor, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Afghanistan.
He is a Member of Editorial Board, Development Policy Review, London and Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, Stockholm.  He was a Visiting Professor to Regional Community Forestry Training Centre, Bangkok 1993-98 and Member, Governing Council, ADB Institute, Tokyo, 2002-04.

Mr. A. K. Saxena
Director, Electricity and Fuels Division,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Mr A K Saxena, Senior Fellow and Director, Electricity and Fuels Division in TERI, has over 37 years of experience in the power sector in India. During the course of his career, he has worked with the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Ministry of Power (MoP) and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). He retired as Chief Engineer, CEA in 2016 and held important portfolios such as Chief (Engineering), CERC (2013-16), Director (Operation Monitoring) and Director (Transmission) in MoP (2005 to 2012).
At TERI, his profile includes managing the work on energy transitions in the Indian power sector to develop a roadmap for low-carbon pathways. This includes work on demand forecasting, studying economic feasibility of supply side options and technical challenges of grid integration of renewables. He also leads the work on power sector policy, reforms and regulations, demand side management action plans, smart grid, etc.
Mr Saxena has rich regulatory experience in tariff determination for Inter State Generating stations (Conventional and Renewable) and Inter-State Transmission Systems (ISTS), Point-of-Connection charges, IEGC, Deviation Settlement Mechanism, Open Access, Connectivity, Ancillary Services, regulatory approval for solar parks, power market, etc. He also headed a task force to provide inputs to the draft regulations for transmission planning.
Mr Saxena holds a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Roorkee (now IIT, Roorkee) and MBA in Operations Management from Indira Gandhi National Open University. He is also a Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India) and has travelled widely.

Mr. Jake Schmidt
Director of International Program,
NRDC

Jake Schmidt

Jake Schmidt directs NRDC’s International program with a team of experts and partners working on climate change, clean energy, biogems, and sustainable development in India, Latin America, Canada, and at the international level. He works closely with the organization’s China team on climate issues, as well as helps coordinate NRDC’s international efforts to tackle the challenges of health, oceans, and wildlife. He leads NRDC's policy development and advocacy on international climate change, including through the climate negotiations and direct work with key countries around the world.

Mr. Sanjay Seth
Senior Director - Sustainable Buildings Division,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Sanjay Seth is Senior Director & Senior Fellow of the Sustainable Habitat Programme with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He is also the Chief Executive Officer of GRIHA Council which administers the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment. Prior to joining TERI, he worked with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Government of India and headed the vertical on Building Energy Efficiency. He was also the interim Secretary of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and responsible for the administration and financial management of the organization. In this capacity, he provided oversight to the implementation of policies and programmes of BEE as well as the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), and all international bilateral/multilateral cooperation programmes. He also represented BEE on the Board of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) as Director. By training he is a Civil Engineer and has more than 30 years of experience in the power sector of which the last nine years have been on the Demand Side. Prior to joining the Bureau, he has worked in various capacities in a Central Public Sector Generating company, under the Ministry of Power and was associated with planning, monitoring, co-ordination and construction management of Hydro and Thermal power projects.

Mr. Girish Sethi
Senior Fellow,
TERI

Mr. Hiren Pravin Shah
Sr Director,
Delta Power Solutions

Mr. Shah is currently the Head for Energy Storage Solutions atDelta Power Solutions. In his existing role, he is responsible for driving exponential growth through Path Breaking Technologies, Product Innovations, Create Market Reach and Application Verticals for Futuristic Products like Lithium Ion Batteries and Electric Vehicle Infrastructure leading the team to maximize revenues. He is responsible to build strong Local Engineering Team for Developing India Centric Products, Solutions and Service Infrastructure to Create Sustainable Growth.He strongly believes that his Activitieswill help India to be an Energy Efficient and Progressive Nation and that would be the Biggest Contribution to Indian Society. Previously, he has been associated with Panasonic for 17 Years at various Positions and Capacities Spearheading the Sales for their Industrial Sales Division. His Last Assignment was to promote Lithium Ion Batteries which were successfully deployed for Reliance JIO 4G network for which he was Awarded as the Rising Star by Panasonic Corp. President Award. This Project not only changed the Face of the Telecom Industry but also contributes to India’s Energy Situation (generate 7.5GWh of Power Back Up / Reduce 2.2 Bn Liters of Diesel Consumption / Save 57 ton of CO2 emission).
Academically, Mr. Shah holds an Industrial Electronics Degree with specialization in Power Electronics from Pune University. He had been a Part of Panasonic Business Leadership Development Program, India Representative for South East Asia Automotive Business Development Committee, Panasonic Global Advisory Committee and One South Asia Business Leadership Program.Mr. Shah has successfully contributed for the Delta Management Program on – Building a High Performance Team.
Currently engaged in developing Energy Storage Solutions after the Acquisition of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Lithium Ion Battery Division by Delta Power Solutions for a Sustainable Growth and early adoption in Telecom, Data Center, Grid and Renewable Energy, Electric Vehicles Segments.
Aggressively working on Product Promotion and Solutions for EV Charging Infra.
Mr. Shah is well-versed with four languages which include English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. He is Well Travelled Person (having travelled to more than 22 Countries) and an Avid Reader.

Ms. Clare Shakya
Director,
IIED

Clare Shakya is the Director of IIED’s Climate Change Group. She has over 25 years of experience in development, in climate, energy and natural resources. Previously she spent 15 years with DFID, leading theintegration of climate change thinking and finance into DFID's development interventions in Asia and Africa Divisions. She is interested in politically astute, agile processes that learn iteratively about how to support a just transformation to a climate positive future.
Clare is responsible for the oversight of the propositional research of IIED’s climate change group into climate action that is far-reaching, far-sighted and socially just.  She works with the group on: getting climate finance to where it matters most, to the local level in support poor people’s priorities for climate positive action; on the governance of risk and mechanisms to tackle the compounding risk for the poorest; and on building southern capabilities to end the culture of fly in fly out technical assistance. She supports the LDC climate group develop the LDC initiative for effective adaptation – exploring how to develop institutional mechanisms that can support resilient development at country scale. She supports the LDC initiative to leapfrog to a modern distributed smart grid. 

Mr. Ajay Shankar
Distinguished Fellow, TERI,
Former Secretary, DIPP, GoI

Ajay Shankar has had rich and varied experience in public service for over forty years, primarily in the fields of industry, the power sector and urban development. He was a member of the premier Indian Administrative Service which he joined in 1973 and retired as Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in the Government of India in December, 2009. As Joint Secretary and then Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Power he played a key role in the enactment of the Electricity Act, 2003, and the Rules and Policies under it. This created a new liberal framework for the development of the power sector and was one of the major pieces of reform legislation at that time. He was also instrumental in promoting private sector participation in the Power Sector including the Ultra Mega Power Projects. He played a crucial role in the conceptualization and the launch of the national program for completing rural electrification which was launched in 2005 and under which over 1,00,000 villages have been electrified.

Dr. Sumit Sharma
Senior Fellow,
TERI

Dr. Jitendra Vir Sharma
Director,
TERI

Dr. Jitendra Vir Sharma 
Senior Fellow, TERI & Faculty, TERI University

Dr. Jitendra Vir Sharma belongs to Indian Forest Service, a practicing forester having more than 35years of experience for managing tropical and temperate forests. He did his masters in Botany, Forestry and Law, M.Phil in Social Sciences and Ph.D in Natural Resource Economics with topic “Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services.”

Dr. Sharma has been negotiator on behalf of the Government of India to United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), Committee on Forestry (COFO) under FAO, Asia Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) in addition he has been part of various Indian Delegations for forest ,biodiversity and climate change. In addition he headed the forest Policy and Forest International Cooperation in the Government of India.
Dr. Sharma is at present on deputation to TERI as Senior Fellow and Faculty in the TERI University. He dealt various Research Projects on AR-CDM, REDD+, Community Conserve Areas, Integrated Watershed Management, Rehabilitation Forestry, Valuation of Ecosystem Services, Economic Impact of desertification, drought and land degradation, and Social Issues of the Forestry Sector. He is guiding four Ph.D students on valuation of Ecosystem Services, REDD+ and social aspects of forestry in India. He has also written many research papers, books and articles.
Dr. Sharma has been negotiator on behalf of the Government of India to United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), Committee on Forestry (COFO) under FAO, Asia Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) in addition he has been part of various Indian Delegations for forest ,biodiversity and climate change. He negotiated Non-Legally Binding Instrument during UNFF-4, UNFF-5, UNFF-6 and UNFF-7 sessions. He was National Focal Point for organizing 21st session of Asia Pacific forestry Commission in India. In addition, He was part of Indian Delegation for Forest, Biodiversity and Climate Change related International Conventions and Processes. He has been key note speaker for 13th Session of United Nations Forum on Forests and also many International Conference.

Dr. Chong Shimray
Associate Professor,
National Council of Educational Research and Training

Chong Shimray

Dr. Chong Shimray is Associate Professor in the Department of Education in Science and Mathematics at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi, India. Her work focuses on various aspects and concerns pertaining to school education in India. Her most notable contributions are reflected in the field of environmental education, where she coordinates the implementation of various projects and programs undertaken by NCERT related to developing curricular materials, undertaking research, and providing training to teachers. In 2016, she published a book titled “Teaching Environmental Education: Trends and Practices in India”. The Hindi version of the same was also published in 2018 titled “Paryavaran Shikshan: Bharat mein Rujhaan evam Prayog".
Dr. Shimray was a grantee of Fulbright-Nehru Environmental Leadership Program in 2009–2010 at the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA and Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship in 2017-28 at the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, USA.

Ms. Shabnam Siddiqui
Director,
Global Compact Network India

Shabnam Siddiqui

Shabnam Siddiqui is Director, Centre of Excellence for Governance, Ethics and Transparency at the United Nations Global Compact Network India. An academic practitioner with twentythree years of experience, Shabnam specialises in developing and executing strategic intervention through multi-stakeholder networks, is skilled at training and research and has several national and international publications to her credit. Shabnam is a great believer and practitioner of Collective Action, and believes that the private sector plays a critical role in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals. Academically Shabnam has a Masters in Sociology from India, a second Masters in International Peace Studies from USA and embarked on a PhD in Public Policy at Singapore. Additionally, every couple of years Shabnam is engaged in academic pursuit so as to be abreast of new knowledge and thought leadership. Her most recent foray was as a Chevening Rolls Royce Innovation, Science, Policy and Leadership (CRISP) Fellow at Said Business School, St. Cross College, University of Oxford. Work station has been primarily in India, with short-term and long-term stints in Pakistan, Italy, France, United States and Singapore. Shabnam is an amateur wildlife photographer, passionate about wildlife and forests and intends to work towards their holistic development.

Mr. Damandeep Singh
Director,
CDP India

Damandeep Singh

Daman has spent over two decades writing and researching on environment and development issues in India. He set up and continues to run CDP’s operations in India.
Earlier, he worked as an independent researcher and journalist primarily on environment and climate change issues, executing projects for ERM UK, Worldwatch Institute, The Climate Group, Bureau of Energy Efficiency and Suzlon. Prior to consultancy work, he was heading Research and Mission Programme Division of the National Geographic Channel in India for five years. He started his career as a journalist and has worked with national newspapers includingThe Times of India, The Pioneer, Business Standard and The Indian Express.

Dr. D N Singh
Chief Technical Officer,
Indo Solar limited

DN Singh is currently working as Chief Technical Officer in Indosolar Limited, Greater Noida, India. He has more than 24 years’ work experience in the semiconductor industry and has published more than ten papers in journals of repute. He has set up the largest crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing plant in India, at Indosolar limited. 
His research interests are crystalline silicon solar cell, photovoltaic technologies and semiconductor thin film. Dr. Singh is a microelectronics professional with a Ph.D. in microelectronics from IIT Delhi.Trained in VLSI design and Manufacturing in USA. He also has expertise in semiconductor process technology development and manufacturing, project implementation and business management. He has set up India's first sub-micron VLSI fabrication facility and managed its running for 10 years.

Mr. Vishwas Singh
Head- Policy Advocacy,
Super Highway Labs Pvt Ltd (Shuttl)

Vishwas Singh has over 10 years of experience in managing operations, product & solution designing, enhancing customer experience and is currently the Head- Policy & Advocacy for Shuttl. Since 2015, he has been associated with Shuttl and firmly believes that a technology-enabled, shared mobility solution, like Shuttl-App based bus service, is a win-win situation for both Indian cities and citizens, who want a hassle-free commute while making a travel choice that also reduces congestion and pollution level.
He has been working closely with government and research organizations to drive the adoption of shared mobility solution like Shuttl across India.
Before joining Shuttl, Vishwas held various roles across the payments, e-commerce and intellectual property industries. Mr. Singh is an engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, India’s premier engineering institute. He is an active speaker and participates in many industry and government forums.

Mr. Ritesh Kumar Singh
Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC)

Shri Ritesh Kumar Singh is an IAS Officer of 1996 batch and belongs to Karnataka Cadre.   He is presently working as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change.  His Educational Qualifications are B.Tech from IIT Kanpur  in Computer Science and M.P.A. from Harvard University in International Development.   He is the recipient of the FullbrightFellowship in Leadership Development and the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship.
In the State Government he has worked as Secretary in the Finance Department, Managing Director of State Finance Corporation and Karnataka Power Corporation and  DeputyCommissioner of Karvar and Koppal Districts.  
In the Central Government he has worked as Director, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Private Secretary to Union Minister of Petroleum and the Union Minister of Science & Technology (Shri S. Jaipal Reddy). 

Mr. Charanjit Singh
Consultant,
Independent Consultant

Mr. Amal Sinha
CEO,
BRPL

Graduate of Delhi’s prestigious SRCC, Amal Sinha is a Chartered and Cost Account with more than 25 years of rich experience under his belt. His deep understanding transcends manufacturing and service sectors with expertise in areas like Corporate Finance, Strategy Planning, Budgetary and Financial Control, Audits (of various kinds), Regulatory Affairs, Indian Accounting Standards and Power Distribution.
After working for Escorts Ltd for 15 years (and L&T Group before that), Amal joined BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) in 2006 as the head of the company’s business process re engineering group, followed by its CFO overseeing areas of functional finance and accounts. Subsequently, he was elevated as Director Finance.
Since 2016, he has been working as the CEO of BRPL – a joint venture between Reliance Infrastructure Limited and the Delhi Government – and having revenues in excess of Rs 10,000 crore. He, supported by a workforce of around 10,000, is responsible for supplying reliable electricity to around over 24 lakh consumers in South and West Delhi.

Ms. Vidya Soundarajan
India Programme Head,
Oxford Policy Management

Mr. Neil Spann
Managing Director,
Power Roll

Neil has a professional services background and has held key roles in large energy businesses. He was Director of Group Finance and Investor Relations of Eagaplc at the time of its purchase April 2011. He initially stayed with the enlarged business to become the Finance Director of a £1.2bn business employing some 12,000 employees. Neil has specific experience in financing large scale renewables and PV projects. He joined Power Roll in January 2014 and is responsible for all aspects of Power Roll’s on-going development and performance.

Prof. Suresh Chandra Srivastava
Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering,
IIT Kanpur

Suresh Chandra Srivastava is the India Lead for the UI ASSIST project. He received his B.Tech. degree from Banaras Hindu University, and his Ph.D. from IIT Delhi. He worked at Engineers India Limited New Delhi from 1976-1988 in the Project Engineering and Engineering Technology Development divisions. Since November 1988, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Kanpur and has been a professor since 1995. He also served as the Head of the Electrical Engineering Department, Dean R&D, and Deputy Director at IIT Kanpur. He has been a ‘Visiting Research Professor’ in the ECE Department at Mississippi State University, USA and at AIT Bangkok. He has held the ‘P.K. Kelkar’ and ‘Ministry of Labour and Employment’ Chair Professor positions at IIT Kanpur. Prof. Srivastava has supervised 27 Ph.D. and 60 Masters theses and published more than 300 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. His research interests include power system security, synchrophasor applications, market, AC/DC microgrid and smart grid. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Institution of Engineers (India) & IETE (India) and a senior member of IEEE. He has served on the governing councils and expert committees of several government organizations and utilities in India.

Dr. Leena Srivastava
Vice Chancellor,
TERI School of Advanced Studies

Dr. Leena Srivastava is the Vice Chancellor of the TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi – an inter-disciplinary higher education institution, focussed on sustainable development. She worked for over three decades on research in the areas of energy, environment and climate change policies at The Energy and Resources Institute - TERI, from where she left as Executive Director. She has a Masters in Economics from the University of Hyderabad and a Ph.D in Energy Economics from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.
She is an Independent and Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Bharti Infratel Ltd. and Shree Cement Ltd., India. She is also on the Sustainable Development Advisory Board, Caterpillar Inc. USA; the Advisory Board of Cairn Energy, Vedanta Resources and Consocia Advisory, India.
At a think tank/science level, she is a Co-Chair Future Earth, Advisory Committee, member of the President's Advisory Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Asian Development Bank; the International Advisory Panel of Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany, the Carbon Trust Advisory Panel, UK, the Research Advisory Committee, WWF-India, Council of Advisors for Fraunhofer, India.

Prof. Lord Nicholas Stern
IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, Co-Director of the India Observatory,
Chair - Grantham Research Institute, LSE

Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, Co-Director of the India Observatory, and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute at LSE.  He has held posts at other UK & overseas universities, and at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank. He was Head, UK Government Economic Service 2003-2007, and produced the Stern Review on the economics of climate change. He was knighted for services to economics (2004), made a life peer (2007), and appointed Companion of Honour for services to economics, international relations and tackling climate change in 2017. His latest book is How Lives Change: Palanpur, India and Development Economics (with Himanshu and Peter Lanjouw), OUP 2018.
 

Mr. K N Subramaniam
Chief Executive Officer,
Moser Baer Solar Limited

Mr. K N Subramanian, CEO of Moser Baer Solar Ltd is the man behind the drive of Solarisation in India integrated by Moser Baer who is the India’s large Solar PV Plant Installer of 300 MW. He Has been President and CEO for wide range of Companies from In Automotive parts, water and waste water treatment, OIl and Gas and now leading a Solar PV business.  He has formed many Joint ventures and subsidiaries of Foreign Companies like Total Lubricants India Ltd, TDW India Ltd, Federal Mogul Bearings India Ltd for Anand Group. He has also led many Companies as chairman of the company like Federal Mogul Bearings India Ltd, Perfect Circle Inida Ltd, Victor Gaskets India Ltd, Arvin Exhaust India Ltd. 

Ms. Rhea Suh
President,
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Rhea Suh is the president of NRDC, a leading nonprofit group that protects people’s health, preserves wild places, and fosters vibrant communities.
Under her leadership, NRDC helped forge the historic global climate agreement in Paris; joined the citizens of Flint, Michigan to ensure an end to the city’s toxic drinking water crisis; and served as a presenting partner at the Women’s March on Washington.
Before joining NRDC, Suh served as the assistant secretary for policy, management, and budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior. She led several initiatives on federal land conservation, climate adaptation, and international affairs. She also helped reorganize the agency responsible for offshore oil and gas oversight in the midst of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Prior to her appointment to Interior, Suh worked at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, where she steered conservation and clean energy initiatives in the West, and at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she designed a climate change initiative and led the effort to create Great Bear Rainforest.

Suh graduated from Barnard College and earned a master's degree in education, administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University.
 

Dr. V. Sumantran
Chairman,
Celeris Technologies

Dr. Sumantran is Chairman of Celeris Technologies and an advisor to several Fortune‐100 organizations.
He is the co‐author of the book “Faster, Smarter, Greener: the Future of the Car and Urban Mobility”﴾www.fastersmartergreener.com﴿ published by the MIT Press in Fall 2017.
Between ﴾2006‐2014﴿ he was Vice Chairman of Ashok Leyland. Prior to this ﴾2001‐2005﴿, he was the
chief executive officer of TATA Motors’ Car business, reporting to Mr. Ratan Tata. Previously, Dr.Sumantran had a 16‐year career with General Motors with their R&D operations in Detroit and on deputation in Europe as Director‐R&D at GM‐Europe.
Dr. Sumantran has served on the Science Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of India and the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet of the Indian Government. He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and serves as Adjunct Professor at MIT‐MISI.Dr Sumantran possesses a Doctorate degree in Aerospace Engineering ﴾Princeton & Virginia Tech﴿ and a Master’s degree in Management of Technology. He is a Founder‐Director of Chennai City Connect – a non‐profit think‐tank and advocacy that works with local city administration and citizen groups to address issues related to urbanization, mobility, environment and affordability.

Mr. S Sundar
Distinguished Fellow, Transport & Urban Governance,
TERI

Mr Sundar, an alumnus of the University of Madras; serves as Distinguished Fellow at TERI and as the HUDCO Chair Professor on Regulatory Studies at TERI University.

Prior to joining TERI, Mr Sundar was with the Indian Administrative Service to which he was appointed to in 1963; where he held senior positions in industry and finance with both the State of Gujarat and the Government of India. He was also with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London for 8 years, first as Special Advisor and then as the Director of the Economic and Legal Advisory Services Division, which was the consulting arm of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Mr Sundar's last Government assignment was as Permanent Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Surface Transport, where he spearheaded major policy initiatives to attract private investment, including foreign direct investment, in the port and road sectors.
Since his retirement from Government service, Mr Sundar has led TERI's work in the area of transport and has focused on promoting low carbon and sustainable transport in India. He has also contributed significantly in the area of Regulation and Governance, and has written extensively in newspapers and refereed journals focusing on measures to strengthen and deepen regulatory reform. He has also spoken at several national and international conferences on transport and its impact on energy, environment and climate change.
Mr Sundar is currently on the Governing Council of the Sustainable Low Carbon Transport Partnership sponsored by ADB and established under UNDSA, and a member of the Expert Group of the Asian Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum. He was a member of the National Transport Development Policy Committee chaired by Dr Rakesh Mohan.
In the past, Mr Sundar has chaired important Committees set up by the Government of India including the first ever study commissioned by the Government of India on the 'Trucking Industry' in India, which made far-reaching recommendations on modernizing the industry and the National Committee on Road Safety and Traffic Management, as well as the Expert Committee set up by the Government of India to review and streamline the law relating to Motor Vehicles.
He also serves as Honarary Professor, CEPT University, Ahmedabad and has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. He is one of the three members of the Road Safety Committee constituted by Supreme Court under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) K S Radhakrishnan.

Mr. Jigmet Takpa
Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India

Shri Jigmet Takpa, an officer of the Indian Forest Service (IFS) from Jammu & Kashmir Cadre, is presently serving as Joint Secretary and heading the Desertification Cell in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. Shri JigmetTakpa Joint Secretary is the National Focal Point for United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Shri Takpa pioneered biodiversity conservation, rural development and renewable energy in Ladakh and established a benchmark in the Himalaya.
With the success of project on Snow Leopard, is the brain child of Shri Takpa that turned Ladakh into the snow leopard capital of the world. 
Shri Takpa has been conferred various prestigious awards – the Environmental Hero Award, the State Award for Meritorious Public Service, J&K, the Indira PriyadarshiniVrikshaMitra Award, the Renewtech Award for Best Nodal Agency, and the Gyalwang Drukpa Award.  He also figures in the Book of Guiness World Records for the most trees planted simultaneously (2011).
Shri Takpaplayed a leadership role at Climate Change COP 21of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris in 2015.
The following tasks were accomplished under his supervision:
Shri Takpa played leadership role in heading the 3-member delegation at the Thirteenth Conference of Parties (CoP 13) held in Ordos, China from 6-16 September 2017.
At COP 13, Shri Takpa pro-actively expressed India’s intention to join Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme (LDN-TSP).
Shri Takpa headed the four-day Asia Pacific Regional Workshop in April 2018, jointly hosted by MoEFCC and UNCCD, to build the capacity of the Asia-Pacific Region to monitor and report indicators of land degradation.
Established partnership with Space Applications Centre (SAC) and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) for assessing trends on three land based indicators.
Established Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality in India by 2030.
National Workshop on “Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Process” in December 2018.
LDN – TSP has been streamlined under his leadership for setting land degradation neutrality targets.
Shri Takpa headed the delegation at the seventeenth session of Committee to Review the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC - 17) and played leadership role in sessions on Gender and Transformative Projects.
Currently, Shri JigmetTakpa is heading the following Divisions in MOEFCC: Desertification Cell; National River Conservation Directorate; International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Control of Water Pollution; River Policy; Performance monitoring of sewage treatment plants
India being a Country Party to UNCCD Convention, Shri Takpa announced that India is hosting Fourteenth session of Conference of Parties (COP -14) from 7-18 October, 2019. This initiative has been taken up by Shri Takpafor the first time in the history of land degradation in India.

Dr. Kentaro Tamura
Research Leader - Climate and Energy,
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies

Kentaro Tamura

Dr. Tamura obtained PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics (LSE). After working for the Yokohama National University, he joined IGES in 2003. His research themes include international climate regime, as well as domestic climate and energy policy in major economies. 

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Mr. NC Thirumalai
Principal Research Scientist,
Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy,

Principal Research Scientist at the Center for Study of Science, Technology & Policy. Mr Thirumalai is involved in the Renewable energy system design& analyses. As a program manager he also oversees the research activities apart from leading a Research Tools domain.
CSTEP’s mission is aims to enrich policy making with innovative approaches using science and technology for a sustainable, secure and inclusive society.

Prof. Geetam Tiwari
TRIPP Chair Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi

Geetam Tiwari

Geetam Tiwari is MoUD Chair Professor for Transport Planning at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi. She obtained Master of Urban Planning and Policy, and Ph.D. in Transport Planning and Policy, from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She has received the degree of Doctor of Technology honoris causa from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden in 2012. She has been Adlerbretska Guest Professor for sustainable urban transport at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden 2007-2010. She has been working in the area of traffic and transport planning and traffic safety focusing on pedestrians, bicycles and bus systems. She is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion since 2009.

Dr. Laurence Tubiana
CEO,
European Climate Foundation

Laurence Tubiana

Laurence Tubiana is CEO of the European Climate Foundation (ECF). In addition to her role at ECF, she is the Chair of the Board of Governors at the French Development Agency (AFD), and a Professor at Sciences Po, Paris. Before joining ECF, Laurence was France’s Climate Change Ambassador and Special Representative for COP21, and as such a key architect of the landmark Paris Agreement. Following COP21, she was appointed High Level Champion for climate action.
Laurence brings decades of expertise. From 1997—2002, she served as Senior Adviser on the Environment to the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. From 2009—2010, she created and led the newly established Directorate for Global Public Goods at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She founded in 2002 and directed until 2014 the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). She has held academic positions including Sciences Po and as Professor of International Affairs at Columbia University. She has been a member of numerous boards and scientific committees, including the Chinese Committee on the Environment and International Development (CCICED).

HE Mr. Cassam Uteem
Former President, Mauritius (1992-2002),
Member, World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid

Mr. Uteem studied at Paris VII University where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Art and a Master’s degree in Psychology.
He has a long history of involvement in politics, both at the community and national level. As a youth leader and social worker he was involved in local community work and, in the early seventies, he joined the leftist political party the Militant Movement of Mauritis (MMM) where he rose to become its deputy-leader. Mr Uteem was nominated to his first formal leadership position in politics in 1969 when he was elected at the Municipal Elections to serve as Councillor of the City of Port Louis. He remained in this position for several years and became the city’s Lord Mayor in 1986.
In 1976 Mr Uteem was elected Member of the Mauritian Parliament and was successively re-elected in 1982, 1983, 1987 and 1991. From 1982-1983 he served as Minister of Employment, Social Security and National Solidarity, and in 1990-91 he also held the title of Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Industrial Technology.
In July 1992 Mr Uteem was elected President of the Republic of Mauritius, and was re-elected in 1997 for a second 5-year term. He resigned from this post in February 2002.
Cassam Uteem is also very active in the field of international public policy. He is currently a Board Member of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Sweden, a Member of the Haut Counseil de la Francophonie as well as the international jury for the UNESCO Prize of Education for Peace, and a Founder-Member of the Global Leadership Foundation (GLF).
Cassam Uteem was awarded the insignia of Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (GCSK), the highest distinction of the land. He also holds an honorary Doctorate Honoris Causa at the University of Mauritius, the University of Buckingham, UK, the University of Aix-en-Provence, France, the University of Tananarive, Madagascar, and the Jamia Milla Islamia University, Delhi, India.

Mr. Ashish Vaishnav
Corporate Marketing Head,
Thermax Ltd

Dr. Annapurna Vancheswaran
Senior Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

As Senior Director, Communication Outreach and Advocacy Unit (COAU) at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the focus of Dr Vancheswaran's work is mainly in the area of global sustainable development and includes interactions with international and Indian organisations, Government Departments, NGOs and the private sector with particular application to the diverse problems of India.
The Unit that she leads is also involved in cutting-edge research on education for sustainable development. Various projects undertaken by the Unit have tremendous reach and influence on school and college students in addition to other stakeholders.
Since 2010, she has been associated with TERI University as an Adjunct Faculty and a Guest Faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong, Meghalaya, India.  
In addition to her above responsibility, from 2009 - 2015 she was additionally appointed as Vice-President, TERI, North America to oversee TERI’s programmes and activities in the region.
Given her two decades of experience in sustainable development, she is nominated as the Advisory Group Member for the Regional Hub South Asia, GRI South Asia and the Member of the Expert Group for the Year 2017 of the ICSI CSR Excellence Awards. She had been the Advisory Council Member of Bayer CropScience Child Care Programme as well international advisor to on sustainable reporting for Abengoa.  In addition to her engagement with Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) on issues of Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility, she is a  also the Member of Social Responsibility Sectional Committee of Bureau of Indian Standards since November 2016.   She also had represented the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India as Member of the Expert Group in drafting the National Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Business.
Dr Vancheswaran has a Ph.D in Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and a Bachelor of Science from the Delhi University.

Dr. Ruchi Varma
Dalai Lama Fellow,
LEAD Fellow

Ruchi Varma is a sustainable urban development practitioner committed to people centric approaches to development, grounded in the principles of Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. An architect-urban designer by training, she has over a decade of experience in research, academia and practice across multiple urban projects of various scales in India, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, South Korea and Ghana. With an interdisciplinary skill set across program strategy and development, urban data strategy and information system design, capacity building with urban local bodies, she looks at sustainability in cities in two approaches – design driven and data driven. She has received multiple awards for her academic excellence and has won national and international design competitions. She has been associated with Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) at Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi and Politecnico di Milano, Italy looking at sustainable urban transport initiatives, city regeneration strategies and public realm in cities. Globally selected as the 2018 Dalai Lama Fellow, her work focuses on unpacking approaches to humanize urban spaces for children and co-creating safer and compassionate cities. She is Niti Ayog’s ‘Mentor of Change’ and a 2017 LEAD India Fellow. A flaneur at heart, she loves travelling, exploring cities, public spaces and their everyday life.

Mr. Sanjay Vashist
Director,
CANSA

Director of the Climate Action Network in South Asia (CANSA) in New Delhi. Mr Vashist has previously worked as advisor to the climate change programme of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, at TERI as a climate change expert and as an International Coordinator for Climate Action Network International (CANI) in Bonn. He holds degrees in agro forestry and forestry and is an avid communicator for climate action with almost 8.000 tweets to his name.

Dr. Rahul Walawalkar
President,
India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA)

Dr. Archana Walia
Director-India,
CLASP

Archana Walia

Dr. Archana Walia brings twenty-four years of experience dealing with policy formulation and analysis and development of program strategies in the field of energy and environment. Her experience includes analyzing the economic, institutional, technological and environmental costs and benefits of various regulatory, policy and technological changes especially relating to clean energy and energy efficiency.
Serving as the Director of India program at CLASP, she provides leadership, management, and strategic direction to all program activities to ensure the efficient use of resources and achievement of results. She oversees strategies and activities for India’s participation in the Global programs such as Superefficient Appliance and Deployment program (SEAD) under the Clean Energy Ministerial.
Archana served as the deputy director of the Office of Clean Energy and Environment at USAID/India providing leadership, advisory and analytical inputs in the development of climate change program strategies including clean energy, sustainable landscape and water. 
Archana worked with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) for four years managing Power Sector Reform Programs and with the British Council division for three years managing Natural Resources and Environment projects.
Archana is an environmental scientist and holds a Ph.D degree.

Dr. Kishore Wankhade
Senior Consultant,
SOFIES

Kishore has been working in the field of sustainable development for more than 17 years with expertise in Project Management & Implementation, Research & Advocacy, Training & Awareness. His area of expertise is Waste Management including e-waste, urban waste, hazardous waste, heavy metals etc, carrying out assessment studies, conduct trainings, carry out community based awareness

Mr. Agus Wibowo
Deputy Director of Climate Change,
Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs

Deputy Director of Climate Change, Deputy for Energy Management, NaturalResources and Environment, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs. Deputy Director of Renewable Energy, Deputy for Energy Management, Natural Resources and Environment, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs; 2008 – 2013: Deputy Director of Forestry, Deputy for Energy Management, Natural Resources and Environment, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs; 2004 – 2008: Head Division of Law, Law Bureau, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs; Education:  2008 – 2010: Law Magister, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 1991 – 1994: Bachelor of Law, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Indonesia.

Mr. Martin Wright
Chair,
Positive News

Martin is a highly experienced speaker, writer and adviser on sustainability and positive futures. Formerly Director of Forum for the Future (India) and Editor in Chief of Green Futures (now The Futures Centre), he now works independently with a wide range of companies and organisations, including The Guardian, Ashden Awards, Ethical Corporation and We Mean Business.
He is Chair of Positive News, the new media initiative dedicated to uncovering and reporting on progress and possibility, rather than doom and gloom.
He has spoken at and chaired events for The Guardian, the UK Government, the UN, the RSA and others in London, New York, Mumbai, Beijing and Beirut, and serves as MC at the annual World Sustainable Development Summit (Delhi) and the Responsible Business Summit (London).His TED talk on ‘The New Environmentalism’ topped the bill at TEDx in London (2014).
Organisations he has worked with at senior management or board level include WWF, Unilever, Sainsbury’s, BT, Marks & Spencer and Brunswick, among others.
Awards include Science and Environment Journalist of the Year, and the Global Green Future Leadership Award.
Martin is expert at communicating sustainability crisply, clearly and with a complete lack of bullshit, and at bringing complex issues down to earth. He enjoys helping others acquire and apply these skills.

Ms. Ailun Yang
Director, Global Air Pollution,
Environment Program, Bloomberg Philanthropies

Ailun Yang manages the international initiatives of the Environment Program at the Bloomberg Philanthropies, with a focus on climate, energy and air pollution. Prior to joining Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ailun worked to advise major foundations on their grant-making strategies in China. She has also worked at the D.C. office of the World Resources Institute where she led the research efforts to build the evidence base for low-carbon development in major developing countries such as China and India. Ailun holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of Manchester, and a Master’s degree in Sociology from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Mr. Durwood Zaelke
President,
Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development

Durwood Zaelke

Durwood Zaelke is President and founder of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development in Washington, D.C., and Paris focusing on research and mitigation measures to cut short-lived climate pollutants and other fast mitigation strategies to remain below 1.5ºC. He co-founded and led the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), directed the Alaska and DC offices of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, and served as Special Litigation Attorney in the US Department of Justice where he co-founded several programs in the Environmental Division. He has taught at various law schools and graduate programs, and co-founded and co-directs the Program on Governance for Sustainable Development at the Bren School at University of California, Santa Barbara, where he currently co-teaches a course on Climate Justice. He is the author, co-author, or editor of various publications including the leading law school textbook on International Environmental Law & Policy(with Hunter &Salzman). He received an Ozone Protection Award and a Climate Protection Award in 2008 from the US EPA and a Policy and Implementation Leadership Award and shared the Scientific Leadership Award in 2018 from the Montreal Protocol for his contribution to the successful effort to maximize the climate benefits of the treaty.