Mr. Sreenivasulu
Member Secretary,
Karnataka State Pollution Control Board

Mr Srinivasulu is an IFS officer and the Member Secretary of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board at Bangalore. He is a gold medalist from the University of Agricultural Sciences Dharwad. He completed his masters from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. He secured 10th rank at the All-India level IFS exams in 1997. He has worked as an Agriculture Scientist at IARI, New Delhi. He has also been conferred the State Environment Award for the year 2016 by the Honorable Chief Minister of Karnataka on June 5th World Environment Day. He also received the Best Tourism Award by FKCCI in 2016 for the activities done to promote tourism in Dhandeli.

Dr. Neville A Mehta
Chief Executive Officer,
Mumbai First

Dr Neville holds a Bachelor Degree of Commerce + Doctorate in Business Administration in Marketing.

28 years of intensive record of global di-versified strategic management. A multifaceted leader who sets clear targets and achieves them efficiently. Executed several strategic global international partnerships with governments, multinational corporates and world foundations.

Mr. Dinesh Kumar A N
Joint Director(i/c),
Energy Management Centre - Kerala

Shri. Dinesh Kumar A N is working as Joint Director (i/c) and Head of ECBC, Standards & Labelling, Small Hydropower, and Outreach & Labs (ESS) activities of EMC. He holds M. Tech Degree in Engineering and PGDIM and is an IGBC/GRIHA trained Green Building Professional. His key areas of work include Green and Sustainable building development, Building Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy especially Small hydropower (SHP) development, Environmental mapping various consultancy projects, administration and overall estate management activities of EMC.

He had worked with Louis Berger International, as EIA study team Coordinator in the KSTP Project and the Developers Building consultants, Cochin before joining with EMC on 1999. He was in charge of project consultancy for SHP until 2008, thereafter went on external project development for various Multi-storied building of about 2 lakhs sq.ft and development of a 110 Acres Logistic Park and warehouse development of about 5.5 lakhs sq.ft for Sreekailas Group of Companies in Chennai. Returning back to EMC in 2013, he was the Project manager of the IGBC Gold rated Green Building of Energy Management Centre – Kerala which is the first Green Building in Government Sector in Kerala, which also got mention in the Global Status Report 2017 of UNEP for its state of the art features. He has coordinated innovative training programmes related to energy conservation and novel technology development in micro hydel.  He is also a resource person for training programmes for LSGs, Government Offices, Educational institutions, etc.

Academic Qualifications

• M-Tech in Geotechnical Engineering from College of Engineering, Trivandrum
• B-Tech in Civil Engineering from M A College of Engineering, Kothamangalam
• Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IGNOU

Professional Certifications

• INEM 17TM– Training program in Energy Conservation, at Nagoya, Japan
• Training on Energy Efficiency for Emerging Economies by International Energy Agency

Areas of Expertise

• Green & Sustainable Building
• Energy Efficient Building Design
• SHP Concept to Completion
• Contracts Management
• Environmental Mapping
• GIS Applications & Surveys

Ms. Mary Abraham
Fellow,
TERI

Ms. Abraham is a trained economist with extensive experience in environment, development and policy studies. Currently working as a Fellow with TERI, she has more than 21 years of conceptualizing and undertaking several research and implementation programmes in the Water and Sanitation sector

Mr. Abhishek Acharya
Director,
Ministry of Finance , Department of Economic Affairs

Mr. Abhishek Acharya is an officer of Indian Economic Service, serving the Government of India for 13 years. At present, he is Director in the Climate Change Finance Unit in Ministry of Finance. He has participated in the UNFCCC CoP 24 and Cop 25 as finance negotiator from India. Mr. Acharya is a postgraduate in Economics with a specialization in Environmental Economics and International Economics. Before joining in Indian Economic Service, he has also served as Deputy Superintendent of Police in the State of West Bengal

Ms. Parul Agarwala
Country Programme Manager,
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

Ms Parul Agarwala is an urban development practitioner with experience in strategic policy analysis, land use and spatial planning, housing and economic development. She has worked predominantly in the United States and in central and south asia region covering conflict and fragile countries including, Afghanistan and Palestine.

At UN-Habitat, Ms. Agarwala works on promoting the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals into the national policy frameworks on urban development, housing and informal settlements in the South Asia Region. Her major contribution to the evidence-based policy propositions and knowledge products, including, “Urban National Priority Programme” and “Future of Afghan Cities,” an urban atlas of all strategic urban centers in the country using pioneering population and land-use data and through new concepts and innovative ideas, have shaped the urban ministry’s agenda in Afghanistan. Ms. Agarwala has been instrumental in fostering local livelihoods and people-centered approaches as Programme Manager of the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s flagship initiative, “Clean and Green Cities” project in twelve cities. 

Prior to UN-Habitat, Ms. Agarwala has worked as a City Planner in the New York City Department of City Planning, where she gained hands-on experience in translating policy guidelines into zoning regulations for legislative enforcement of city-wide and neighborhood-level initiatives. Ms. Agarwala has also worked with the World Bank’s Global Practices of Urban, Rural, Disaster Risk and Social Development, and Water Practice based in Washington DC. In this capacity, she worked on several multi-sectoral operational projects and analytical work encompassing regional economic development, urbanization, urban renewal and transformation, land and housing, and governance in South Asia.

Ms. Agarwala has a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs in New York, USA, and a Master of Planning degree from University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. She is an alumnus of School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, India, where she received her degree in Bachelor of Physical Planning.

Dr. Mukesh Aghi
CEO & President,
US-INDIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FORUM, INC.

Dr  Aghi is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the US- India Strategic Partnership Forum. Dr. Aghi has extensive experience working with business and government leaders in the U.S. and India to promote trade and strengthen ties between the two countries. He also currently serves as a trustee at Claremont Graduate University.

Previously, Dr. Aghi served as Chief Executive and Member of the Board at L&T Infotech where he expanded the business on a global level. During his time at Steria, Inc. (India), Dr. Aghi served as Chairman and CEO of the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, Dr. Aghi was the founding CEO of Universitas 21 Global, the world’s largest consortium of research-led universities and global leader in providing post-graduate online education. He was also the President of IBM India for IBM Corporation, and spent time working with Ariba, Inc. and JD Edwards & Co.

Dr. Aghi holds several degrees, including an advanced management diploma from Harvard Business School, a Ph.D. in international relations from Claremont Graduate University, an MBA in international marketing from Andrews University, and a BA in business administration from the Middle East College, Beirut, Lebanon.

As a fluent speaker in many international languages, Dr. Aghi was recognized by Esquire Magazine as a Global Leader and has won many awards over the course of his professional career, including the J. R. D. Tata Leadership Award.  Most recently, he was the recipient of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award.  In his free time, Dr. Aghi is a major marathon and mountaineering enthusiast. He has competed in over 27 international marathons and climbed some of the highest peaks in North America and Europe.

Mr. Rainer Agster
Director of Operations at SEED & Executive Board Member at adelphi, Germany,
SEED (by adelphi, Germany)

Rainer Agster is a member of the adelphi management board and is responsible for various programs related to the private sector and sustainable development. Since 2002, Rainer has implemented numerous projects in Africa, Europe, China, South Asia and the South Caucasus for adelphi. He is a recognized expert in the fields of green finance, resource efficiency, green entrepreneurship and dialogue formats.

Rainer advises financial institutions worldwide on climate protection, energy efficiency and corporate finance, and provides support for banks in the introduction of digital solutions for green finance products, among other things. Projects he has directed have helped banks in the implementation of green credit lines with a total value of several hundred million euros.

Rainer has significantly built up and developed the renowned SEED initiative for green companies. Among other tools, he helped create Toolification, an innovative training and dialogue format that is used to advise thousands of small and medium-sized companies worldwide. As part of his projects, Rainer designs interactive training and consulting approaches, for example on climate finance and resource efficiency. In addition, he moderates dialogue processes, from strategy workshops in small groups to large participatory conference formats. Rainer’s clients include banks, foundations, companies, the European Commission, and international organisations.

Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali
President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana,
Office of the President

His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali was sworn in as Guyana’s 9th Executive President on August 2, 2020.

President Ali was born into an Indo-Guyanese Muslim family in Leonora, West Coast Demerara, on April 25, 1980.  He is one of two sons born to his parents, both of whom were educators.

Dr. Ali is a past student of the Leonora Nursery and Primary schools and Cornelia Ida Primary School.  He completed his secondary education at St. Stanislaus College in Georgetown. He is the holder of a doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the West Indies, a Masters of Arts Degree in Manpower Planning, a Post Graduate Diploma in International Business, a Post- Graduate Certificate in Finance from Anglia Ruskin University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Hons.) in Business Management from the University of Sunderland.   He is currently pursuing an LLM degree in International Commercial Law at University of Salford.

President Ali was a member of the Canadian Institute of Management (up to 2017) and Project Management Professional designation PMP (2006).  

In his public sector career, President Ali served as Project Manager of the Caribbean Development Bank's Project Implementation Unit in the Ministry of Finance and was also a Senior Planner in the State Planning Secretariat. He became a member of the National Assembly of Guyana in 2006.  He was subsequently appointed as the Minister of Housing and Water and Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce.   In the National Assembly, Dr. Ali was a leading spokesperson on the economy and finance.  He also served on several Select Committees, was Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and co-Chair of the Economic Services Committee.

Mr. Rohit Anand
Director Infrastructure, South Asia,
CDC Group Plc

Rohit Anand has been involved in investments of c. $1bn in emerging markets, having invested across infrastructure, logistics, real estate, manufacturing and healthcare in 20+ countries. Prior to joining CDC in 2012, Rohit worked with IDFC Private Equity and Ernst & Young's corporate finance team in India. Rohit is CFA Charter holder, holds an MBA from IIM Lucknow and an undergraduate degree in engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology.

Ms. Inger Andersen
Executive Director,
United Nations Environment Programme

Inger Andersen is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Between 2015 and 2019, Ms. Andersen was the Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Ms. Andersen has more than 30 years of experience in international development economics, environmental sustainability, strategy and operations. For 15 years at The World Bank, Ms. Andersen held several leadership positions including Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa; Vice President for Sustainable Development and Head of the CGIAR Fund Council. Prior to the World Bank, Ms. Andersen worked for 12 years on drought, desertification; and water management at the United Nations including at the UN Sudano-Sahelian Office and UNDP.

Ms. Seema Arora
Deputy Director General,
Confederation of Indian Industry

Seema Arora pioneered the creation of services on Sustainable Development within CII. Her journey with CII began with engaging Indian Industry towards the run up to the Earth Summit in 1992.

Seema Arora works on designing innovative products and frameworks to build the business case for industry to invest in Sustainability and CSR. She works with Industry, Government and Community based organisations to develop policy instruments, curate collaborative initiatives across sector and stakeholders and develops innovative voluntary approaches to Sustainable Development. Her portfolios in CII include the CII - ITC Centre Of Excellence for Sustainable Development, CII Development Initiatives, CII Foundation, India@75 and Indian Women Network.  

Seema Arora has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Delhi University. She is a member of World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Biodiversity Action Agenda.  

She has twenty-nine years of experience in the field of Sustainable Development.

Mr. Harpreet Arora
Urban Advisor,
FCDO British High Commission

Mr Harpreet is an Urban Economist & Planner with more than 15 years’ experience in multi-disciplinary aspects of urban planning, integrated transit planning, infrastructure planning and financing and development economics 

Mr. Ugo Astuto
Ambassador,
Delegation of European Union to India

Ugo Astuto entered the Italian Diplomatic Service in 1991. His career in the Italian Foreign Service spans experience in the Embassies in Nairobi and London (including as alternate Director for Italy in the EBRD-European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), in the Permanent Representation in Brussels and in the Embassy in Delhi, where he served as Deputy Head of Mission. From February 2013 until July 2016 he was seconded to the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels, first as Director for South and South East Asia and then as Deputy Managing Director/Director for Asia and the Pacific. From July 2016 to September 2019 he was the Principal Director for Asia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. He is the Ambassador of the European Union to India since October 2019.

Mr. Thiagarajan B
Managing Director,
Blue Star Limited

B Thiagarajan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Madurai University. He has also completed the Senior Executive Program of London Business School. He has around four decades of experience, having worked for reputed companies such as Larsen & Toubro Ltd, BPL Systems Ltd and Voltas Ltd, prior to joining Blue Star in 1998.

Mr Thiagarajan has handled various assignments in the Service Business, Corporate Communications & Marketing and Corporate Affairs & Planning before he was promoted as President-AC&R Products Group in 2009. He was elevated to the Board in 2013. He was appointed as Joint Managing Director in 2016 and with effect from April 1, 2019 he has taken charge as Managing Director. He currently oversees Electro-Mechanical Projects and Commerical Air Conditioning Systems Business; Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain and Service Operations pertaining to the Products Business; Manufacturing and R&D; Corporate Communications; Public Relations; as well as Corporate Marketing Services. Mr Thiagarajan plays an active role in various industry fora, and is the Past President of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Manufacturers Association (RAMA). He is a nominated member of the Cll National Council, Co-chairperson of the Cll National Agriculture Council and Deputy Chairman of the CII Western Regional Council.

Dr. Surendra Babu
Deputy General Manager,
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Dr Babu has gradated in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry disciplines from GB Pant University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Pantnagar (Nainital) UP, during 1987. There after he joined India’s premier Agricultural Science Institute, the Indian Agriculture Research Institute New Delhi and successfully completed Post Graduate (MSc) and Doctorate (PhD) in Horticulture with specialisation in Floriculture and Landscaping during the years 1989 and 1993 respectively. As a professional and developmental banker, his services in NABARD started during 1992. Keeping the professional approach to Agriculture and rural development, he could contribute effectively towards the project financing in sustainable Natural Resource Management and appraisal and monitoring of climate change projects in order to  create resilience amongst the vulnerable communities. NABARD’s goal towards commitment to the rural prosperity has been effectively addressed through his action by imparting technical knowhow amongst the stakeholders in the field of Horticulture and Natural Resource Management activities. Besides, he has also played effective role in holistic development of tribal communities using the watershed management approach. Collectivisation and marketing of Agri produce is a major challenge of small and marginal farmers in India. In this connection, his contribution towards Capacity building and strengthening of Farmers Producers Organisations has been well recognised.

Mr. Arvinder Bakshi
Ex Chairman,
CEA

Mr Bakshi is an engineer with 43 years experience in Indian Power Sector- in Government.

Experience lies in Power Planning, advisory, energy conservation, thermal plants and regulatory matters.

Ms. Juhi Bansal
Project Associate,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Juhi Bansal is a legal expert in the fields of environmental policy, international law and human rights, having substantial experience in migration studies and refugee law. She is an advocate with a bar license, having graduated from the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad and has an Advanced Master’s degree in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights from the Geneva Academy, Switzerland. She is presently engaged in research on the environmental policy under the UNFCCC and on linkages between climate change and migration, both at the national and international levels. She has previously worked with international UN agencies like UNICEF and UNHCR, representing these organisations at international conferences and events, conducting research on important public policy issues as well as undertaking fieldwork activities and providing assistance to refugees on the ground. Notably, she has participated in the proceedings leading to the formulation of the UN Global Compact on Migration and has engaged in the 34th Human Rights Council panel discussions on human rights, climate change, migrants and persons displaced across international borders. She also has prior experience of working with NGOs in India on issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on climate change and protection of the environment.

Ms. Tosca Barucco
Italian MFA Special Envoy for COP26,
Italian Ministry for international cooperation

Tosca Barucco is Special Envoy for Cop 26 at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation since September 2019. Her fields of interest include, Climate Diplomacy – Multilateral Negotiations on Climate Change – Renewable Energy – UNFCCC – EU Green Diplomacy. In her previous experiences she was Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of EU Delegation to Syria, based in Beirut and Italian Ambassador in El Salvador, a priority country for Italian Development Cooperation.

Ms. Glynda Bathan
Deputy Executive Director,
Clean Air Asia

Glynda Bathan is a lawyer with 20 years of experience in policy and programme development for clean air, sustainable transport, industrial emissions control, and climate change mitigation. She was among the lawyers who helped draft the 1999 Philippine Clean Air Act Implementing Rules and Regulations. She led the Asia Clean Fuels and Vehicles program which resulted in national policies and roadmaps for cleaner fuels and vehicles notably for Vietnam and the Philippines. She has testified and participated in deliberations in the Philippine Congress on measures including for exempting electric vehicles from excise taxes, strengthening vehicle standards and fuel specifications, improving vehicle inspection and maintenance, and implementing the Clean Air Act. In 2020, she was named one of the Remarkable Women in Transport by the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI). She is a member of the 2020-2021 World Economic Forum Global Council for Clean Air. Glynda holds a Master’s in Environmental Management degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and University of San Francisco; and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines.

Ms. Frances Beinecke
President Emerita,
Natural Resources Defense Council

Frances Beinecke served as president (2006-15) and is currently President Emerita of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a leading nonprofit environmental organization supported by 3 million members and activists. NRDC works to curb global warming, protect people’s health, preserve wild landscapes, and foster vibrant and sustainable communities. Using legal and scientific expertise, NRDC creates policies and enforces the laws that protect our environment.

Under Beinecke’s leadership, NRDC focused on finding solutions to some of the biggest environmental challenges of our time, including establishing a clean energy future that curbs climate change, reviving the world’s oceans, defending endangered wildlife and wild places, protecting our health by preventing pollution, fostering sustainable communities, and ensuring safe and sufficient water. Prior to her role as NRDC president, Beinecke was the organization’s executive director. 

Under Ms. Beinecke’s leadership, 2006 to 2015, NRDC doubled its membership, grew its staff size to 400 and expanded its international work to include India and China. Ms. Beinecke played an instrumental role in developing NRDC’s India program, which focuses on climate, clean air and clean energy. She served on the Ananta Centre and Aspen Institute U.S.-India Track II Dialogue on Climate Change and Energy, and has been a featured speaker at the Clean Energy Ministerial in New Delhi and the Delhi Sustainable Energy Summit. Ms. Beinecke also chaired several sessions during the historic Paris Climate Summit, 2015, and the Yale-TERI U.S.-India Energy Summits in Washington, DC.

In 2010, Ms. Beinecke was appointed by President Obama to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. She has been a member the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board (SEAB) under Secretary Chu and Moniz; the Advisory Board of the MIT Energy Initiative, and the boards of World Resources Institute (WRI), the NRDC Action Fund, and Client Earth. In 2015 she was the McCluskey Fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and in 2016 a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow.

Ms. Beinecke, a graduate of Yale College and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, is a former member of the Yale Corporation. She has received numerous awards including the Yale Medal and the Rachel Carson Award from the National Audubon Society, and is the recipient of honorary degrees from Lehman College, Doctor of Humane Letters, and Vermont Law School, Doctor of Laws.

Mr. Mitchell Bernard
President and Chief Counsel,
Natural Resources Defense Council

Mitchell Bernard has worked at NRDC for more than 25 years. Mr. Bernard has worked on the most pressing environmental challenges, including climate change, clean energy, water, air, toxics, and environmental justice. He is passionate about NRDC’s international work on environmental challenges and provides strategic advice to India and China program, especially on challenges related to air pollution and environmental justice. 

As Chief Counsel, Mr. Bernard has litigated cases against Texaco, Mallinckrodt, Duke Energy, and a variety of government agencies. He is recognized by Lawdragon as one of the 500 leading lawyers in the United States for 2019. From 1995 to 1998, as a monitor appointed by U.S. District Judge John S. Martin, Jr., Mr. Bernard oversaw the creation and implementation of an environmental compliance program at Con Edison. He later served as a consultant to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He is a graduate of Princeton University and New York University School of Law, where he was a Hays Civil Liberties Fellow. He was a law clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Mr. Jitendra Bhambure
Advisor, Technology in Blue Star,
Blue Star

Mr Jitendra Bhambure is an independent expert in HVAC&R and is presently working as Advisor Technology in Blue Star, graduated in Engineering in 1979 from Mumbai University and has Diploma in Management Studies from Mumbai University in 1983. He joined Blue Star in 1992 and worked in various operations before taking charge of R & D in 2000 before which worked in Rallis India Ltd for 13 years in R & D. Besides this, below is a brief about his professional career:

• RAMA : Executive committee member and Chairperson of ODS committee. Interacts with BEE, Ozone cell and BIS
• Lead member of ICAP Space Cooling Thematic group
• UNEP: Member TEAP (Technology and Economic Assessment Panel) and RTOC (Refrigerants Technology Options Committee) an International Expert Panel formed by Ozone Secretariat
• ISHRAE : Founder President of ISHRAE Thane sub chapter, ITC chair and presently chair TG
• Trained in the US, London Business School, IIM-A’bad

Ms. Preety Bhandari
Chief of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Thematic Group concurrently Director, SDCD,
Asian Development Bank

Preety M. Bhandari is also serving as the Director for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Division of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC) at ADB. She is responsible for providing policy and strategic direction to ADB’s initiatives on climate change and disaster risk management, including mobilizing concessional financing from multilateral funds such as the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). She also has an oversight on climate financing from ADB’s own resources including through investments in private sector.

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 33 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. She is currently advising initiatives led by the 2050 Pathways Platform, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the International Science Council.  She is contributing as a Lead Author to the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She serves on the Board of Gold Standard Foundation.

Dr. Girija Bharat
Director,
Mu Gamma Consultants Pvt Ltd.

Dr Girija K Bharat, is the Founder Director of Mu Gamma Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon. She is an international expert with 30 years of experience in water quality and conducts research and capacity building activities in India on Water Resource Management, Water Supply and Sanitation, Chemical Pollution Control (Persistent Organic Chemicals-POPs) and Environmental Management.  She is also a Consultant with GIZ under the India -EU Water Partnership and is drafting the National Policy of India on Safe Reuse of Treated Water.

She is the recipient of several national and international awards including the recent Global Environment Award 2020 at the World Water Summit. She has authored 76 peer reviewed articles, book chapters, including the Global Sustainable Development Reports of 2015 and 2016.

Dr. Anshu Bhardwaj
CEO,
Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation

Dr Anshu Bharadwaj  was a member of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS, 1992 batch, Karnataka cadre). He worked in the state government in various capacities. In 2007, he joined as Executive Director of Centre of Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) and helped establish CSTEP as a leading technology policy Think Tank. He functioned as ED of CSTEP till 2020. He has expertise in technology and policy aspects of energy and environmental sectors. He is a member of several government committees in these areas.

He holds a PhD from the Departments of Engineering and Public Policy and Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Piittsburgh, USA. He also has a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and PGDM from Indian Institute of  Management, Kolkata.

Mr. Saurabh Bhardwaj
Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Saurabh is an experienced Climate Change professional with transversal expertise in risk hazardscapes with around 15 years of experience in conceptualising, leading and managing science policy interface projects. He currently leads the Center for Climate Modelling at TERI and is a member of many research and government committees looking on the generation of granular science based information for tackling climate change. He continues to lead many research projects in the area of climate science, climate service, risk assessments and capacity building. He has supervised thesis work of many students and currently leads multiple multi-discplinary projects and researchers at TERI. His research has been published in Vision, American Geophysical Union, European Geosciences Union and Pollution Research. He has written multiple articles in leading newspapers, and is an expert reviewer for International Journal of Climatology (JOC), Science of Total Environment (STOTEN) and Mausam -Journal from IMD, India. He has working experience in government, private and non-government, not-for-profit research sectors.

Mr. Souvik Bhattacharjya
Associated Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Mr Bhattacharjya holds a Masters Degree in Economics (with spl. in World Economy) from School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has more than 16 years of rich experience in the field of energy and environmental research and management consulting. Currently he is pursing doctoral program from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow.

He has undertaken and led various consultancy and research assignments for ministries, bilateral and multilateral organizations and multinational corporations. His areas of work include resource efficiency and circular economy, developing policies and strategies along product and service value chains for promoting 6Rs, industrial ecology, material demand/supply assessments, material flow analysis, life cycle analysis, life cycle cost analysis, impact assessments of industrial/infrastructure projects, price build up for environmental goods and services, trade in environment and resources, etc. Among other assignments, Souvik is currently leading the EU supported Resource Efficiency Initiative in India project at TERI, which is jointly implemented by the consortium. He is also leading the integrated sustainability assessment workpackage under the centre of excellence on biofuels initiative at TERI a project supported by DBT, Government of India.

He has also undertaken detailed valuation assessments of health and economic impacts from local and global pollution arising from power, transportation, bricks, and selected engineering sectors. He has led many capacity building activities for corporates, academia and civil society organizations. He frequently contributes to national dailies on topics of interest and professional relevance.

Dr. Fatih Birol
Executive Director,
International Energy Agency

Dr Fatih Birol (@IEABirol) has served as Executive Director of the International Energy Agency since September 2015. He was re-elected in January 2018 for a second four year term, which began in September 2019. Under his leadership, the IEA has undertaken its first comprehensive modernisation programme since its creation in 1974. This effort focuses on three pillars: opening the doors of the IEA to include major emerging economies – such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa – which have joined the IEA Family, thus increasing its share of global energy demand from 38% to around 75%; making the IEA the global hub for clean energy transitions; and broadening the IEA’s security mandate to include electricity and natural gas as well as oil.

Prior to his nomination as Executive Director, Dr Birol spent over 20 years at the IEA, rising through the ranks to the position of Chief Economist responsible for the flagship World Energy Outlook publication. Dr Birol has been named by Forbes Magazine among the most influential people on the world’s energy scene and was recognised by the Financial Times in 2017 as Energy Personality of the Year. He chairs the World Economic Forum’s (Davos) Energy Advisory Board and serves on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Sustainable Energy for All. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Japanese Emperor’s Order of the Rising Sun, the Order of the Polar Star from the King of Sweden and the highest Presidential decorations from Austria, Germany and Italy.

Before the IEA, Dr Birol worked at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna. He earned a BSc degree in power engineering from the Technical University of Istanbul and received an MSc and PhD in energy economics from the Technical University of Vienna. Dr Birol was awarded a Doctorate of Science honoris causa from Imperial College London in 2013. He was also made an honorary life member of Galatasaray Football Club in 2013.

Mr. Michael R. Bloomberg
Co-Founder,
Bloomberg LP (Via Video)

Michael Bloomberg has long been a global leader in the fight against climate change. As three-term mayor of New York City, he implemented a groundbreaking strategic sustainability plan and reduced carbon emissions by 13 percent, positioning the city as a model for climate action around the world. His foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, focuses on the environment as one of its key program areas, and he has given $1 billion to the global climate fight. Bloomberg serves as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions, as well as Global Ambassador for the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns.

Bloomberg leads a number of efforts that are making progress in the global climate fight, including serving as President of the Board of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. He also chairs the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.

When the Trump administration announced its intent to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement in 2017, Bloomberg stepped in to launch the America’s Pledge initiative with then California Governor Jerry Brown. America’s Pledge analyzes the progress of the more than 4,000 U.S. non-federal climate leaders and reports its findings to the international community. He also created the American Cities Climate Challenge to help the largest U.S. cities make more progress in their fight against climate change. And he works with partners and countries around the world to protect marine ecosystems and preserve coral reefs.

Bloomberg has worked with environmental organizations to retire more than 60% of all U.S. coal plants since 2011 through the U.S. Beyond Coal campaign. In 2016, he expanded the effort to Europe, where Europe Beyond Coal has helped retire more than 45% of the continent’s coal plants. He also launched Beyond Carbon, the largest-ever coordinated campaign to fight the climate crisis in the U.S., which aims to retire all coal plants by 2030 and stop the construction of new gas plants.

Bloomberg works to involve the financial community in fighting climate change, serving as chair of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and formerly as chair of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. Both organizations give companies clear standards and recommendations to help guide their disclosures of climate-related risks and opportunities. At the UN Secretary-General’s request, he formed the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative with other influential private sector leaders to accelerate investments in climate solutions.

Bloomberg is co-author, with Carl Pope, of the New York Times bestseller Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet.

Mr. Arvind Bodhankar
Joint Executive President & Chief Sustainability Officer,
Ultratech Cement

Arvind is a core HSE & Sustainability professional with 30 yrs of experience in Fertilizers, Petrochemicals, Steel, Cement, Shipping, Glass, FMCG, Pharma and Automobile sector in National and Multinational environment.

Currently Arvind is working as a Jt. Executive President & Chief Sustainability Officer at UltraTech Cement Ltd. (An Aditya Birla Group Company) India’s largest and world’s leading Cement Company.

By education Arvind is an Environmental Engineer with Post graduation in Industrial safety and a MBA in Marketing. He is also a certified director form Institute of Directors.

Arvind is very active in Sustainability & Safety forums and is on the governing council/advisory board of various organizations like American Society of Safety Engineers, Confederation of India Industry (CII), Global HSE & Sustainability Forum, CSR & Sustainability Institute, Society of Indian Auto. Mfgrs. (SIAM/SAFE), IBBI (India Business and Biodiversity Initiative), We Mean Business (WMB), WBCSD etc. He was a CII, DISH (Directorate of Industrial Safety), SIAM/SAFE nominee on the panel that advised Govt. on framing various regulations, Co-Chair Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA)

Dr. Sekhar Bonu
Director General,
Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office

Dr Sekhar Bonu joined as the Director General of Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog in April 2019. DMEO was established by the Government in September, 2015 as an attached office of the NITI Aayog to fulfill the monitoring and evaluation mandates assigned to NITI Aayog.  

Before joining NITI Aayog, Dr. Sekhar worked with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila for 15 years. At ADB he worked in health, urban  development and regional cooperation, mainly in South Asia region.

Dr. Sekhar worked in the Indian Administrative Services and served as a civil servant in the state of Rajasthan between 1987-2003, among others, as district magistrate, director of primary and secondary education, chief executive officer of state-owned enterprises.

Dr. Sekhar Bonu has a Ph.D from the Johns Hopkins University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder. He has wide range of research and operational interests and has published in peer-review journals.

Dr. Axel Borchmann
Deputy head of unit,
Federal Minstry for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety

Dr Borchmann is a PhD in Civil Engineering and a brief about his professional career is given below:

• 10/2018 – present: Deputy head of unit, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety  BMU, Unit WR I 5 "Marine Protection"
• 11/2016 – 10/2018: Deputy head of unit, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety  BMU, Unit WR II 6 "National and Fundamental Aspects of Resource Efficiency "
• 02/2015 - 10/2016: Deputy head of unit, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Unit WR I 1 "General, fundamental, international and European aspects of Water Management"
• 11/2014 – 01/2015: Desk officer, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety  BMU, Unit KP „Cabinett and Parliament“
• 04/2012 – 11/2015: Desk officer, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Unit WR I 1 "General, fundamental, international and European aspects of Water Management"
• 11/2011 – 03/2012: Head of unit „Waste Water Discharges“, Administration Office of the Federal State of Thuringia
• 09/2006 – 10/2011: Research fellow, Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Waste Management, Leibniz Universität Hannover

Brief of Dr Borchmann’s education is given below

• 10/2011: PhD in Civil Engineering on „Raising efficiency in ethanol production by application of membrane technologies in wastewater treatment“
• 10/2004 – 08/2006: Double major of Law (pre-degree), Leibniz Universität Hannover
• 10/2002 – 08/2006: Studies of Civil Engineering (M.Sc.) Specializatiuon "Water and Environment", Awardee of Victor Rizkallah Foundation
• 09/1999 – 09/2002: Studies of Architecture (pre-degree), Technische Universität München

Past and present professional functions

• Head of German delegation at UN Environment Ad Hoc Open Ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics
• Head of German delegation at London Convention und London Protocoll of IMO
• Member of German delegation at des Marine Environment Protection Committee of IMO
• Head of German delegation at London at HELCOM Commission
• Head of German delegation at EU Working DIKE of Common Implementation Strategy under Marine Strategy Framework Directive
• German representative at the Comitology Committee acc. Art. 21 of the Water Framework Directive
• German representative at the Strategic Coordination Group of the Common Implementation Strategy under Water Framework Directive
• Chair of EU Working DIS of the Common Implementation Strategy under Water Framework Directive
• Representative of the Federal Government at the National Federal Working Group on Resource Efficiency (LAGRE)
• Federal Coordinator of Federal State Working Group (LAWA)

Dr. Michael Bucki
Counsellor, Head of Section,
Delegation of the European Union to India

Dr Michael Bucki leads the Section responsible for dialogue and cooperation between the EU and India in the areas of Environment, Mobility, Urbanisation & Smart Cities, Energy & Climate Change, Small Businesses, as well as the EUs Foreign Policy Instrument. From 2016-2020, prior to joining this Delegation, Dr Bucki worked in Jakarta, holding similar responsibilities for EU, Indonesia and ASEAN. From 2006-2016, he had worked in the European Commission on topics like forest adaptation, forest fires, wood products, climate mitigation, deforestation, biodiversity and international negotiations. He inter alia took part in the UN climate negotiations, from 2010 up to the 2015 Paris Agreement. Dr Bucki holds a PhD, and Engineering degree, from the French National School for Forest and Water Management. His core interest is to find and share pragmatic, collective solutions for global citizens, producers and consumers to adapt to rapidly deteriorating “planetary boundaries”.

Dr Michael Bucki is a Counsellor at the European Union Delegation to India, based in New Delhi. He leads the Section responsible for dialogue and cooperation between the EU and India in the areas of Environment, Mobility, Urbanisation & Smart Cities, Energy & Climate Change, Small Businesses, as well as the EUs Foreign Policy Instrument. From 2016-2020, prior to joining this Delegation, Dr Bucki worked in Jakarta, holding similar responsibilities for EU, Indonesia and ASEAN. From 2006-2016, he had worked in the European Commission on topics like forest adaptation, forest fires, wood products, climate mitigation, deforestation, biodiversity and international negotiations. He inter alia took part in the UN climate negotiations, from 2010 up to the 2015 Paris Agreement. Dr Bucki holds a PhD, and Engineering degree, from the French National School for Forest and Water Management. His core interest is to find and share pragmatic, collective solutions for global citizens, producers and consumers to adapt to rapidly deteriorating “planetary boundaries”.

Dr. Ravishankar C N
Director,
ICAR-CIFT

Mr Ravishankar has a Bachelor Degree in Fisheries Sciences; Post-graduation in Industrial Fishery Technology and Ph.D in Fish Processing Technology from University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. His areas of specialization include fish processing and packaging and he has developed, popularized and transferred more than 67 technologies to the fish processing industries; established India's first Business Incubation Centre in the field of Fisheries and participated in the First Indian Antarctic Expedition

Mr Ravishankar has published more than 260 International and National research articles; authored 7 books. He has guided 8 students for PhD and 30 students for their post-graduation. Besides this, he has been a Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and has also been associated with Association of Food Scientists and Technologists & Society of Fisheries Technologists (India).

Mr Ravishankar has received 15 Awards for excellence in the field of fisheries science and entrepreneurship development.

Ms. Sakshi Chadha Dasgupta
Senior technical advisor,
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Ms Dasgupta is working as a senior advisor in SDC on climate change, urban and environmental issues 

Dr. Paromita Chakraborty
Research Associate Professor,
SRM Institute of Science and Technology

Dr. Paromita Chakraborty, joined SRM Research Institute and Department of Civil Engineering as Assistant Professor in 2012. I obtained my PhD degree in Natural Sciences with full term scholarship from Chinese Academy of Sciences. I specializes in fate, transport and remediation of  organic contaminants. Dr. Chakraborty is leading the “Environmental Science and Technology Laboratory” in SRM Research Institute. My research interests include

• Multi-media movement of organic pollutants viz., pesticides, industrial chemicals and plasticizers in the hotspots of Indian cities
• Long Range Atmospheric Transport of persistent organic pollutants
• Quantification and ecological impact assessment of plasticizers in riverine and marine environment of India
• Cost-effective remediation techniques for emerging organic contaminants in soil, sediment, water and wastewater
• Fabricating new products from recycled and waste plastic

Mr. Vivek Chandran
Associate Director Transport,
Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation

Vivek M Chandran leads the Transport program at Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (Shakti). Shakti seeks to facilitate India’s transition to a clean and secure energy future by aiding the design and implementation of policies that promote sustainable transport, clean power, energy efficiency, and climate action. Working collaboratively with policymakers, civil society, industry, think tanks and academia, Shakti seeks to catalyse transformative solutions to meet India’s energy needs in clean and sustainable ways.

In his role, as Associate Director, Vivek provides strategic planning, leadership, and guidance to the Transport program and its portfolio of projects. Prior to Shakti, Vivek has worked with WRI-EMBARQ, Centre for Urban Equity (CEPT University) and C40 Climate Leadership Group supporting government agencies envision and implement projects that drive sustainable and clean urban transport. He was also visiting faculty at CEPT University’s Faculty of Planning.

Ms. Archana Khanna Chhabra
Teacher,
Puranchandra Vidyaniketan

Ms Chhabra is a mathematician by profession, a Counselor and Environmentalist by compassion and a teacher by hobby. A mother of a sweet daughter and a handsome son she perfectly balanced all her roles. Smile on the face but a tough personality. She always believes before you put your feet on the ground in the morning, count your blessings you are grateful for. Her belief makes her a woman of warmth, unconditional love and affection. But at the same time she is practical too. Balancing her work and home skillfully makes her a perfect homemaker. She always chooses to see good in others and she ends up finding the good. There is no greater joy nor greater reward for her than in making a difference in other's life.

Mr. Manish Chourasia
Managing Director,
Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd

Mr Manish Chourasia is a financial services professional with 25 years of experience in origination, credit risk assessment and syndication in the Asia- Pacific Region. As part of the above mentioned functional categories, he has handled various products covering project finance, trade finance, and investment banking.

Since July, 2015, he has been working in Tata Group as managing director of Tata Cleantech Capital, which is the first private sector Green Investment Bank in emerging markets, jointly promoted by Tata Capital Ltd and International Finance Corporation (IFC). During his tenure till date, the company, starting from scratch, has funded over 250 projects in Clean-tech sector saving 9.0 tons of CO2 annually, executed a number of marquee advisory assignments, and tied up with a few global climate finance investors to channelize low cost funds to the Clean-tech sector in India. In November, 2018, the company was chosen as the “Best RE Financier of the Year-NBFC” at the 2nd Edition of the Green Finance Awards. In the last financial  year, it was also rated “AAA” by CRISIL, an S&P Global company primarily driven by its top-class  asset book of USD 850 million.

Manish is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT, Rookee and an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University. In 2012 he completed his CFA and since then has been active volunteer with CFA Institute, USA. In Feb 2020 he was presented “100 Top most Influential BFSI Leaders” award by World BFSI Congress. He is an avid runner with several long-distance runs to his credit.

Mr. Stéphane Crouzat
French Climate Ambassador,
French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs

Mr Crouzat has been French Ambassador for Climate Change Negotiations, Renewable Energies and Climate Risk Prevention since October 2020. He was previously French Ambassador to Ireland since June 2017. He was diplomatic advisor to Ms. Ségolène Royal, Minister of Environment, Energy and the Sea (2014-2017) and President of COP21. A graduate from Sciences-Po Paris (1988) and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (2001), he worked on European issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters before being appointed head of the cooperation and cultural section at the French Embassy in Warsaw (2005-2008), then spokesperson at the Permanent Representation of France to the United Nations in New York (2008-2011). He was also Deputy Director for Central Eastern and Baltic Europe in the European Union Directorate (2011-2014).

Ms. Joanna Cymbalista
Quality and Sustainability Compliance Manager,
IKEA Services India Pvt Ltd., Purchasing & Logistics Area South Asia

Ms. Joanna Cymbalista holds a Master of Sience Degree in Inorganic Chemistry from Wroclaw Univerity od Science and Technology, Wroclaw, Poland.  She has over 25 years of experience working in the various industries in the area of product development, manufacturing with focus on sustainbility and quality.  Joanna's focus is on projects with aim for fulfill: Healthy & Sustainable Living, Circular & Climate Positive and Fair & Equal for South Asia region with broader impact.

Mr. Debendra Dalai
Director,
Department of Environment, Chandigarh Administration

Shri Debendra Dalai, is an Indian Forest Service Officer (IFS) of 1999 Batch (AGMUT Cadre). Presently he is posted as Chief Conservator of Forests, UT Chandigarh and holding additional charge of Director- Cum Special Secretary Environment, Director- Cum Special Secretary [Science & Technology & Renewable Energy] and Chief Executive Officer, Chandigarh Renewable Energy, Science & Technology Promotion Society [CREST] and Vice Chairperson of  Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee .

Earlier he has already served in various capacities in Andaman & Nicobar Island, Goa , Daman & Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Kolkata.

Currently, he is heading the Department of Forest, Wildlife as well as Environment  in Chandigarh thereby playing an important role in decision making for maintaining a clean and green environment in Chandigarh. Under his guidance the Forest Department maintains more than 46% green Cover in Chandigarh thereby making this City Beautiful a Green City as well.

His role as Chief Executive Officer of CREST [Chandigarh Renewable Energy, Science & Technology Promotion Society] - nodal Executing Agency for development of Chandigarh as a  ‘Model Solar City’  is also important and Chandigarh  has emerged as a leading Solar City of the country.

Ms. Sheebu David
HR Leader,
General Electric

Ms Sheebu David has been appointed as the new CHRO, South Asia by GE to take the place of Ravindra Kumar GP. Ms David was previously head- HR, GE India Technology Centre. With an experience of over 20 years, she has been working with the GE Group for the larger part of her career. She joined GE in 2005 as the organisational and staffing leader at GE Commercial Finance, GE Capital.

After three and a half years, David moved up the ladder to take on the position of vice president, human resources, GE capital. She has also served as the HR manager -India engineering organisation, GE energy.

Ms David has worked in various industries, such as financial services, oil and energy, technology retail and food and beverages. Prior to joining GE, she has worked with organisations, such as Perfetti Van Melle, HCL Commet Systems & services and Shoppers Stop.

Mr. Anish De
Partner and National Head - Energy & Natural Resources,
KPMG in India

Anish De is the Partner and National Head of Energy and Natural Resources at KPMG in India. He has over 24 years of experience and specialises in fields of energy market design, regulation, pricing, energy trading, renewable energy, fuels and utility regulation and transactions. He has played an active role in policy formulation and has contributed to the development of the National Electricity Policy, Tariff Policy and the Competitive Bidding Framework for the power sector in India. He was also a member of the Task Force on Renewable Energy of the Planning Commission for the Twelfth Five Year Plan of the Government of India.

Anish is a regular speaker on sectoral/policy matters in the media and industry forums and has conceptualised and authored thought leadership publications on energy pricing, gas market development and pooling, renewable energy integration, etc. 

Mr. Yvo De Boer
President,
Gold Standard Foundation

Yvo has been active in the area of environment and sustainable development for 40 years. During that period he sought to understand and address the challenges around sustainability from the perspectives of civil society, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, international agencies and government. He did this in (leadership) roles with the Gold Standard Foundation (current) the Global Green Growth Institute, KPMG International, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Habitat and the Government of the Netherlands. Arguing that “if you can’t make the business case, you might as well stop talking” he has always sought to deepen understanding the economics of climate change and sustainable development. For his efforts Yvo was declared the winner of the EAERE European Practitioner Achievement Award in Applying Environmental Economics 2018. For his work on climate change he was granted a knighthood by Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands. Yvo has a long standing relationship with TERI, which he has always held high for its ground-breaking work on climate and energy, and its support to Dr. R.K. Pachauri in his role as Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has participated in every DSDS and WSDS bar one!

Mr. Vincenzo De Luca
Ambassador of Italy,
Embassy of Italy

Vincenzo De Luca, born in Naples on 7th November 1959, took office on 1 February 2016 as Director-General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Italy, after having served in the same Directorate General as Deputy Director-General and Principal Director for the Internationalisation of the Italian Economic System (since January 2014).

He has been a career diplomat since 1989 and has been given several assignments at the Foreign Ministry and at the diplomatic representations in Khartoum, Tunis, Paris (at the permanent Representation at the OECD) and in Shanghai. He has a long-standing expertise in the internationalisation of the economic system of the public and private sector, both in Central Offices, in the capacity of Diplomatic Advisor of the Ministries of Industry, Transports and Economic Development, and in large corporations like ENI and ENEL, where he served as Vice President for Institutional International Relations. During the past few years, he played a relevant role in the organisation of the EXPO Milano 2015 as  President of the Foreign Ministry’s Task Force, capitalising on his experience as Consul General in Shanghai. He is serving as the Ambassador of Italy to India and Nepal since December 2019.

Dr. Jonathan Demenge
Head,
SDC

Dr Jonathan Demenge has completed his PhD in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, United Kingdom. His major publications focus on human- environment relationships in Ladakh region of North India. He has also completed his MPhil in Anthropology and Development Theory and Management from University of Oxford. He is a political ecologist, an anthropologist, a social worker and a mountaineer by interests

Ms. Jane Dennett Thorpe
Deputy Director for Decarbonisation & Energy Transition,
OfGem

Jane has 20 year’s experience in decarbonisation of the energy sector from a public policy perspective. She is currently the Deputy Director for the Net Zero Energy Transition in Great Britain’s Energy Regulator, Ofgem and, where she has overseen the publication of Ofgem’s first Decarbonisation Action Plan in January 2020. Prior to this she has held a number of roles in UK government, including leading energy efficiency policy development and delivery for the UK’s commercial and industrial sectors; as Head of Evidence; and Deputy Head of Science for the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change. She is a Fellow of the Energy Institute, and a Trustee for the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

Mr. Nitin Desai
Chairman,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Mr. Nitin Desai, a graduate of LSE, taught economics at two UK Universities, worked briefly in the private sector, had a long stint as a government official in India, where his last job was as Secretary & Chief Economic Adviser in the Finance Ministry. At the international level he worked in the Brundtland Commission where he  drafted the key chapters dealing with sustainable development and then joined the UN in 1990 from where he retired in 2003 as the Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs,. His major work in the UN was the organization of a series of global summits, notably the Rio Earth Summit (1992) as Maurice Strong’s deputy, the Copenhagen Social Development Summit (1995), the Monterrey Finance and Development Summit (2002) and the Johannesburg Sustainable Development Summit (2002).

After his retirement he has been involved in a variety of public policy and NGO activities nationally and internationally dealing with economic research, sustainable development, climate risks and energy, sustainable livelihoods, human rights, security studies and internet governance. He is Chairman of the Governing Council of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He is a member of the National Broadcasting Standards Authority. He writes a monthly column in the Business Standard, a daily newspaper.

Ms. Rupali Deshmukh
Senior Coordinator, Business Development and Marketing,,
IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Rupali Deshmukh ( B. E Bachelor of Engineering, M.S. Environmental Engineering.) is Sustainability professional driven and inspired by sustainable business development with strong knowledge in water, waste water, waste and resource efficiency for sustainable and cleaner production. Rupali has broad International experience and worked with wide range of clients within the public and private sectors, ranging from municipalities, government authorities to trade organizations and industry, both in Sweden and internationally, including well-known global corporations. She is an experienced public speaker and lecturer. Rupali is employed as Senior Coordinator, Business Development and Marketing, at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute Ltd. Stockholm Sweden and as General Manager and Director at IVL India Environmental R&D Private Ltd. Mumbai India.

Ms. Uma Devi
Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change

Ms Uma devi belongs to Indian forest service of 1987 Batch and has been allotted Chhattisgarh cadre . She has an experience of working both in Central and State Governments in various capaties . Ms Devi has worked as Additional PCCF in the State of Chhattisgarh prior to joining the Ministry of Environment , GOI as Additional Secretary. During her tenure as Faculty at LalBahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration she has sensitised the young civil servants from various backgrounds to environment and forestry issues . She has also worked as Assistant Inspector General forests in Ministry of Environment and forests and as Director Textiles Government of India . Ms Devi has a Masters in Botany from Unversity of Delhi and Forestry Diploma from IGNFA and Masters in Public policy from George Mason University , USA . 

Mr. Vivek Kumar Dewangan
Additional Secretary (Thermal Transmission & I/C),
Ministry of Power, Government of India

Shri Vivek Kumar Dewangan (aged 53 years), an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer of Manipur Cadre (1993 Batch), is a Gold Medalist in B.E. Electronics from NIT, Bhopal and First Class P.G. in Opto-Electronics & Optical Communication from IIT, Delhi. During his illustrious career of 27 years as an IAS Officer, he has held various administrative positions in the areas of Finance, Power, Petroleum & Natural Gas/ Energy, Commerce & Industries, Planning , Economics & Statistics, Education/ Human Resource Development, Economic Affairs, Revenue Administration, Rural & Urban Development, Sericulture/ Agriculture, Election/ Law & Justice as Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Minister’s Office [Corporate Affairs/ Agriculture & Food Processing Industries], District Collector & District Magistrate [Surguja & Raipur Districts in Chhattisgarh and Senapati District in Manipur], Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Panchayat, Project Director/DRDA, Municipal Commissioner etc. In Government of India he has worked in Energy Sector – five years in Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in both upstream and downstream sectors.  In Ministry of Power he has worked as Joint Secretary for two and a half years covering Generation, Transmission, Distribution Sector.  Presently he is working as Additional Secretary(Thermal, Transmission & International Cooperation).

Dr. Vibha Dhawan
Distinguished Fellow and Senior Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Dr Vibha Dhawan is associated with The Energy and Resources and Institute since 1985. She has also completed one term as Vice-Chancellor, TERI School of Advanced Studies (May 2005 – June 2008).  Dr Dhawan is actively involved in research as well as policy development, both at the national and international levels. She has been on the Board of Management of prestigious Universities ; on the Board of International Organizations CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, UK); and of domestic companies (Ayurvet Research Foundation). She is a task force member of several committees of the UGC, DBT, BCIL, BIRAC, etc. 

She is also serving as Adjunct Professor, Consul General  South Asia Partnership, Michigan State University, USA, and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India.  She has successfully completed several international assignments such as co-ordinator for APCoAB (Asia-Pacific Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology and Bioresources) (May 2004 – April 2005);  Advisor to Director General, CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), one of the main centers of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research)  (2012-2013);  Deputy Director, Research Partnerships & Co-ordination (2013-2015), Borlaug Institute for South Asia, a UN privileged organization. She is the winner of several awards - Indian Women Achievers Sammaan 2017 by NRI Achievers; Women Leadership Agriculture Award 2016 by Indian Council of Food & Agriculture; First Biotech Product and Process Development and Commercialization Award of the Department of Biotechnology for the year 2000. Kamal Kumari National Award for Science and Technology for the year 1998 by Kamal Kumari Foundation; First All India Biotech Association (AIBA) award for 1998. She has authored 6 books and has over 50 publications to her credit.

Mr. Hans-Peter Egler
Director Public Sector / Sustainable Infrastructure,
South Pole Company

Hans-Peter has 25 years of experience in international cooperation in the areas of climate-resilient infrastructure, trade, cleaner production, sustainable technology transfers, and private investment related to social and environmental issues. He has driven cooperation with businesses and financial entities of all kinds, including the World Bank, regional development banks, various UN organizations, non-governmental organizations, industries and retailers in Switzerland and in developing countries, as well as government agencies in developing and industrialized countries.

He has 20 years of experience in the management of innovative projects related to the interface between economy, environment, and development cooperation. His collaboration in these international projects is of great relevance for the financing of sustainable infrastructures, being responsible for the financing agreements of projects within the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs as well as the establishment of green credit lines of the Swiss development cooperation. Since 2018 he has been in charge of a program to support eight secondary cities in India for the definition of policies and the design and financing of climate-resilient infrastructure projects against local climate change, with the financing of Swiss development cooperation and the City Finance Lab for the promotion of innovative finance solutions for climate action at city level financed by EU-Climate-KIC among others. Hans-Peter's expertise spans the management functions, having coordinated up to 14 employees with an annual project budget between USD 80 million in a public institution, and up to 30 employees and an annual budget of USD 3 million in a private company.

Mr. Hans Enggrob
CEO and Partner,
Enggrob & Singh Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Hans G. Enggrob (MSC, MBA), international hydraulic engineering and sediment expert. He is former managing director of DHI India (2011-13), vice president of DHI Group (2013-2015), CEO of Institute of Product Development, Denmark Technical University (2015-2018), founder and CEO of Lyninco ApS (from 2018 and onwards), CEO and Partner of Enggrob & Singh Pvt. Ltd. Since 1990, he has been working as international hydraulic expert or manager in projects in numerous countries, not least in South Asia. He was co-initiator, program developer and product responsible of some of DHI’s renowned mathematical modelling software tools for rivers and estuaries over many years and has worked with technology development and technology transfer for years. Mr. Enggrob serves as external consultant to World Bank India and Asian Development Bank, and has supported the Danish Ministry of Environment in the development of strategic sector collaboration within the water sector with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.  

Ms. Patricia Espinosa
Executive Secretary,
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Ambassador of Mexico to Germany since 2012 and from 2001 to 2002, Ms. Espinosa was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, bringing more than 30 years of experience at highest levels in international relations, specialized in climate change, global governance, sustainable development, gender equality and protection of human rights.
As Mexico's representative on multilateral bodies and international organizations in Vienna, Geneva and New York, Ms. Espinosa has been engaged as leader in the global challenge to address climate change and its consequences, notably as Chair of the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC leading to the adoption of the Cancun Agreements. Named by the UN Secretary-General to the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, she is a tireless supporter of multilateralism as a way to improve conditions for development in all regions of the world, understanding the inextricable link between the aims of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Elected Chair of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (1996) she played a key role in the process leading to the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action at the 4th World Conference on Women. Previous Ambassador of Mexico to Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and UN Organisations in Vienna (2002-2006), she was Chief of Staff to the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1989-1991) and responsible for economic issues at the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN in Geneva (1982-1988).
She has postgraduate studies in International Law from the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva and is holder of a Degree in International Relations from El Colegio de Mexico.

Ms. Susan Ferguson
Representative,
UN Women India

Susan Ferguson joined UN Women in 2017, after a long career in international development. She has lived and worked in South Africa, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, where she has lived for 12 years. Susan has experience working in grass roots development agencies; establishing and managing social services; working within Local, State and Federal Government in Australia on social policy and social programmes. Her diverse career is spanned by the themes of gender equality and social justice.

Susan is a development practitioner and is proud to have been part of UN Women, working to achieve the mandate of equality for women and girls in different countries.

Susan, a national of Australia, has a Master’s degree of International and Community Development and has 4 girls. She wants them to grow up in a just world where their contributions are valued and respected.

Dr. Amy Fraenkel
Executive Secretary,
UNEP/CMS Secretariat

Ms. Fraenkel has over 30 years of experience in international environmental law and policy, and has held senior positions in the UN, the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. Government, and in private law practice.   

Ms. Fraenkel holds a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School and is a graduate of Grinnell College. In addition to English, she speaks French and Spanish. 

Mr. Chirag Gajjar
Head Subnational Climate Action,
WRI India

Chirag Gajjar heads Subnational Climate Action in Climate Program at WRI India, where he oversees Climate Mitigation Initiatives. He works on various topics on National, Sub-national and Corporate Climate strategy. Chirag oversees the work of a team that aims to catalyze and support climate action by states, cities and businesses for the coming years. In addition, Chirag works with network of experts and state and city officials to synergize national and regional climate actions.

Ms. Aditi Garg
Chief Executive Officer,
Indore Smart City Development Limited

She is 2015 batch IAS from MP cadre. She is currently working as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indore Smart City Development Limited (ISCDL). Under her leadership Indore become India's first city to earn 5 million (INR) through Carbon Credits. To achieve this ISCDL has registered three projects a bio-methanation plant, a compost plant and 1.5 MW solar plant, under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) program of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Indore Smart City is selected in world's top 36 cities to become a leader for other smart cities by the world economic forum. Indore has been the cleanest city in India for four consecutive years and to make this happen, she has taken up several initiates of clen India mission under smart city. Under her guidance Indore Smart City has received the best smart city of India award and one of his project 'Material Recovery Facility' got best PPP award by ET global smart city forum 2020.

She has nasters in economics and finance from London school of economics. She is from Bhopal and held various administrative positions in Madhya Pradesh and shown her tremendous administrative skills to convert efforts into results.

Dr. Prashant Gargava
Member Secretary,
CPCB

A thought leader and strategist in the field of Environmental Engineering and Management, Prashant is a Ph.D in Environmental Engineering and a Fulbright scholar (Nevada, USA) in Environment leadership. Prashant has more than 30 years of diverse and eclectic experience in environmental policies, sector specific statutory requirements and regulations, air quality policy and urban air quality management. Not only has he spearheaded key air quality initiatives in India (including Air Quality Index AQI and National Air Quality Standards), but he has also delved in academic endeavors like teaching/supervising numerous grad students at SPA (School of Planning and Architecture) and IIT Delhi.He conceptualized Natioal Clean Air Program (NCAP) for India and also co-authored the guidance framework for Air Quality Management in asian cities for Clean Air Asia (CAA).He led India's well known Six City Source Apportionment study that guided future air quality action plans and also developed the country's first environmental databank. With a multifaceted experience in environmental administration, academics and research, Prashant firmly believes in the democratization of environment data.

Ms. Anita Marangoly George
Executive Vice President, Deputy Head - CDPQ Global,
CDPQ India

Ms George fills a key role in developing CDPQ’s activities in its three priority international areas: the United States/Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. She actively participates in positioning CDPQ internationally, as well as developing and executing its globalization strategy. In addition to her role managing the international offices, Ms. George contributes to diversifying the portfolio by taking a holistic view in approaching the various markets.  She sits on CDPQ’s Investment-Risk Committee. 

Ms. George joined CDPQ in April 2016 as Managing Director, South Asia. She was then appointed as Executive Vice-President, Growth Markets and prior to her current role was Executive Vice-President and Head of Strategic Partnerships, Growth Markets. She has extensive knowledge of several of these markets, in addition to possessing a strong ability to develop and strengthen enduring and quality partnerships. 

She has a strong track record in managing infrastructure investment portfolios on a global scale. Prior to joining CDPQ, she was Senior Director of the World Bank’s Energy and Extractive Industries Global Practice. She also held the positions of Director, Infrastructure and Natural Resources of the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and Head of Siemens Financial Services in India. Her various roles have led her to work in several regions of the world, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Ms. George holds a BA in Economics and Spanish from Smith College, in Massachusetts, and a Masters in Economics and an MBA in Finance from Boston University.

Ms. Rana Ghoneim
Chief, Energy Systems and Infrastructure Division,
UNIDO

Ms Rana oversees the organization's strategy and programmes in promoting a  low carbon infrastructure powering industrialization and the decarbonization of industry. She has a long standing experience of 20 years in designing and implementing programmes in the energy sector in Africa and the MENA region where she actively worked on mainstreaming approaches to fully utilize the potential of women in the energy sector and industry. She leads on behalf of UNIDO global initiatives such as the industrial energy accelerator and positioning and policy related engagements at global fora including the Vienna Energy Forum, the Clean Energy Ministerial and the high level dialogue on energy.  

Mr. Anirban Ghosh
Chief Sustainability Officer,
Mahindra Group

Mr Ghosh leads Sustainability at the USD 20.7 billion Mahindra Group. Under his leadership Mahindra has developed an award-winning Sustainability framework, become the first to have a certified  carbon neutral factory in India, doubled energy productivity in a company, and enabled 21 locations to become zero waste to landfill. He has, in partnership with the World Bank, facilitated the creation of the Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium to accelerate the spread of green buildings in India. Anirban has led a shared value project that doubled per capita income for 50,000 people in rural India.

Anirban takes great pleasure in implementing projects that drive positive change in society and has been acknowledged as a “Thought Leader” and a “Distinguished Sustainability Officer”.

Dr. Ashok Ghosh
Chairman,
Bihar State Pollution Control Board

Dr. Ashok Kumar Ghosh is currently working as Chairman, Bihar State Pollution Control Board and Professor & HoD, Research at Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre. He is also a member of Regional Empowered Committee of Ministry of Environment ,Forest & Climate Change, Government of India. 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 Dr.Ghosh has been awarded another International project FAR-GANGA from DST/Newton-Bhabha Fund in collaboration with University of Manchester ,UK and National Institute of Hydrology (NIH),Roorkee. 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 is one of the coordinators of European Commission sponsored project “Erasmus Mundus Eurindia and India4EU II Program” - a worldwide cooperation and mobility that aims to enhance quality in higher education and promote intercultural understanding. 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.He was awarded for Excellence in Water Showcase Final at 7th World Water Forum in 2015 held at Daegu, South Korea for his research related to arsenic mitigation in rural BiharDr. Ashok Kumar Ghosh is currently working as  Chairman, Bihar State Pollution Control Board and Professor & HoD, Research at Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre. He is also a member of Regional Empowered Committee of Ministry of Environment ,Forest & Climate Change, Government of India. 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 Dr.Ghosh has been awarded another International project FAR-GANGA from DST/Newton-Bhabha Fund in collaboration with University of Manchester ,UK and National Institute of Hydrology (NIH),Roorkee. 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 is one of the coordinators of European Commission sponsored project “Erasmus Mundus Eurindia and India4EU II Program” - a worldwide cooperation and mobility that aims to enhance quality in higher education and promote intercultural understanding. 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.He was awarded for Excellence in Water Showcase Final at 7th World Water Forum in 2015 held at Daegu, South Korea for his research related to arsenic mitigation in rural Bihar.

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

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 Asia's leading policy research institutions (eight years in a row); and among the world’s 20 best climate think-tanks in 2013 and 2016. He was actively involved in conceptualising and designing the International Solar Alliance. He conceptualised and is a founding board member of the Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN). Co-author/editor of four books and with experience in 45 countries, he previously worked at Princeton, Oxford, UNDP (New York), and WTO (Geneva). In 2018, the UN Secretary-General nominated him to the UN's Committee for Development Policy. In 2020, the Government of India appointed him Co-Chair of the energy, environment and climate change track for India’s Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP2020). His 2019 TED Talk on air quality (Mission 80-80-80) has crossed 240,000 views. He is co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Clean Air and is a member of the international high-level panel of the Environment of Peace initiative.

He is lead author of Jobs, Growth and Sustainability: A New Social Contract for India’s Recovery (CEEW, 2020). He is the co-author/editor of four books: The Palgrave Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy (2016); Energizing India: Towards a Resilient and Equitable Energy System (SAGE, 2016); Human Development and Global Institutions (Routledge, 2016); and Climate Change: A Risk Assessment (FCO, 2015). Arunabha’s essay “Rethink India’s energy strategy” in Nature was selected as one of 2015’s ten most influential essays.

Arunabha advises governments, industry, civil society and international organisations around the world. This has included India’s Prime Minister’s Office, several ministries and state governments. He was invited by France, as a Personnalité d’Avenir, to advise on the COP21 climate negotiations; and also advised extensively on HFC negotiations. He served on the Executive Committee of the India- U.S. PACEsetter Fund. He has been a member of Track II dialogues with ten countries/regions; and formulated the Maharashtra-Guangdong Partnership on Sustainability. He was a member of the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority for the National Capital Region (2018-2020).

His regular columns are widely read and have been published in the Business Standard, Financial Express, Forbes, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Nikkei Asian Review, The Hindu, The Times of India, among other platforms. He has hosted a documentary on water in Africa, featured in National Geographic and Discovery Channel documentaries on energy and climate change, and delivered a TED Talk on air quality. He has been regularly interviewed on Al Jazeera, CGTN, CNBC, CNN News 18, India Today TV, NDTV, etc. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, was member of WEF’s Global Future Council on Energy, and an Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader. He holds a D.Phil. from Oxford and topped Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Dr. Irene Giner-Reichl
Ambassador,
Austrian Embassy Brasília

Dr. Irene Giner-Reichl, President of Global Forum Sustainable Energy and Austrian Ambassador in Brazil

Dr. Nallamuthu Godhantaraman
Head,
University of Madras

Dr. Nallamuthu Godhantaraman, Head – Centre for Environmental Sciences and Director-UGC, Human Resource Development Centre and Adjunct Faculty, Centre for Ocean and Coastal Studies, University of Madras. Completed his M.Sc., in Marine Biology & Oceanography and Ph.D in Marine Biology (specialized in microzooplankton population and production ecology in marine coastal ecosystems, South India), Annamalai University. Later did his JSPS Postdoctoral Research at Hiroshima University, Japan (1998-2000) and STA Postdoctoral Research at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST), Hiroshima, Kure (Japan) (2000-2002). He has been nominated as Senate Member - Middle East University, United Arab Emirates and Visiting Fellow, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, Kolkata. Dr. Nallamuthu has made significant contributions to research in the field of biological oceanography with special reference to population and production ecology of microzooplankton, climate change impacts on marine ecosystem, and coastal zone management. He has published over 25 research articles in refereed journals and chapters in books. Dr. Nallamuthu participated and delivered lectures in various national and international symposia/conferences/workshops (over 30) and visited countries like Japan, USA, UK, Germany, France, Portugal, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka. He has organized International and National conferences and presently he is INNOTAL Project Manager for the Erasmus + Program of the EU sponsored program.

Dr. Anju Goel
Fellow,
TERI

Dr. Anju Goel is a pass out from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi and University of Surrey, UK. She has won commonwealth scholarship to pursue her PhD study. In last 10 years, she has worked on various projects assessing the co-benefits of low carbon pathways for India, which involve addressing regional and urban scale particulate pollution related issues using state of the art chemical transport based air quality models for prediction of air quality in current and future scenarios. Also, she has been involved in projects related to air quality management which involved air quality monitoring, emission inventorisation, air quality modelling (dispersion and receptor), and drafting air quality management plans. In past she has also carried out a cost benefit analysis of introduction of advanced vehicular emissions and fuel quality norms and other options to reduce vehicular emissions in India. The project findings were submitted to the Government empowered Auto Fuel Vision 2025 Committee in India.

Mr. Tim Gould
Head of Division,
International Energy Agency

Tim Gould is co-head of the World Energy Outlook series at the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA). He designs and directs the work together with the IEA’s Chief Energy Modeller and contributes to the Outlook as a principal author. He oversees the Agency’s analysis of energy investment, including the World Energy Investment report.

The World Energy Outlook is the IEA’s flagship publication and one of the world’s most authoritative sources for strategic insight on energy and environmental trends. It covers all fuels and energy technologies and uses different scenarios to illustrate the choices that can lead towards a more secure and sustainable energy future.

As part of this work, Tim Gould has led in-depth analysis of India (2015 and 2021) Africa (2014 and 2019), Southeast Asia (2017, 2019), major oil and gas-exporting economies (2018) China (2017), Mexico (2016), Brazil (2013), Iraq (2012), Russia (2011) and the Caspian region (2010). He has also developed and overseen a multi-year programme of analysis on the future of oil and gas and the evolving pressures on industry and major resource-holders, including detailed work on methane abatement and the emissions intensities of different fuels.

Before joining the IEA in 2008, initially as a specialist on Russian and Caspian energy, he worked on European and Eurasian energy issues in Brussels and has ten years of experience in Eastern Europe, primarily in Ukraine. He graduated from Oxford University and has a post-graduate diploma from the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Mini Govindan
Fellow,
TERI

Mini Govindan has a Ph.D degree in Development Studies from Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore. She has over 18 years of professional experience during which she has served as a social and/or gender expert in various projects related to specific theme of gender, energy, climate change and sustainable development. Through her capacity she has worked extensively in several states of the country and delivered numerous stakeholder assessments, community engagement , gender mainstreaming, as well as led many scoping and consultation sessions. Dr. Govindan is experienced working with multi-level and cross-sectoral stakeholder groups extending from local communities to decision makers. 

Prof. R Guleria
Director,
AIIMS

Dr Guleria started his medical studies at IGMC, Shimla, from where he received undergraduate degree in Medicine afterwards he attended the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, from where he secured his MD in general medicine and DM in pulmonary medicine. He joined the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and rose in ranks to become a professor and the head of the department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders.He is associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a member of its Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization and influenza vaccination.He is a life member of the Association of Physicians of India, Indian Chest Society and the National College of Chest Physicians of India. He also serves as a consultant to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna on issues related to radiation protection.

Guleria was the personal physician to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India since 1998 and is credited with research on pulmonary diseases. His research findings have been recorded by way of 36 book chapters and 268 articles; ResearchGate, an online knowledge repository has published 117 of them. He is credited with efforts in establishing a centre for respiratory diseases and sleep medicine at AIIMS, which is reported to be a first in India. He is a recipient of Raj Nanda Pulmonary Disease Fellowship from Raj Nanda Trust and the Royal College of Physicians, UK and is an elected fellow (2011) of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS). He sits on the editorial boards of a number of medical journals such as the Indian Journal of Chest Diseases, Lung India, Journal of American Medical Association and Chest India.

Randeep Guleria was included by the Government of India in the 2015 Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of Padma Shri. He has also been awarded the prestigious Dr. B C Roy National Awards for the year 2014, under eminent medical person category by the Medical Council of India. He is regarded as one of India's leading medical expert.

Mr. Vikrant Gupta
Sr Executive Editor (Sports),
TV today Network (Aaj Tak/India today)

Mr Vikrant Gupta is a sports journalist. He is the Senior Executive Editor (Sports) with TV Today Network (Aaj Tak/India Today). He attended the DAV College in Chandigarh where he earned his bachelor’s degree in English. He went on to earn his Master’s in English from Panjab University in 1994, then earned an additional bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications and Journalism from Panjab University in 1996. He started his career as a journalist in May of 1997 when he joined The Indian Express as a Special Correspondent. He is also a part of Sports Tak youtube channel which received Gold Play Button award from Youtube for crossing 1 million subscribers. Today, he is the most famous sports anchor in the country

Mr. R.P Gupta
Secretary,
MoEFCC

Shri R. P. Gupta is an IAS Officer of 1987 Batch of Gujarat cadre. He did B. Tech. from IIT, Kanpur in Aeronautical Engineering.

He has taken over charge as Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 1st June 2020.  Prior to this, he was in NITI Aayog as Special Secretary and Additional Secretary, dealing with the subjects of Energy, Transport, Health, Education and Rural & Urban Development, from 2017 onwards till May 2020.  Earlier, he had worked as Joint Secretary in Ministry of Coal from 2015 to 2017. 

In Cadre (Gujarat):

In cadre, he had rich experience by virtue of his working in various departments – to narrate a few, he had worked as -

• Principal Secretary (Appeals) in Department of Revenue
• Principal Secretary in Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs
• Commissioner & Principal Secretary in Panchayat & Rural Development
• Principal Secretary in Education Department
• Settlement Commissioner (Land Reforms)
• Special Commissioner, Sale Tax Department
• MD, Gujarat Agro Industries
• Collector, Kutch
• Additional Secretary in Forests and Environment Department, etc
• Main Emphasis

Besides all these and also apart from working in the field assignments in earlier part of his career as District Development Officer, Municipal Commissioner, District Collector etc., he had 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 during 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.  While working as Secretary, Department of Food and Civil Supplies dealing with the Public Distribution System (PDS), apart from fully computerizing the PDS right from Fair Price Shop to State Government level, he had ensured that a 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.

Ms. Ruchi Gupta
Research Associate,
TERI

Ruchi Gupta is with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi. Her work focusses on understanding the impact of a coal phase out on workers and coal communities.

An alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, she holds more than a decade experience in the field of social development and community organsation.She addressed diverse forms of marginalisation and vulnerability of tribals in island ecosystem and workers in unorganised sector. Her areas of work focussed on action research and capacity building through participatory trainings.  

Mr. Praveen Gupta
Chief Engineer,
Central Electricity Authority

Mr Gupta obtained his Bachelor Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Maulana Azad College of Technology, Bhopal in 1988. He joined Central Electricity Authority in 1990 as Assistant Director. He has vast experience in the field of Energy conservation, Efficiency and Environment related issues of coal based thermal power stations. He has vast experience in carrying out Detailed Energy Audits of coal based thermal power stations. He was instrumental in preparing the first Carbon di oxide emission database from Indian power sector. He was also part of the team assigned for Formulation of National Electricity Plan. Presently, he holds the post of Chief Engineer in the Integrated Resource Planning Division of CEA and is entrusted with power sector long and short term planning studies. He has been instrumental in bringing out Optimal Generation capacity Mix for the year 2029-30 studies carried out Central Electricity Authority. Currently he is engaged in formulation of National Electricity Plan for the year 2022-27 and 2027-2032.

Mr. Uday Gupta
Managing Director,
Adhunik Metaliks Ltd

Uday Gupta is a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Jadavpur University and Master of Technology from IIT, Madras. He attended PGDBM in NMP, MDI and Mahindra Universe Program in Harvard Business School. He has over 38 years of experience in ferrous and non-ferrous metal industries. He worked in INDAL (ALCAN) as Production Head, in First Aluminium Nigeria as Director, in Mahindra Sanyo (Musco) as Managing Director and in GFG Alliance as Executive Director –Alloy Steel. His professional expertise lies in operations, projects, business development – excellence - turnaround strategy and its execution.

Dr. Vijay Habbu
Adjunct Professor,
Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai

Dr. Vijay G. Habbu obtained his BTech and MTech from UDCT (now named ICT) before obtaining PhD from the Univ. of Leeds (UK). He did his post-doctoral research at the Univ. of Illinois U-C (USA).

Over the years Dr Habbu has worked as a senior scientist and head of polymer processing dept. at NCL, Pune, as Works Manager in a Polymer Processing Unit and later joined Reliance where he led the Polyester Sector’s R&T at his superannuation.

He consults as a Mentor in the Sustainability group of Reliance’s PetChem sector.

Dr. Habbu serves as an expert member on several government committees, such as Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, BIS, FSSAI, Maharashtra government expert committee on Plastics. He is also on the editorial boards of (1) Journal of Packaging Technology & Research (2) Colourage. He also a Technical Advisor to a industry associations.

Ms. Marie Haga
External Relations and Governance - Associate Vice-President,
IFAD

Marie Haga is responsible for communications, global engagement, partnerships, and resource mobilization, as well as overseeing the relations with IFAD’s 177 Member States. Haga has extensive experience in conservation, food security, foreign affairs and politics. Prior to her role with IFAD, she was the Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust since March 2013. Haga served with Norway’s Foreign Service holding various positions in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the Norwegian Mission to the United Nations in New York and the Embassy in New Delhi. She held the position of State Secretary/Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1997-1999.

Haga’s political career includes serving as a Member of Parliament in Norway from 2001-2009. She also held three ministerial positions: Minister of Cultural Affairs (1999–2000), Minister of Local Government and Regional Development (2005–2007) and Minister of Petroleum and Energy (2007–2008).

Mr. Will Hall
Builidings and Industry Lead,
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Mr Hall is the head of Buildings and Industry for COP26 at Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Leading UK efforts to increase global ambition on buildings and industry decarbonization ahead of COP26.

Mr. Andreas Hansen
Head of International Marine Environment,
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Mr Andreas has previously worked on a range of environmental policy issues, both domestically and internationally - from environment negotiations in the G7 and G20 to improving air quality in English cities. 

Andreas holds a BSc in International Relations and Affairs from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy from the University of Oxford. 

Dr. Laurel Harmon
Vice President (Government Affairs),
LanzaTech

Dr. Harmon provides policy direction and leadership on international legislative and regulatory matters and develops collaborative research and demonstration projects for LanzaTech.  LanzaTech is the global leader in gas fermentation technology, offering novel and economic routes to a variety of products, such as chemicals and fuels, from waste carbon streams, including industrial emissions and municipal wastes. By recycling carbon, LanzaTech’s solutions mitigate carbon emissions from industry and society without adversely impacting food or land security. LanzaTech’s unique process, certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials and currently protected by over 800 granted patents, produces sustainable fuels and platform chemicals that serve as building blocks for everyday products such as rubber and plastics. Dr. Harmon received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Michigan and has over 30 years of experience in policy matters and technology development.

Ms. Rhiannon Harries
Deputy Trade Commissioner, South Asia,
Department for International Trade

Ms Harries took up post as the Deputy Trade Commissioner, South Asia at the British High Commission, New Delhi in July 2018. The role brings together leadership of UK trade and investment promotion, trade policy, science and innovation, and delivering the new UK-India Technology Partnership announced by Prime Ministers Modi and May in April 2018.

Rhiannon grew up in Worcestershire (UK) and went on to read Oriental Studies at University College, Oxford. She also holds a Master of Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Since joining the Civil Service, Rhiannon has worked as a Policy and Project Delivery professional across Whitehall, spanning the topics of business, energy and national security in both domestic and international contexts. On promotion to the Senior Civil Service, Rhiannon led the Small Business, Enterprise & Employment Bill, and then spent several years in the Nuclear Directorate of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. This included leading the UK’s civil nuclear cooperation with the Indian Government; overseeing the UK’s sponsorship of two UN organisations; and, following the EU referendum, establishing the UK’s programme for exiting the Euratom Treaty.

Dr. Sebastian Helgenberger
COBENEFITS Project Director,
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies

Dr. Sebastian Helgenberger is research team leader and project director on the “Social and Economic Co-Benefits of Climate Action with Renewable Energy” at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Germany (see www.cobenefits.info).

Building on experiences with Germany’s energy transition Sebastian and his team in their research activities and international science-policy dialogues are exploring the social and economic benefits of renewable energies as drivers of accelerated transitions towards sustainable energy for all.  Dr. Helgenberger has a long personal history of more than 10 years addressing the socio-economic dimension of climate change and renewable energy in research and policy making. He has been working with partners in India, Germany, China, Mexico, South Africa, Vietnam, Turkey and the US.

Dr. Helgenberger graduated in Environmental Sciences at Leuphana University Lüneburg and conducted his master thesis at ETH Zurich on knowledge co-creation among science and society in sustainability transformations. He also holds a PhD in socio-economics, acquired from BOKU University Vienna for his work on the relevance of global warming on investment decisions in small and medium enterprises (SME). Since 2014 Sebastian Helgenberger is working as research team leader with the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) to supports governments and authorities to identify country-specific opportunities solutions to their energy needs and realize the potential of renewables and energy efficiency solutions to the fullest extent possible.

Follow Sebastian Helgenberger on twitter: https://twitter.com/s_helgenberger

Mr. Vidar Helgesen
Executive Director,
Nobelstiftelsen

Vidar Helgesen (born 21 November 1968), Executive Director at The Nobel Foundation. In 2018-2020 he served as Norway’s Special Representative for the Ocean. A Norwegian diplomat and politician for the Conservative party, he served as Minister of Climate and Environment 2015-2018, and Minister of European Affairs and Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister 2013-2015. Prior to this, he served as Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance from 2005 to 2013. He was Deputy Foreign Minister 2001-05. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, with a Master of Laws.

Mr. Benjamin Hickman
Advisor,
UNEP

Benjamin is advisor for the UNEP-led District Energy in Cities Initiative and supports the Cool Coalition Secretariat (based in UNEP) and the Cold Chain and Urban Cooling related activities of the Cool Coalition. Benjamin is working on cold chain, urban cooling and district cooling projects in India but also supporting countries across Asia, Europe and Latin America. Benjamin joined UNEP in 2014 from an energy consulting background and has been based in Paris except for a two year stint with UNEP's Delhi Office from 2019-2020. Benjamin has a background in energy policy, financing and market modelling

Ms. Sriparna Iyer
Key Expert, EU-India Urban Partnership Support Project,
IPE Global Limited

Sriparna Iyer is an Urban Development specialist with more than 25 years of experience in the sector. She has worked in most states of India and in more than 40 municipalities as well as in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Tajikistan. Sriparna's area of specialialisation is urban governance and reforms and institutional development. Some of the more recent experience is on supporting urban governments to improve resilience - not just as an immediate response to the pandemic rather, as an integral part of development. Sriparna's experience includes demonstrating inclusion of climate resilience into the world's largest public funded social protection programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and successfully including climate considerations into the relevant policies at national and state level. Currently, she is working with cities and metropolitan regions on spatial planning issues and completed a Technical Study for the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India on 'Mainstreaming Resilience into Urban Planning Practices in India'  as part of the ongoing Eu-India Urban Partnership Support Project.

Mr. Dinesh Jagdale
Joint Secretary,
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India

Shri. Jagdale is Graduate in Electronics Engineering with Master’s in Business Administration with specialization in Marketing and has Twenty-Nine years of rich experience in electrical and renewable industry. An innovative thinker, Self-motivated, visionary professional has spent 19 years of his career working in Renewable Industry in various capacities.

Prior to joining the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy Shri. Jagdale spent initial 10 years of his Career as a Renewable Energy professional in the Wind Industry wherein he contributed to the Growth of Wind Sector across multi states in India. He has been known for thorough knowledge on the processes related to Regulatory, Permitting and Licensing across all the renewable states. For the last Nine Years, Shri. Jagdale established and led the growth of a Renewable IPP to grow the Wind & Solar Energy Sector in India.

He has been actively involved as consulting personnel in formulation of state government policies for Wind & Solar Energy generation, striking a balance between developers of the project and sustainability of the transmission and distribution companies. During his Renewable Energy Career, he has bagged prestigious Awards & Recognition from various forums across Wind & Solar Industry.

He was appointed as Joint Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, in September 2019.

Mr. Anil Kumar Jain
Secretary (Coal),
Ministry of Coal

Mr. Anil Kumar Jain is a member of the Indian Administrative Service of the Government of India, and presently handles issues related to mining of coal and its transportation and distribution to power producers and other related industries among other things.  He has over three decades of administrative experience at the field and policy formulation levels, and has held senior positions in the Federal and State Governments, in multiple Ministries, including Petroleum & Natural Gas, an area in which he specialises. He has authored a book ‘Natural Gas in India: Policy and Liberalisation’, published by OUP, Oxford in 2012.  During 2012-17, as Head of the Energy Division of the National Institution for Transforming India (earlier the Planning Commission of India), he led several integrated modeling initiatives including the‘India Energy Security Scenarios, 2047 (IESS)’.  He also led the team that has drafted the National Energy Policy (2017-2040). Mr. Anil Jain holds a BA (Honours) in Economics, an MBA, and a Diploma from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Mr. Jain has also done his Ph.D. in “Exploring the role of natural gas in India’s energy mix in 2030”

Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister,
Ministry of External Affair of India

Earlier Dr S. Jaishankar was President – Global Corporate Affairs at Tata Sons Private Limited from May 2018.
He was Foreign Secretary from 2015-18, Ambassador to United States from 2013-15, Ambassador to China from 2009-2013, High Commissioner to Singapore from 2007-2009 and Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2000-2004.
He has also served in other diplomatic assignments in Embassies in Moscow, Colombo, Budapest and Tokyo, as well in the Ministry of External Affairs and the President’s Secretariat.
Dr S. Jaishankar is a graduate of St. Stephen’s College at the University of Delhi. He has a Masters in Political Science and an M. Phil and Ph.D in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.
He is a recipient of the Padma Shri award in 2019.
He is married to Kyoko Jaishankar and has two sons & and a daughter.

Mr. Prakash Javadekar
Union Cabinet Minister,
Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change; Information & Broadcasting; and Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises,

Mr Prakash Javadekar represents the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is presently Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Information and Broadcasting and Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises.

Mr Javadekar has previously held following positions:

• Union Minister of Human Resource Development - 5th July 2016 to 30th May 2019
• Minister of State (Independent Charge) — Environment, Forest & Climate Change - 26th May 2014 to 4th July 2016
• Minister of State — Parliamentary Affairs - 26th May 2014 to 9th Nov 2014
• Minister of State (Independent Charge) — Information and Broadcasting - 26th May 2014 to 9th Nov 2014
• Member of Parliament — Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra (April 2018 onwards )
• Member of Parliament — Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh (June 2014 –March 2018)
• Member of Parliament — Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra (May 2008– May 2014)
• Executive President — State Planning Board Maharashtra (1995–1999)
• Member of Legislative Council — Maharashtra from Pune Division Graduate Constituency for 12 years (1990–2002)
• Chairman — Task Force on IT, Government of Maharashtra (1997–1999)
• Chairman — Working Group on “IT for Masses”, Government of India (2000)
• Member — Press Council of India
• Member — Public Accounts Committee
• Member — Standing Committee on HRD
• Member — Consultative Committee for Min. of Power
• Member — Committee on Subordinate Legislation
• Member — Committee on WAKF
• Member — Standing Committee on Defence

Brief about his political work:

• Led Student Movement under ABVP in various capacities (1969–1977)
• Organised Satyagraha against Emergency Rule and imprisoned (1975–1977)
• Elected Senate Member of Pune University for 12 years (1975–1987)
• National Secretary and General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (1984–1990)
• Full time worker of BJP since 1981
• State Secretary and Campaign Chief of Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra (1989–1995)
• Produced 6 videos and 10 audio films/music cassettes for party propaganda
• Spokesman, BJP Maharashtra (1994–1996 and 2002–2003)

Brief about his social work:

• Completed successfully GoI’s Watershed Development Project in Kolvan Valley of Mulshi Tehsil of Pune District. (1996–2000)
• Worked in tribal area of Thane District for revival of a Development Project,launched by Bank of Maharashtra. (1978–1980)

Other Facts about Mr Javadekar:

• Worked with Bank of Maharashtra for 10 years (1971–1981)
• Worked in Rural Development Department, Sick Unit Cell, Employment Promotion Programme of the Bank of Maharashtra

Mr Javadekar's achievements:

• Sir Purshottam Das Thakur Memorial National Award, for research Paper on "Rural Development and Banks’ Role in Coordinated Approach".
• Led delegation to Boston to Negotiate Media Lab Asia Project (2000)

Social Media Handles : Twitter: @PrakashJavdekar, Facebook:@PrakashJavadekarOfficial, Instagram: prakash.javadekarofficial, Youtube: Prakashjavadekar, 

website  : www.prakashjavadekar.com

Dr. K S Jayachandran
Member Secretary,
Delhi Pollution Control Committee

A member of the Indian Forest Service (IFS) 2006  batch and holds a doctorate degree in Post Harvest technology from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi and a PG Diploma in Environmental Law from National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru.
Spent time as a forester in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh managing state forests, community forests and protected areas. Then served the Directorate of Forest Education, Government of India at Eastern Forest Rangers College, Kurseong near Darjeeling West Bengal and the Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFOS), Dehradun building capacities of forestry professionals and other stakeholders in managing forests, reforesting, devising livelihood enhancement strategies, mobilizing communities and building institutions for natural resource management. Became a master trainer, accredited by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Government of India in the domain of forestry.

Thereafter, as Deputy Secretary, Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India he managed the e Courts Project, which has been consistently amongst the top three Mission Mode projects of the country in terms of number of electronic transactions. Conferred the Gems of Digital India Award 2018 (institutional)  as well as the Digital India Award 2018 (institutional) for the e Courts Project which ICT enabled around 20,000 district and subordinate courts across the country.

Presently, he is working as Special Secretary (Environment & Forests), Govt. of NCT of Delhi as well as Member Secretary (Delhi Pollution Control Committee)

Ms. Nina Jensen
CEO,
REV Ocean

Ms Nina Jensen has a passion and commitment for the ocean and a proven track record of making a positive impact over a 20-year career. Inspired by witnessing threats to the ocean, she is now dedicated to ocean conservation and finding global sustainable solutions. As Secretary-General of WWF Norway, Nina was an active campaigner for defending the health of Norwegian waters and has fronted WWF's long-standing work of promoting robust marine protection laws. She was also an early advocate for the Norwegian Oil Fund to withdraw from coal and instead invest in renewable energy. Due to her tireless efforts as a prolific environmental crusader, she was appointed as a Young Global Leader in March 2014 by the World Economic Forum. Nina holds a Master’s degree in Marine Biology from the University of Fishery Science in Tromsø and has studied communications and marketing at Ogilvy& Mather. She is a Board member of The Business for Peace Foundation, Aker Offshore Wind, Aker Carbon Capture, The Norwegian Brain Tumor Association, The Plastic REVolution Foundation, The Center for the 4th Industrial Revolution Ocean and is a proud member of the Friends of Ocean Action, Advisor to the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and Jury member of the Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge.  Nina is born and raised in Oslo, she loves to dive, fish, ski, hike and loves the outdoors.

Mr. Rob Kaplan
Founder and CEO,
Circulate Capital

Rob is Founder and CEO of Circulate Capital, a Singapore-based impact investment management firm dedicated to financing companies, projects, and infrastructure that prevent the flow of plastic waste to the world’s ocean and advance the circular economy in South and South East Asia (SSEA).
With 60% of the plastic waste in the oceans originating from Asia, Rob packed up his entire family and moved to Singapore from the US to be closer to the core of the global ocean plastic crisis.
Rob currently sits on the Advisory Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership, and prior to founding Circulate Capital, Rob was the Co-Founder of and Senior Advisor to Closed Loop Partners, an innovative platform for impact investing, sustainability, and the circular economy focused in North America. He oversaw strategy and new business model development, as well as day-to-day operations. The Fund has deployed more than $40M into recycling and circular economy investment opportunities.
Rob also formerly served as the Director of Sustainability for Walmart Stores, Inc. where he was responsible for packaging, customer engagement and integration with the Consumables business, including personal care and household cleaning. Rob led Walmart’s cross-functional efforts to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas from the supply chain.
Before joining Walmart, Rob helped lead corporate responsibility and brand strategy for the Brown-Forman Corporation, which produces and markets spirit brands such as Jack Daniel’s. Rob developed marketing strategies to engage consumers, improve social and environmental performance and advance business objectives.

Mr. John F. Kerry
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate,
U.S Government

On January 20th 2021, Mr John Forbes Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate was sworn in as nation’s first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and the first-ever Principal to sit on the National Security Council entirely dedicated to climate change. President Biden announced Kerry would have a seat at every table around the world as he combats the climate crisis to meet the existential threat that we face. In recent years, Kerry was the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s first ever Visiting Distinguished Statesman, following his four years as the 68th United States Secretary of State. As America’s top diplomat, he guided the Department’s strategy on nuclear nonproliferation, combating radical extremism, and the threat of climate change. His tenure was marked by the successful negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Agreement.

From 1985 to 2013, he served as a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts, and was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2009 to 2013. Secretary Kerry served in the U.S. Navy, completing two combat tours of duty in Vietnam for which he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Boston College Law School. Secretary Kerry is the best-selling author of A Call to Service, This Moment on Earth with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, and his 2018 memoir, Every Day Is Extra, which The New York Times described as “a bittersweet reminder of what the country once demanded of its leaders.” Secretary Kerry was the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States in 2004. 

Mr. Iyad Kheirbek
Program Director,
C40 Cities

Mr Kheirbek is the Director of the Air Quality Program at C40 Cities, leading C40’s global air quality work. Prior to joining C40, Iyad worked on air quality, climate, and public health issues with the City of New York, most recently serving as the Executive Director of the Air Quality

Program at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  In the that role, Iyad was responsible for leading air quality monitoring, modeling, research, and policy analysis activities to support development and implementation of New York City’s air quality and climate agendas.  Prior to joining the New York City, Iyad worked as an environmental scientist for the non-profit NESCAUM, assisting States in the Northeastern US in developing air quality and climate programs

Mr. Uday Khemka
Vice Chairman,
SUN Group

Mr. Uday Khemka is Vice-Chairman of the SUN Group of Companies, a diversified family- owned, investment and industrial group headquartered in India with activities in varied emerging markets in new and renewable energy, electric mobility, natural resources, real estate, electronics/aerospace and private equity. Prior to the SUN Group, Uday worked at Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley in London and New York and then established and headed up Morgan Stanley's activities in India. Uday has been on the boards of all SUN Group companies and has been responsible for the establishment of the investment management activities of the group.
Today, Uday leads the New Energy activities of the Group which include renewable energy, energy storage and electric mobility energy infrastructure. His passion for New Energy led him to set up SUN New Energy Holdings, which today includes SUN Mobility (aiming to be a global leader in electric mobility energy infrastructure), in a partnership with Chetan Maini, as well as SUN Renewables, a joint-venture with ORIX Corporation, Japan’s largest solar company, with a joint aim of becoming India’s leading “Distributed Generation” solar company.
Uday is also a managing trustee of The Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, the first, and still one of the only, foundations in India to focus centrally on climate change mitigation, which it has done for 28 years, since COP1 in Rio in 1992. He was also previously the Co-Chair of the Clean Energy Finance Forum (CEFF) jointly established by Prime Minister Modi and President Obama to catalyse investment towards India's 175 GW clean energy target for 2022. Among other climate philanthropic endeavours, Uday resourced the entry of the Climate Group into India and has been on its board ever since. Uday’s key policy interests focus on large scale institutional climate finance (with respect to which he has been advising associations of sovereign and pension institutions since 2004), renewable energy policy and government policy to promote the electrification of transportation.
Uday’s philanthropic interests outside the field of climate change mitigation include his work as Co- founder of Just Giving (which became Europe’s leading online charity fundraising portal), his leadership of Youth Reach (focusing on street and slum children in India) and the Nabha Foundation (rural development in India).
Uday is on the Board of Governors of the Indian School of Business and the Public Health Foundation of India, the Board of Directors of the Synergos Institute in New York and the Board of Advisors of the Climate Group in India and has been elected a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He is also a member of HRH Prince’s Sustainable Markets Initiative and Senior Climate Advisor to the Institutional Investors Roundtable.
Educated at Eton College and Cambridge University, Uday received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).

Mr. Jasmeet Khurana
Manager, REmobility,
World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Mr Jasmeet manages the REmobility project at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. This work aims to accelerate business led adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy by bringing together the industry value chains, including corporate and customers, policy makers and other organizational partners.

Mr Jasmeet has a decade of experience in strategic consulting with a focus on renewable energy. He has received a professional certification on photovoltaics and energy storage from Stanford University and is a computer engineer by qualification.

Ms. Kathrin Kirsch
Enterprise Support Advisor,
SEED

Ms Kirsch has supported SEED since 2018 with the SEED Awards and the Practitioner Labs for Climate Finance. In her position as Research Analyst at SEED’s Hosting Partner adelphi research Kathrin focuses on social and environmental entrepreneurship and green finance.

Before joining adelphi, Kathrin gained experience at the United Nations Global Compact in the US, at an NGO in Colombia in a project for climate action and education, as well as at a strategy consultancy and at an auditing company in Germany.

She graduated with an MSc in Management and a focus on corporate social responsibility from the University of Mannheim. Her Master’s thesis explored the implications of connecting CSR and corporate values for CSR strategy implementation.

Ms. Karen Klimowski
Deputy Mission Director (A),
USAID

Karen Klimowski is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the U.S. Agency for International Development, has worked in international development for over 30 years in Asia, Pacific Islands, and Africa. She currently serves as the Acting Deputy Mission Director in New Delhi, India, assisting in overseeing programs in energy, environment, health, Tibet issues, education, and digital economy, among others.

Prior to assuming her current duties, Ms. Klimowski served as the Indo-Pacific Coordinator for South Asia in India where she provided strategic direction to advance USAID’s Indo-Pacific programs and build strategic partnerships across the region to achieve the U.S. government’s goal of a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific. She also served in the Philippines, Uganda, Kenya, and Indonesia, overseeing a number of presidential initiatives and programs in health; education; and conflict affected areas, cutting across multiple development sectors including economic growth, democracy and governance, and environment.

Ms. Klimowski began her U.S. government service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone and before joining USAID’s Foreign Service in 2005, Ms. Klimowski worked for the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Malawi; Zimbabwe; and Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to her U.S. government work, she worked for Orange County Health Care Agency in Santa Ana, California, and various non-governmental and academic institutions in California. A native of Santa Cruz, California, Karen received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physiology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master’s in Public Health degree from San Diego State University.

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

Mr Edwin Koekkoek is responsible for cooperation between the EU and India in the areas of Energy and Climate Action, including the implementation of the EU-India Clean Energy and Climate Partnership.

Prior to joining the EU Delegation, Edwin Koekkoek 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 European Parliament, during which he also worked in the Cabinet of the President, advising him inter alia on energy and climate change issues.

Edwin Koekkoek studied Environmental Sciences at the "Wageningen University & Research" in the Netherlands.

Mr. Jules Kortenhorst
Chief Executive Officer,
Rocky Mountain Institute

Jules Kortenhorst is a recognized leader on global energy issues and climate change. His background spans business, government, entrepreneurial, and nonprofit leadership.

Since 1982, RMI has advanced market-based solutions that transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous and secure future. An independent, nonprofit think-and-do tank, RMI engages with businesses, communities and institutions to accelerate and scale replicable solutions that drive the cost-effective shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables.

Prior to RMI, Jules was the founding CEO of the European Climate Foundation, the largest philanthropic organization dedicated to policy development and advocacy on climate change in Europe. Before launching ECF, he served as a member of the Dutch parliament for the Christian Democratic Party.

During the first 20 years of his career, Jules worked in the business world.  He was the CEO for International Operations of ClientLogic Corporation, a global leader in outsourced customer relationship management solutions.  He worked for almost 10 years for Royal Dutch / Shell, among others as managing director of Shell Bulgaria, and he began his career as an analyst at McKinsey & Co.

Jules currently serves on the Energy Transition Commission, and is the co-chair of the WEF Future Council on Energy. He is also a non-executive board member of the Energy Web Foundation and of Solidia Technologies Inc, and an advisory board member of Land Life Company.

Jules received his Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar), and his Masters in Economics from Erasmus University in the Netherlands. He is married to Searl Vetter and has four children.

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

Neeraj’s research at The Council 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.

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.

Prof. Archana Kumar
Associate Professor,
Lady Irwin College

Dr Archana Kumar teaches papers in Communication for Development, Gender, Sustainable Development, Research Methods and Programme Development & Evaluation. Her areas of interest include monitoring and evaluation of communication for social change programmes and initiatives. Currently she has been involved in projects related to the use of innovative participatory techniques for M&E of ICTD and Community Media initiatives.

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

Dr. Satish Kumar has led the transformation of the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy into a leading think tank and industry platform through a combination of programmatic and technical leadership, fundraising and collaboration since 2015.

He serves as a senior energy efficiency advisor/technical expert to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, NITI Aayog, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, and Department of Science and Technology (DST). Prior to AEEE, he was the Energy Efficiency Ambassador and led the Energy Management business at the Schneider Electric India, a Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Chief of Party for a USAID-supported bilateral energy efficiency technical assistance program (ECO-III) between US and India Government and has been a Co-founder of Efficiency Valuation Organisation (developer or IMPVP) and the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy.

He has a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University and Bachelor’s degree from IIT Roorkee), is a member on the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel’s Energy Efficiency Task Force under the Montreal Protocol), a LEED Fellow status from the US Green Building Council. 

Dr. Ashvini Kumar
Senior Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Dr. Ashvini Kumar is working at TERI as Senior Director, Renewable Energy Technology Applications since November 2017. He is leading the Division with wide ranging activities pertaining to policy, research, accelerated dissemination and capacity building in the area of renewable energy.  Prior to this, he has worked as Managing Director of SECI Ltd.  He is credited with turnaround of SECI and converting it into a commercial entity from a not-for-profit company.

He has worked for over 26 years in Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and dealt with various programmes in different capacities. He has been engaged with development and implementation of National Solar Mission (NSM) in the Ministry. He has been handling national programme on R&D in the Ministry and was coordinating Research Advisory Council set up under NSM. He is a member of Global Advisory Committee on Implementation of activities of International Solar Alliance.

Dr. Kumar obtained his Doctorate Degree in Solar Energy from IIT Delhi in 1981. He has co-authored three books published by International reputed publishers, several review articles and over 50 research papers in peer reviewed journals.  He has been editing SESI Journal for over 10 years.

Mr. S. Suresh Kumar
Additional Chief Secretary,
Department of Power, Government of West Bengal

Mr S. Suresh Kumar is Additional Chief Secretary in Department of Power, Government of West Bengal

Mr. Emani Kumar
Deputy Secretary General,
ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability

Emani Kumar is also the Executive Director of ICLEI South Asia since its founding in 2005. With degrees in Environmental Management, Environmental Planning and Civil Engineering, Emani has more than twenty five years of professional experience on issues related urban and industry environment; energy management; environmental policy; environmental and social management framework for financial institutions; design and implementation of various Management Systems such as ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems); BIS 18000 (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems) and SA 8000 (Social Accountability Management Systems).

Previously Mr. Kumar has worked with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and also with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). Apart from overseeing the organisation's strategic development, he also coordinates various multi-year & small scale projects and research work supported by various donor and UN agencies; State and National governments of India and Research Organizations.

In his role as ICLEI Deputy Secretary General, Emani Kumar works with all the offices in Asia-Pacific, to ensure cohesion in implementation of ICLEI’s pathways and spearhead advocacy activities in the region; he also supports the Secretary General in representing ICLEI at all international fora.

Mr. Amit Kumar
Senior Director, Social Transformation & Knowledge Management,
TERI

Mr. 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, 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 37 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 was 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 has also coordinated 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. M M Kutty
Chairman,
CAQM

Dr. M. M. Kutty is the Chairperson of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas. He superannuated from Government in 2020 after serving as Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.  He was a member of the Indian Administrative Service with about 35 years of administrative experience. He has held crucial positions in the Central Government, State Government and Union Territory Administrations including in the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. He has also worked as Chief Secretary to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Dr. Kutty has served as Chairman of Board / Member of Governing Council of many Companies, Academic Institutions and Autonomous Bodies. He was also Member, Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Forest Management and non-official Member of National Bio-Diversity Authority.

His international experience includes serving as Bureau Member and Vice President of Asia Pacific Region for ICCM-5, Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management, Director in the Board of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Beijing and New Development Bank, Shanghai as well as Member in the Board of Green Climate Fund, Songdo, South Korea.

Dr. Kutty holds M.A. in Rural Social Development from University of Reading, United Kingdom and M.Sc. & Ph.D. in Agriculture from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

Ms. Rachel Kyte
Dean,
The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Ms Kyte is a 2002 graduate of Fletcher’s Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP) and a professor of practice at the school since 2012, Kyte is the first woman to lead the nation’s oldest graduate-only school of international affairs, which attracts students from all corners of the globe and at all stages of their careers. 

Prior to joining Fletcher, Kyte served as special representative of the UN secretary-general and chief executive officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL). She previously was the World Bank Group vice president and special envoy for climate change, leading in the run-up to the Paris Agreement. She was also vice president at the International Finance Corporation responsible for ESG risk and business advisory services.

In her UN role and as CEO of SEforAll, a public-private platform created from an initiative of the UN and World Bank, Kyte led efforts to promote and finance clean, reliable and affordable energy as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She served as co-chair of UN Energy. 

In the 2020 New Year Honours, Rachel was appointed as CMG for her services to sustainable energy and combating climate change.

Kyte is a member of the UN secretary-general’s high level advisory group on climate action and an advisor to the UK government in its preparations of the climate talks in 2021 as a Friend of COP26. Kyte is chair of the Rwanda Green Fund, chair of the ESG committee of the board of the Private Infrastructuve Development Group. She serves on a number of not-for-profit boards, and advises private sector corporations in areas of climate, energy and finance.

A citizen of the UK, Kyte earned her undergraduate degree in history and politics from the University of London. Kyte is married to Dr. Ilyse Zable and they have two children.  

Prof. Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
Professor, Resource & Development Program, Crawford School of Public Policy,
Australian National University

Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt has over thirty-five years of work experience on gendered challenges of livelihoods in developing countries. In particular, she has researched the length and breadth of social and ecological aspects of resources, water resource management, gender and livelihoods in both large, industrial, and informal, artisanal and small-scale mines and quarries, and feminization of agriculture in rural communities in India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, and Mongolia. Her work has been used by both international and grassroots level development organizations. Currently, Kuntala is researching the potential gender impacts of coal sector transition.

More information about Kuntala can be gleaned from her staff page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/people/academic/kuntala-lahiri-dutt.

Ms. Dina Lanzi
Head - Technical Business Unit Hydrogen,
SNAM

In this role, Dina is responsible for Research and Development on Hydrogen, projects definition, prioritization and implementation.

Her areas of responsibility include the coordination of the activities to draw up the Regulation framework and standards on hydrogen.

With more than 20 years of experience in gas transmission, all matured within Snam group, Dina had responsibilities in many sectors of the gas value chain, both technical and institutional.  After a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, she started her career in a LNG plant and after that she experienced , both technical and institutional roles in pipeline maintenance management, metering, gas technical standards, and relationship with Regulatory body.

Mr. Ashok Lavasa
Vice-President,
Asian Development Bank

Prior to joining Asian Development Bank in September 2020, Mr. Lavasa was an Election Commissioner in India from January 2018 to August 2020, a constitutional position appointed by the President of India.

Mr. Lavasa served for nearly four decades with various government agencies in India including as Union Finance Secretary, Secretary Environment & Climate Change and Secretary Civil Aviation. He also served as Additional Secretary and Special Secretary for Power. As a senior member of the Indian Administrative Service, Mr. Lavasa was associated with a broad array of public policy and program implementation initiatives covering the finance, power, environment and climate change, civil aviation, infrastructure, and tourism sectors. He led the official Indian delegation for climate change negotiations for the Paris Agreement at COP21.

He is an author of a book titled An Uncivil Servant (Rupa: 2006) and has written several book chapters and academic papers covering climate change, economic policy, and energy. He completed M. Phil. from Madras University (India), MBA from Southern Cross University (Australia) and MA (English) from Delhi University (India).

Mr. Philippe Lienhart
Strategy Innovation New Business Manager EDF CIST and Team leader of OSOWOG Project for ISA,
EDF Electcité de France

Philippe Lienhart has a wide experience of over 39 years in the fields of electrical power System, Transmission and Markets as well as manager and expert.

He is Engineer graduate of French Ecole Centrale and has a Master of Management.

He worked 10 years in EDF Transmission Division for implementing Transmission O&M methods and equipment and was also project manager in construction of grid infrastructure.

He worked 10 years in EDF System Division realizing studies (Master Plans and infrastructure investment decisions) and managing real-time System Operation in Load Dispatch Center.

Since 1999 following the opening of the Electricity Market in Europe, he is responsible in EDF of technical and strategic management, among others: R&D and innovation management, adaptation of contractual relationship between the TSO’s and EDF business development.

International Consultant and Owner Engineer for many Clients (TSOs, Utilities, IPP, financial institutions, etc.) all over the world as in all aspects of Grid engineering: for Transmission infrastructures, System studies and Load dispatch centres including the integration of renewable power, interconnection studies, Network Codes and Regulation adaptation to market development.

Recently in Asia, he was the Team Leader of North East Asia Power System Interconnection (NAPSI) and is involved in Greater Mekong Subregion Interconnection.

Philippe Lienhart is also Fellow Expert for EDF Group, the CIGRE coordinator for EDF Group and Member of Technical Committee of VGB PowerTech and Senior Member of SEE.

Dr. Theresa Mundita Lim
Executive Director,
ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity

Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim leads the Centre in facilitating regional cooperation and coordination on biodiversity conservation for it to be sustainably managed and used, and equitably shared for the well-being of people. Some of her notable international roles in the conservation sector were as the Chair of the Convention on Biological Diversity Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (CBD-SBSTTA) from 2017 to 2018, Chair of the 15th and 18th Meetings of the ASEAN Working Group Meeting on Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME) in 2014 and 2017, Chairperson of the 4th ASEAN Experts Group (AEG) on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) Meeting in 2006, and Chairperson of the 16th ASEAN Working Group on Nature Conservation and Biodiversity (AWGNCB), also in 2006. Her core competencies and extensive experience and expertise are in local, regional, and international governance, management, policy development, implementation, and innovation, partnership-building, science and policy linkages, and advocacy in the fields of biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection.

Ms. Christine Lins
Executive Director,
GWNET - Global Women's Network for the Energy Transition

Christine Lins works as Executive Director of GWNET, the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition, which aims at empowering women in the sustainable energy sector, and. Furthermore, she is Member of the Board of Directors of ISES, the International Solar Energy Society.

From July 2011 until March 2018, Christine Lins acted as Executive Secretary of REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network of the 21st Century, headquartered at UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris/France.

Between 2001 and 2011, Ms. Lins served as Secretary General of the European Renewable Energy Council. Previously, she worked in a regional energy agency in Austria promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

Ms. Lins holds a Masters degree in international economics and applied languages. She has more than 25 years of working experience in the field of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.

Prof. Atmanand M A
Visiting Faculty,
Indian Institute of Technology

Dr.M.A.Atmanand has more than 3 decades of experience in field of ocean technology and retired as the Director of National Institute of Ocean Technology Chennai. He is presently a visitng Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He was elected as Chair of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Regional Committee for the Central Indian Ocean (IOCINDIO) of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.He is member of the Executive Planning Group for preparation of UN Decade of Ocean Science for sustainable development (2012-2030) of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

He has done pioneering work in the area of deep sea technologies in India. He led a team of Engineers for the design and development of underwater crawler for deep sea operation. He and his team developed the in-situ soil tester which was tested at a depth of 5200 m in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. Dr. Atmanand has taken this challenge further to design and implement a work class Remotely Operable Vehicle (ROV) that can be used for assisting the mining operations, gas hydrates site for validation of presence of methane, pipeline inspection etc. This was later tested at a depth of 5289 m water depth. It was under his supervision that India's first Polar under water mooring observatory and Polar Remotely Operable Vehicle (PROV) was developed and tested. The mooring was established at Kongsfjorden in Arctic region. The Polar ROV was tested successfully at the Priyadarshini lake at Antarctica. He has also guided various indigenization programmes for Ocean observation and under water systems. 

Dr.M.A.Atmanand has published more than 146 papers including International Journals, International conferences, Book chapter, National Conference and others.He has delivered more than 300 invited lectures in conferences. He is Chair of IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Technology committee on Cables and Connectors. He is the founder Chair of IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society in India.

Mr. Ajai Malhotra
Distinguished Fellow & Senior Adviser (Climate Change),
The Energy & Resources Institute

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 Vice Chairman and Member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council, Geneva; Chairman & Managing Trustee of CHIKITSA, an NGO providing free primary health care; 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. He also served as an Independent Director of ONGC and ONGC Videsh from 2015-2019.

Mr. Christophe Manet
Charge d'affaires a.i.,
Delegation of the European Union to India

Christophe Manet was previously the deputy head of Division of the China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Mongolia Division at the European External Action Service. After joining the EEAS in 2007, he also served in the United States-Canada Division in Brussels, where he helped to negotiate a Strategic Partnership Agreement. Prior to joining the EEAS, he served in the European Commission. During this time, he held several positions, particularly within DG Commerce. He has also worked as a negotiator for GATS and bilateral trade agreements between Europe, Mercosur, Chile, and Mexico. Additionally, he worked as a trade Counsellor and head of the trade and agriculture section of the European Delegation to Argentina. Between 2004 and 2007, he was also one of the negotiators in Brussels of the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement. After studying at IEP Lyon and at the European Business School in London, Christophe Manet graduated with a Master's degree in European affairs from the European College of Bruges in 1992.

Dr. Ajay Mathur
Director General,
TERI

Dr Mathur is the Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, and a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. He earlier headed the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency, and was responsible for mainstreaming energy efficiency through initiatives such as the Star Labeling programme for appliances, the Energy Conservation Building Code, and the Perform, Achieve & Trade programme for energy-intensive industries. He was a leading climate change negotiator, and was the Indian spokesperson at the Paris climate negotiations. He served as the interim Director of the Green Climate Fund during its foundational period.

At TERI, he has spearheaded the move to accelerate action towards a low-carbon and cleaner economy through the adoption of renewable energy in the Indian electricity sector, enhancing efficiency in buildings and industry, and promoting environmental quality through recycling of material wastes and biotechnology-based solutions.

He co-chairs the global Energy Transitions Commission; and is also co-chair of one of the climate initiatives of the One Planet Summit.

Dr Mathur received a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the (then) University of Roorkee, and Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois.  He has also received the Distinguished Alumnus Awards from both his alma maters.

He was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Merite by the President of France in recognition of his outstanding commitment to the preservation of the environment and coping with energy-related challenges.

Dr. Ajay Mathur
Director-General,
TERI

Dr Mathur is the Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, and a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. He earlier headed the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency, and was responsible for mainstreaming energy efficiency through initiatives such as the Star Labeling programme for appliances, the Energy Conservation Building Code, and the Perform, Achieve & Trade programme for energy-intensive industries. He was a leading climate change negotiator, and was the Indian spokesperson at the Paris climate negotiations. He served as the interim Director of the Green Climate Fund during its foundational period.

At TERI, he has spearheaded the move to accelerate action towards a low-carbon and cleaner economy through the adoption of renewable energy in the Indian electricity sector, enhancing efficiency in buildings and industry, and promoting environmental quality through recycling of material wastes and biotechnology-based solutions.

He co-chairs the global Energy Transitions Commission; and is also co-chair of one of the climate initiatives of the One Planet Summit.

Dr Mathur received a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the (then) University of Roorkee, and Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois.  He has also received the Distinguished Alumnus Awards from both his alma maters.

He was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Merite by the President of France in recognition of his outstanding commitment to the preservation of the environment and coping with energy-related challenges.

Dr. Ritu Mathur
Director and Senior Fellow,
TERI

Dr Ritu Mathur leads the Integrated Assessment & Modelling work at The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) and is also associated with TERI School of Advanced Studies as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Energy and Environment.  She is an economist by training, with a PhD in Energy Science from Kyoto University, Japan. 

Dr Ritu Mathur has been working in the fields of sustainable development, energy security, mitigation & climate change for more than 2 decades. She has been associated with the IPCC process as Lead Author and reviewer across various reports and is part of the global network of Integrated Assessment Modellers contributing to scenario building and mitigation related modelling using rigorous and robust global and national level models & frameworks to deliver outputs that contribute to scientific assessments and literature. 

At the country level, some of her main contributions have been towards providing policy inputs for the formulation of India’s NDCs, the National Action Plan on Climate Change, and various national energy plans. Over the last few years, her work has focused on examining energy efficiency prospects across sectors and studying possibilities of clean power generation and decarbonisation till 2050. 

Dr. Vinod Mathur
Chairperson,
National Biodiversity Authority

After serving for 33 years at the prestigious Wildlife Institute of India including as the Dean (2005 – 2014) and subsequently as the Director (2014 – 2019) Dr. Vinod B. Mathur was appointed by the Government of India as the 11th Chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) on 1st September, 2019. The NBA is a statutory body of the Government of India for providing advisory and regulatory services on all matters relating to biodiversity conservation and management.

Dr. Mathur joined the Indian Forest Service (IFS) and topped the 1983 – 85 IFS Professional Course at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun and also the XLV Foundational Course at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in 1985. He obtained his doctorate degree from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom 1991. He is the Regional Vice-Chair of the IUCN-World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA-South Asia) and Member of the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA).

Dr Mathur has been actively contributing on research-policy interface issues and has been the Regional Vice-Chair (Asia-Pacific Region) of United Nations Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (UN-IPBES) Multi-disciplinary Expert Panel (MEP) (2014-2018). He is currently the UN-IPBES Bureau Member (2019-2022) and also the UN – CBD Bureau Member (2019 – 2021). He is Co-chair of the IPBES Task Force on Policy Support Tools and Methodologies and Member of the IPBES Task Force on Capacity Building. He has also been the Chair of the UN-CBD Informal Advisory Group for developing synergies between seven biodiversity-related conventions.

Ms. Anshika Maurya
Student,
City Montessori School, Aliganj

Anshika Maurya is 12 years old and studies in grade 7th in City Montessori School, Aliganj Campus 1. Her hobbies inclue dancing, painting and reading. 

Mr. Jayant Moreshver Mauskar
Advisor,
Observer Research Foundation (ORF)

Mr J M Mauskar is a former Indian civil servant, who worked in key Ministries during economic liberalisation beginning 1991. His last stint was in the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests from 2006-2012, where his work related to climate change, impact assessment and  pollution control and the related treaties like UNFCCC and Montreal Protocol. At present, he is Advisor in ORF, an eminent Indian Think Tank.

Mr. Gavin McGillivray
Development Director,
British High Commission

Development Director, British High Commission 

Ms. Katie McGinty
VP & Chief Sustainability, Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer,
JCI

Kathleen “Katie” McGinty has over 25 years of public and private sector experience. A recognized innovator in clean energy and environmental protection, Ms. McGinty champions technology development, sustainability, and creative policies to solve tough environmental problems. Her public sector career includes serving as Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and as Deputy Assistant to the President (1993-1998), as Pennsylvania Secretary of Environmental Protection (2003-2008), and as Chair of the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (2004-2008).
Ms McGinty currently serves on the boards of the Alliance to Save Energy, the Carnegie Mellon Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, the Delaware River Port Authority, the Energy Futures Initiative, and FSEP, LLP. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from St. Joseph's University and a law degree from Columbia University. She also served as a Senior Visiting Fellow at TERI in New Delhi, India and is the proud recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including honorary doctorates from Muhlenberg University, Dickinson College, and Clarion State University. She is the Woman of Conservation Lifetime Achievement Awardee of PennFuture, "Global Leader for Tomorrow" (World Economic Forum), "Business Leader of the Year" (Woman's Network for a Sustainable Future), the "Ansel Adams Award" of the National Wildlife Federation, and "Woman of the Year" (Women's Council on Energy and the Environment).

Ms. Taru Mehta
Fellow & Area Convenor,
TERI

Ms Mehta is an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) practitioner with more than 13 years of professional experience. She has her forte in programme management, capacity building and training programmes in the field for school and college students both urban and rural in the age bracket of 10 – 35 years. She has been instrumental in developing training modules on environment and sustainability, children's workbook on waste management, IEC material and online MOOCs to reach out to the target group in domains of waste, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), climate change and energy. In TERI she has worked on several capacity building programmes, few noteworthy programmes are Project SEARCH- A TERI – Tetra Pak Initiative on waste management, Project Facilitating Learning on WASH (FLOW): A Bharti Infratel & TERI initiative and Strengthening water and sanitation in urban settings: A TERI – USAID programme. She is a lead author of two case studies on Project FLOW and Project SEARCH in a publication titled, “Multi-stakeholder approaches to Education for Sustainable Development in local communities- Towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia” jointly published by UNU-IAS and UNESCO Bangkok. Additionally she has also contributed to Environment Education Unit for the course Fundamentals of Environmental Science and Ecology for M.Sc. (Environmental Science) Programme of IGNOU.

She represents TERI at UNESCO’s Global Action Programme and is passionate about path breaking education and communication practices. She is a management professional from Institute of Rural Management and prior to TERI she has worked in Development Alternatives.

Mr. Bhadresh Mehta
Director - SLDC,
Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd

Mr Mehta is‌ ‌overall‌ ‌in‌ ‌charge‌ ‌of‌ ‌efficient‌ ‌and‌ ‌secure‌ ‌Power‌ ‌System‌ ‌Operation‌ ‌and‌ ‌Control‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌state‌ ‌of‌ ‌Odisha‌ ‌as‌ ‌Chief‌ ‌Load‌ ‌Despatcher‌ ‌and‌ ‌Director‌ ‌(SLDC).‌ ‌He‌ ‌is‌ ‌actively‌ ‌involved‌ ‌in‌ ‌Renewable‌ ‌Energy‌ ‌integration,‌ ‌System‌ ‌stability,‌ ‌electricity‌ ‌market‌ ‌economics,‌ ‌Open‌ ‌access‌ ‌,‌ ‌energy‌ ‌efficiency‌ ‌&‌ ‌smart‌ ‌grid‌ ‌for‌ ‌power‌ ‌system‌ ‌operation‌ ‌and‌ ‌has‌ ‌also‌ ‌played‌ ‌key‌ ‌role‌ ‌in‌ ‌implementation‌ ‌of‌ ‌Supervisory‌ ‌Control‌ ‌and‌ ‌Data‌ ‌Acquisition‌ ‌(SCADA)‌ ‌/‌ ‌Phasor‌ ‌Measurement‌ ‌Unit‌ ‌(PMU)‌ ‌/‌ ‌Wide‌ ‌Area‌ ‌Monitoring‌ ‌System‌ ‌(WAMs)‌ ‌/‌ ‌Renewable‌ ‌Energy‌ ‌(RE)‌ ‌forecasting‌ ‌solutions.‌ ‌He‌ ‌has‌ ‌also‌ ‌worked‌ ‌as‌ ‌Chief‌ ‌engineer‌ ‌SLDC‌ ‌Gujarat‌ ‌for‌ ‌a‌ ‌long‌ ‌period‌ ‌and‌ ‌represented‌ at‌ ‌various‌ ‌forums‌ ‌and‌ ‌presented‌ ‌many‌ ‌papers‌ ‌at‌ ‌national‌ ‌and‌ ‌international‌ ‌level‌ ‌seminars.‌ He has visited many international power / Energy establishment including CAL-ISO, HydroQubec SCC, Solana Solar Thermal project- AZ, AEMO MLB. ‌He‌ ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌graduate‌ ‌engineer‌ ‌in‌ ‌electrical‌ ‌&‌ ‌electronics‌ ‌with‌ ‌a‌ ‌Master‌ ‌degree‌ ‌in‌ ‌engineering‌ ‌with‌ ‌specialization‌ ‌in‌ ‌computers ‌systems‌ ‌&‌ ‌technology‌ ‌and‌ ‌at‌ ‌present‌ ‌heading‌ ‌SLDC,‌ ‌Telecommunication‌ ‌and‌ ‌IT‌ ‌of‌ ‌Odisha‌ ‌Transco as a Director.‌ He ‌has‌ ‌been‌ ‌associated‌ ‌with‌ ‌the‌ ‌Power‌ ‌Sector‌ ‌for‌ ‌more‌ ‌than‌  36Years.

Dr. María Mendiluce
CEO,
We Mean Business coalition

María Mendiluce was appointed as CEO of the We Mean Business coalition in 2020, at the start of a critical decade for climate action.  The We Mean Business coalition brings together seven international organizations: BSR, B-team, CDP, Ceres, CLG Europe, The Climate Group and WBCSD, which together catalyze business leadership and policy ambition to accelerate the transition to a zero carbon economy.

María will use her 25 years experience in sustainable development, energy and climate action to deliver an ambitious five-year strategy. This includes mainstreaming climate action across all businesses, both large and small, and advocating for climate policies to accelerate the green recovery and deliver an inclusive transition to net zero emissions before 2050.

Formerly Managing Director at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) covering Climate & Energy, Circular Economy, and Cities & Mobility, María played a pivotal role in guiding over 200 member companies to take transformative action on climate policy, energy transition, plastic waste and urban mobility. She has also held senior positions at the Economic Bureau of the Spanish Prime Minister, in the CEO’s Office at Iberdrola and at the International Energy Agency.

Throughout her career María has a track record of establishing transformative projects. These include the Alliance to End Plastic Waste which pledged $1.5 billion to address plastic leakage to the environment; the Transforming Urban Mobility project to drive clean, safe and efficient mobility for all and WBCSD's flagship Low Carbon Technology Partnership initiative which was recognised as a key contributor to the Paris Agreement. She has also focused on working to achieve greater representation of women in leadership roles through the Leading Women Awards and the LEAP education project.

María is a board member of the Science Based Targets initiative, a Commissioner on the Energy Transition Commission, a Co-Chair of UNEP's Global Environment Outlook for Business Advisory Board, a board member of the Centre for International Environmental Studies (CIES) in Geneva, and a member of the BMW Mobility Council and the Telefonica Sustainability Advisory Board.

She has a PhD in energy economics, regularly teaches at universities and publishes in academic journals and media.

Dr. Nisha Mendiratta
Scientist G,
Department of Science & Technology

Dr. Nisha Mendiratta has more than thirty years of experience in the research and applied fields of Science. She graduated in Physics from Delhi University in 1987  & did her Post Graduation in Agricultural Physics from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi in 1989 . She did her Ph.D in Agricultural Chemistry. She is the recipient of the meritorious PG fellowships in post-graduate and doctoral level at IARI where she was acquired second position in All India Level competitive entrance examination.  She has also acquired specialization by undertaking  a Post- Graduate diploma course ( ten months) in “Satellite Remote Sensing and GIS” for the application of agriculture & soils at the  Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Department of Space (DoS), Dehradun.

She started her professional career in 1990 as Scientist at  National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) , Hyderabad in Department of Space (DoS). She carried out core research in the field of microwave remote sensing applications for soil moisture estimation. She then Joined IIRS, Dehradun as their faculty in 1991 and carried out intensive research in crop characterization using satellite data. She joined the NCMRWF Programme , currently under Ministry of Earth Sciences,  as Senior Scientific Officer during 1992  and worked for medium range weather forecasting and crop weather modeling.

In 1998, she joined NRDMS (Natural Resources Data Management System) programme of  DST as Scientist and worked in the specialized domain of natural resources management. Presently , she is working for the  Climate Change Programme(CCP) of DST which is responsible to implement the two national missions on climate change under National Action Plan on Climate Change launched by the Prime Minister of India. She also led the Science Communication programme of DST.

She has been representing the department in the international platform at Conference of Parties (CoP) conduted by UNFCCC since 2015 and organizing special technical events on Climate Change which is attended by more than 190 countries.She has hosted specialized sessions on DST’s national mission at Paris, Morocco, Katowice, Poland and Bonn, Germany.She also led a delegation under Indo-US bilateral programme organized on STEM Education at Phoenix,USA.

She  has several  research papers / articles to her credit which were either published or presented in various national and international forums and has also edited and  co-authored two books published by TERI Press and several integrated technical documents and reports on the scientific programmes implemented by her . She is serving as member in many national and international committees and task forces and also is an identified resource person in leading organisations viz. UPSC, IIPA, TERI, ASCI, etc.

Ms. Geeta Menon
Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Ms. Geeta Menon belongs to the 1992 batch of the Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA&AS). She joined Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in December, 2018 as Joint Secretary.   Ms. Menon is presently looking after the work of Impact Assessment, Hazardous Substances Management, Montreal Protocol, Ozone Cell, India Cooling Action Plan, etc. Prior to this, she was working as Principal Director of Audit, North-Western Railway, Jaipur. 

Dr. Gokce Mete
Evidence Lead, Leadership Group for the Industry Transition,
Stockholm Environment Institute

Dr Gokce Mete is a research professional with a decade of regulatory analysis, project development and stakeholder management experience focused on energy and industry transitions. She is also the honorary Head of Research and Academic Engagement of the “Women in Energy, Climate and Sustainability Foundation” and Founding Member of the Women in Green Hydrogen.

Dr Mete is author of over 20 publications. Recent book: The Energy Transitions and Future of Gas in the EU: Subsidise or Decarbonise? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)

Mr. Rajiv Mishra
Managing Director,
CLP INDIA PVT LTD

Mr Mishra holds a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering (first class distinction) from BIT, Sindri and an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, and is an Advanced Management Program Graduate from the Harvard Business School, Boston.

Mr Mishra is responsible for running CLP's business in India.  He joined the CLP Group in 2002 and has over 20 years’ of experience in the power industry, both in India and internationally, mostly involved in project financing, investment appraisal, finance and accounting and general management.

Mr Mishra is a Director of various subsidiary companies** of the CLP Group. Mr Mishra is the Chairman of Association of Power Producers (APP) and is the Co-Chairman for the CII National Committee on Power.  Through these, he plays an active role in making representations on issues concerning companies in the Power Sector in India.

Before assuming the role of Managing Director of CLP India Private Ltd., Rajiv has held a variety of senior positions in the Power Industry viz.  Deputy Managing Director/Chief Financial Officer of BLCP Power in Thailand, Finance Director of PowerGen India and Finance Director of LG Energy in Seoul, South Korea.

Mr. Sanjay Mitra
Distinguished Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Mr Sanjay Mitra is a retired 1982 batch of Indian Administrative Service officer of West Bengal cadre.  Currently he is Distinguished Fellow at TERI in the area of Centre for Sustainable Mobility. Mr Mitra had several senior position such as Secretary Road Transport and Highways, Chief Secretary, West Bengal.  He has retired as Defence Secretary, Government of India in 2019. He has extensive exposure to issues in housing, water supply and infrastructure.  Mr Mitra is keenly interested in issues pertaining to the energy and the renewables sector. 

Mr. Vineet Mittal
Chairman,
AVAADA GROUP

A social entrepreneur, pioneer and evangelist of sustainable development, Vineet has been a vanguard of the clean energy transition in emerging economies across Asia and Africa. His passion for sustainability originates from the ancient Indian Vedic philosophy of ‘Mata bhoomi putro aham prithiwaya” - The Earth is to be protected like a mother and nurtured for future generations.

Avaada is a culmination of his vision of conducting business for higher purpose. Vineet’s socially beneficial public policy campaigns like Community Development Certificate (CDC) and Grow Forest Mechanism (GFM) are very well-received. In line with SDGs he has launched humanitarian programs aimed towards women empowerment, quality education, and healthcare and environment protection in rural environs.

An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Vineet has successfully executed over 2GW of renewable energy projects and is implementing 5GW projects. Avaada has played a major role in helping shape renewable energy policies for emerging economies. He is on B20’s taskforce for financing growth and infrastructure and Energy, Resource Efficiency & Sustainability. He is the former India Chair of World Business Council of Sustainable Development (WBCSD)’s program on Renewables Low Carbon Technology platform. Vineet has been twice recognized as the ‘Solar Man of the Year’ in 2014 and 2012 for his significant contribution towards the solar industry.

Mr. R K Mittal
Chief General Manager, Sustainability Department,
GAIL (India) Limited

Rakesh Kumar Mittal is a 1984 Chemical Engineering graduate from a premier institute of Chemical Engineering HBTI Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh). Postgraduate MTech from IIT Kanpur in 1985 with the area of specialization Heat & Mass Transfer. His research work on "Studies on liquid entertainment in Gas / liquid contact on Boilers & reboilers was presented in International Conference on Heat & Mass Transfer held in SAN FRANCISCO USA in 1986 and research work was published in the International journal on in 1986.

Technocrat by profession, Mr. Mittal started his career from Gulf lndo Fertilisers, a gas-based fertilizer in November 1985. & Switched over to GAIL. a youngest Mffiliarraa Company in Nov. 1996, having Mega Gas based Petrochemical Complex in Pata. Ethane Cracker based on State of art Technology from Technip USA. (Erstwhile stone & wester Engineering Corporation US) Downstream Polymer Plant Swing Units from Univation US & NOVA Canada. Two HDPE Units from Mitsui, Japan & Co-monomer Butene-I Plant from M/s. Axens France.

Mr. Mittal has wide Experience in Erection, Commissioning, and Operation of Ammonia / Urea Complex Erection, commissioning & operation of Gas Cracker Petrochemical Complex with an outstanding contribution towards sustainability, environment protection & energy efficiency. Recently completed 35 years in Process Chemical Industry and now like to be associated with Educational Institutes like HBTI Kanpur, IIT Kanpur, MNI Jaipur for creating a platform for Industrial Academic Interaction for sharing of knowledge.

Currently, Mr. Mittal is leading the Corporate Sustainability Department at GAIL (India) Limited.

Ms. Amina Mohammed
Deputy Secretary-General,
United Nations

Before becoming United Nations Deputy Secretary-General in early 2017, Amina J. Mohammed was the Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Prior to this, she supported the UN Secretary-General as Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning where she was instrumental in bringing about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 
Amina J. Mohammed has held several high level responsibilities, including working with 3 successive Presidents in Nigeria as Senior Special Assistant on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), coordinating poverty reduction interventions with debt relief gains of $1bn per annum. 
Some awards include: the distinguished Order of the Federal Republic (OFR); 2017 Diplomat of the Year by Foreign Policy magazine; Apolitical 2019’s 100 Most Influential People on Gender Policy; and Africa Report’s 2019100 Most Influential Africans. She was also profiled by Vogue as one of the 13 female Climate Warriors on the frontline, Fortune named her amongst the World’s Greatest Female Leaders and she is also listed in the Nigerian Women’s Hall of Fame. 

Mr. Wera Mori
Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change,
Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change

Mr Wera Mori has been re-elected to the 10th National Parliament for the Chuave Open seat as a People's National Congress Party Candidate in the 2017 General Elections. Currently, affiliated with the PANGU Pati. Appointed Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change following a cabinet reshuffle on 8/11/19, 2nd term in this Parliament.

He was first elected to the 9th National Parliament for the Chuave Open Electorate seat in the 2012 General Elections as a Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party candidate. Appointed Vice Minister for Mining from August 2012. Appointed Minister for Commerce and Industry following the formation of O'neil-Abel Cabinet on the 02/08/2017 to June 2019. Appointed Minister for Commerce & Industry in the Marape-Steven Government on 07/06/19-07/11/19.

Biography:

Primary Education: Completed Primary Education from Bawi Primary School in 1969.

Secondary Education: Completed High Secondary Education from Port Moresby Secondary School in 1974.

Tertiary Education: Completed Tertiary Education from the University of Papua New Guinea in 1985.

Achievements: Holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Geology from the University of Papua New Guinea. A Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Work:

Mr Mori has worked in the Mining Industry for more than 36 years in various capacities from exploration geologist to managerial capacity in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. He has always been involved in Politics since school days and ran for the Simbu Regional Seat while a student at University. 

Last Occupation Prior to Elections:

Managing Director of Mori Resources (2009-2012), providing Consultancy Services to the National Department of Works and Infrastructure on Road Corridor Mapping before entering parliament in 2012.

Mr. Michel Mouchiroud
Coordinator,
European Union - Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) for Asia and Pacific

Michel Mouchiroud is Deputy Head of the Regional Team of the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments for Asia and Pacific and Coordinator of EU partnership actions on global issues, including EU urban cooperation towards sustainable development of cities. Previously Mr. Mouchiroud served the EU in Africa and South America covering issues ranging from regional innovation to conflict issues. He holds a B.A. from University College London (UK) in European Political Science and a M.A. from Universidad Pontificia of Salamanca (Spain) in Political Science and Human Rights.

Mr. Atul Mudaliar
Head of Business Actions, India,
Climate Group

Mr Atul is responsible for India’s strategy to drive powerful networks of Businesses to take ambitious climate commitments and action on Renewables, Energy Efficiency, and Electric Mobility. With over nine years of experience in Sustainability, Atul spent a large part of his initial career with Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, a prominent not-for-profit organization, shaping India’s Rural Electrification policies. Atul is a graduate (MS) from Carnegie Mellon University in Energy Science, Technology, and Policy with a concentration in Mechanical Engineering, and is a Certified Energy Manager.

Ms. Debashree Mukherjee
Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Jal Shakti

Debashree Mukherjee is an Indian Civil Servant who has worked in various positions in Government of India, at the Central level as well as in State Governments. She has a Masters Degree in Linguistics and English, and another Master's degree in Water and Environmental Management.

She has worked in the administrations of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, the coastal State of Goa and in the north eastern, hill state of Arunachal Pradesh. During her various assignments in Government, she has specialized in Urban Governance and Management of Water and Sanitation Services.  In Goa, she was head of the Public Health as well as the Water and Sanitation delivery units. In the National Capital Territory of Delhi, she worked as the Chief Executive Officer of the Delhi Jal Board, a Utility providing water and waste water management services to about 16 million people in the city of Delhi.  She has also been Chairperson of the Delhi Transport Corporation, the company running buses in Delhi. She has been Advisor on Urban issues in DFID India, working on urban infrastructure, governance and vulnerability.

She has worked as Joint secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister of India. She worked on the areas of Public Health and Nutrition, Rural and Urban Development, Housing and Poverty Alleviation, Water Resources, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Social Justice and Inclusion. Her remit was to support the Prime Minister to set priorities in these sectors, facilitate quick and appropriate decision making, ensure that issues of co-ordination among various ministries and other actors are identified and sorted out early and monitor implementation of important government programmes.  She has worked on the design and implementation of transformational programmes, such as the Swachh Bharat initiative to eliminate open defecation in the country and POSHAN, the National Nutrition Mission to reduce malnutrition.

At present, she is Additional Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, working on a range of issues related to water management.

Mr. Arupendra Nath Mullick
Vice President, TERI Council for Business Sustainability,
The Energy & Resources Institute

With 17 years of professional experience, Arupendra Nath Mullick provides executive leadership in TERI towards articulating the business case of sustainability and climate actions for a network of Indian companies. Mr Mullick leads inter-disciplinary research teams to undertake varied initiatives pertaining to SDGs, corporate social responsibility and climate change for Indian businesses. As the Vice-President of TERI Council for Business Sustainability, Mr Mullick steers CXO level engagements to internalize the agenda of sustainable development in business practices. His role extends beyond project management and includes knowledge sharing, networking and communications.

Mr Mullick aides preparation of sustainability roadmaps and sustainability reporting, conforming to GRI 2016 Standards, SASB Standards. He organizes and delivers regular training sessions for senior and mid-level executives in the corporate sector on sustainability, with special focus on GHG management, climate financing and waste management. He has work experience in India, Kingdom of Bhutan, Bangladesh and South Asia region. Mr Mullick holds a MBA degree (Silver Medallist) with specialization on Environment Management and Advanced Certifications from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi and the World Bank Institute.

Ms. Rashmi Murali
Associate Fellow,
TERI

Ms Rashmi Murali has an experience in the fields of renewable energy, gender, water-energy-food nexus and eco-tourism. Rashmi’s key expertise lies in conducting primary and secondary research, field work, community engagement, qualitative analysis and documentation. She has also contributed to developing knowledge products and publications like journal papers, book chapters, and research reports among others. Her academic qualifications include Masters Degrees in Physics and Renewable Energy.

Dr. Tejaswi S. Naik
MD,
MP Jal Nigam Maryadit

Mr Tejaswi S. Naik, 2009-Batch officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre has been working as the Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Mayadit. Prior to this, he has held posts like Additional commissioner Directorate of Urban Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh, District Magistrate and Collector, Betul, Madhya Pradesh, Director Budget, Bhopal; Collector, Badhwani; Commissioner, Bhopal Municipal Corporation; Assistant Collector, Hoshangabad among others.

Prof. Nebojsa Nakicenovic
Emeritus professor and scholar,
IIASA and TU Wien

Professor Nakicenovic is the Executive Director of The World In 2050 (www.TWI2050.org) and one of the seven Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission. He was the Deputy and later Acting Director General of the International Institute for Applies Systems Analyses and was a tenured Professor of Energy Economics at Vienna Technology University.

Among other positions, Member of the Earth League, Earth Commission of the Global Commons Alliance, Multi-stakeholder Technical Group of Advisors on Sustainable Development Goal 7, Scientific Advisory Boards of the Potsdam Institute from Climate Impact Research, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Japanize Institute of Environmental Studies and of German Aerospace Center; Steering Committee of the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century; Member of OMV Advisory Group on Sustainability, Board Member of the Austrian Climate Change Center and Science, Technology and Innovation advisor to the government of Montenegro. He serves on Editorial Boards of ten peer-reviewed scientific.

Dr. Nakicenovic's research interests include the long-term patterns of technological change, economic development and response to climate change and, in particular, the evolution of energy, mobility, digital technologies. Dr. Nakicenovic holds bachelors and master’s degrees in economics and computer science from Princeton University and the University of Vienna, where he also completed his Ph.D. He also holds Honoris Causa Ph.D. degree in engineering from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Ms. Vaishali Nandan
Head of Projects,
GIZ GmbH

Mrs Vaishali Nandan has over 24 years of experience in issues related to urban planning, climate change and waste management. She has worked with the government at national, state and city level, private sector, NGOs and the Academia across 10 states in the country. She has several papers to her credit and has been a member of the expert committee for the preparation of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Manual 2016 and the expert committee for the ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.  

Mrs. Nandan holds a Masters degree in Geography from the Delhi School of Economics and has studied Urban & Regional Planning from the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad.

Ms. Jasmine Kaur Narang
Student,
Panjab University, Chandigarh

Jasmine is a curious empath and staunch believer of rights. As a young researcher, she believes in understanding and identifying solutions to the core issues that we as a society face today. Jasmine has recently graduated with a Masters’s in Biochemistry from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and is now pursuing a Diploma in Cognitive Sciences. Jasmine is passionate about people, philosophy, environment, and creativity.

Dr. Sujatha Narayan
Regional Vice President,
Wabtec Corporation India

As Regional Vice President, Dr Sujatha is responsible for the India region which includes India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.  In her close to 4 years as Managing Director of Transit business in India, she has led the company through a period of unprecedented profitable growth with a passionate focus on customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, compliance and employee satisfaction. In 2019, under her leadership, Wabtec Transit business was certified as a ‘Great Place to Work’ by Great Place To Work® Institute.  

In January 2021, Sujatha was featured among the Icons of India Inc “The Star List 2021” and recognized among the Top 50 CXOs in the Indian Manufacturing Industry. She was conferred the prestigious Honor for “Rail Analysis Woman of the Year 2019” during Rail India Summit 2019 and in 2020 Wabtec India was awarded the “Team of the Year” at 2020 summit.  She was recognized as a “Women Leader in Manufacturing 2019” by the Machinist magazine run by Times Group, a leading media house in India and was featured in the cover article where she talked about “What is driving Wabtec India growth story with the Railways”

During a distinguished career spanning over 2 decades, Dr. Narayan has worked in India for over 12 years and 9 years in the US. Prior to her current role, she was the General Manager & General Manager leading the Commercial Solutions Business at 3M India Limited. Prior to that, she headed the R&D for the Healthcare business and ran the New Product Development function for 3M India. In the US, Dr. Narayan worked for Rogers Corporation managing R&D & Commercialization of new products in the electronics, Industrial and Consumer markets.

Dr. Narayan holds a Masters & PhD in Polymer Science & Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and BTech Degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. She originally hails from Chennai, India.

Mr. Mohamed Nasheed
Speaker of the People's Majlis,
People's Majlis of the Republic of Maldives

Often dubbed the ‘Mandela of the Maldives’ Mohamed Nasheed was the Maldives’ first democratically elected president. He remains a figurehead for the promotion of human rights and democracy in Islamic countries, and an international icon for action against climate change. President Nasheed is currently Speaker of the People’s Majis (parliament), a position he was elected to in May 2019.

Ms. Shloka Nath
Head- Sustainability; Acting Director,
Tata Trusts; India Climate Collaborative

Shloka Nath currently leads the Sustainability and Policy & Advocacy portfolios at the Tata Trusts, one of India’s leading philanthropic foundations. As head of Sustainability, she is focused on the organization’s work on climate, energy and environment, implementing and funding sustainable and scalable solutions that help both people and nature thrive through India. As head of Policy and Advocacy, Shloka holds a critical responsibility in advancing the Trusts' key strategic and policy priorities for greater impact through strong relationships and external liaison with government, relevant industry organisations as well as close work with development sector leaders. She is the Executive Director of the India Climate Collaborative, an India-led platform founded in 2018 by a group of philanthropies interested in continuing to accelerate India’s development, while also exceeding its climate goals. Shloka is also the Vice President of the Bombay Natural History Society, one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. Prior to this, Shloka co-founded and was the Managing Partner of Sankhya Women Impact Funds, a gender lens fund with a focus on sustainability. Shloka is also an active angel investor in social enterprises and has mentored organizations across sectors. She has spent over a decade in journalism with the BBC in London, as a news anchor with New Delhi Television (NDTV) and Principal Correspondent with Forbes in Mumbai, with a special emphasis on financial inclusion, sustainability and public policy. In 2010, Shlokawas nominated for India's highest awards in journalism for her reportage on microfinance in India.  

Shloka has a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a BSc in Government from The London School of Economics and Political Science. She is also the author of the book, "Hidden India: Journey to Where the Wild Things Are" (April 2018), a compendium of photographs and writing about Indian wildlife and landscapes. 

Dr. Shailesh Nayak
Director,
National Institute of Advanced Studies

Dr. Shailesh Nayak is currently Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies and Distinguished Scientist in the Ministry of Earth Sciences. He was the Chair, Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO) and Secretary to the Government of India for Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), between August 2008-2015. He provided leadership for the programs related to science of climate change, weather services, polar science, geoscience, ocean science and modeling, ocean survey, resources, and technology.  He chaired an expert group and conceptualized to establish National GIS in the country. Dr Nayak is Chancellor, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi.

Dr. Nayak obtained Ph. D. degree in Geology from the M.S University of Baroda in 1980.  He joined the Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1978 as a scientist, and subsequently elevated as the Director of Marine and Water Resources. He was mainly responsible for conceptualizing, formulating and executing many national level projects related to application of satellite data on ocean colour, integrated coastal zone management, snow and glacier studies and water resources.

Dr. Nayak was appointed as the Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under ESSO, in May 2006. At ESSO-INCOIS, he set up a state-of-the-art Early Warning System for Tsunami and Storm Surges in the Indian Ocean. He was responsible for the conceptualisation and development of Marine GIS. He made outstanding contributions in improving advisory services related to potential fishing zones, ocean state forecast, and Indian Argo project.

Dr. Nayak is the Chair of the Vikram Sarabhai Centenary Celebration Committee set by ISRO, Research Advisory Committee of the CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, ESSO-National Antarctic and Ocean Research Centre, Goa, Defense Terrain Research Laboratory, Delhi and was the Chairman of the Research Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (2008-2015), Centre for Earth Science Studies (2007-2013). He has been member of many national committees related to earth science, coastal protection, mangrove, coral reef, and coastal zone management. 

He chaired the Empowered Committee on Restructuring of the Survey of India, DST, and Task Force for Implementation of Accepted Recommendations of the Empowered Committee of Survey of India (SOI as well as to Review the Issues related to the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2011 and Standardization of the Methodology for Demarcation of HTL and LTL.

 Dr. Nayak is Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru, the National Academy of Sciences, India, Allahabad, Indian National Science Academy, Delhi, the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), and Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics, Paris.  Dr Nayak is President, Indian Geophysical Union (IGU), Hyderabad (2020-2022); President, Mangrove Society of India (MSI), Goa. He has been awarded honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the Andhra University in 2011, by the Assam University in 2013, and by the Amity University in 2015.  Dr. Nayak is recipient of IGU - Hari Narain Lifetime Achievement Award in Geosciences-2013, the ISCA Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award 2012, the Bhaskara Award for 2009, the Indian National Remote Sensing Award for 1994 by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, and the National Mineral Award for the year 2005.  He is recognized as a Ph.D. Guide by six Universities, and eleven students have obtained Ph. D. under his supervision.

Dr. Nayak is the President, of the Federation of Indian Geoscientists Associations, the President, Indian Geophysical Union, Hyderabad, Indian Society of Remote Sensing and Indian Mangrove Society. He was the President of the 36th International Geological Congress, the Chair, Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), the Vice-Chair of the Inter-Governmental Coordinating Group on Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (ICG-IOTWS) (2007-2011); was the President of ISRS, Dehradun, Indian Meteorological Society (IMS), New Delhi, and the Indian Society of Geomatics (ISG), Ahmedabad; was the Chairman, Indian Ocean–Global Ocean Observing System (IO-GOOS) for the term 2006-10 and the Chairman, Indian Ocean Observing System Resources Forum (IRF) (2009-2013).  Dr. Nayak was the President, ISPRS Technical Commission (TC) IV on ‘Geo-databases and Digital Mapping’ for the term 2004-08. He has represented Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in the International Ocean Colour Coordinating Group and International Global Observation Strategy-Coastal theme. 

Dr. Nayak has published about 150 papers in International and National journals and deliver about 190 invited talks in national and international fora.

Mr. Narinder Nayar
Chairman,
Mumbai First

Mr. Narinder believes in the dictum “think local and act global“.  Despite his busy schedule as Founder and Chief Executive of Concast (India) and Director of several other companies, he still finds time to promote several other social and business initiatives. Narinder has been actively and passionately involved with the Mumbai Transformation Programme, spearheaded by the Hon’ble Chief Minister. As Chairman of Mumbai First, Narinder was instrumental in arranging a study together with McKinsey on how Mumbai could be transformed into a world-class city.  This report  led to a very close public private partnership with the State Government and formed the basis of “Vision Mumbai” document prepared by the government of Maharashtra and several infrastructure projects that are now being implemented are part of this report.   He has led a team of experts from Mumbai to Singapore for discussions with Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and to study the measures adopted in Singapore for long-term planning. Based on the Singapore experience, Narinder strongly advocated the need for a 40-year Vision document for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Currently, his focus is on environmental issues in the MMR, especially the consequence of Climate Change and seawater temperature rise.   With this in view, Mumbai First  organized a conference  "Climate Crisis: Action for Tropical Coastal Cities" that brought together experts from coastal cities around the world to share their  experience, knowledge, and best practices and suggest to the Maharashtra Government what proactive steps need to be taken in Mumbai.

Dr. Måns Nilsson
Executive Director,
Stockholm Environment Institute

Dr Nilsson holds an academic position as Professor of Practice at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). Key research interests include policy coherence, institutions and governance, transitions in energy-industry-transport sectors, and innovation policy. In recent years, he has been closely involved in the development and implementation of the 2030 Agenda at different levels, as an advisor to the UN, OECD, the European Commission and the Government of Sweden. Måns has slipped over 60 papers past unsuspecting editors of academic journals and has edited two books. He received his MSc in International Economics from University of Lund, Sweden, and his PhD degree in Policy Analysis from Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and serves on the Board of Directors of Blekinge Tekniska Högskola (BTH) and IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet AB.

Mr. Ken O'Flaherty
COP26 Regional Ambassador for Asia/ Pacific and South Asia,
UK Government

Ken O’Flaherty is the UK government’s COP26 Regional Ambassador for the Asia-Pacific region. He is working closely with governments, business and civil society across the region to boost climate action ahead of the COP26 Leaders’ Summit which will take place in Glasgow in November 2021. Ken has recently returned from a posting as Minister in Rome, and has experience in a number of Foreign Office Departments. He has previously served in the British embassy in Tokyo and Paris as well as the former UK Representation to the European Union. Ken has worked on a wide range of issues from climate change and energy to economic, EU cooperation, security, counter-terrorism and migration issues.

Dr. Saroj Pachauri
Distinguished Scholar,
Population Council

As a public health physician, Dr. Pachauri has been extensively engaged with research on family planning, maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV and AIDS, and poverty, gender and youth. In 1996, she joined as Regional Director, South and East Asia, Population Council and established its regional office in New Delhi which she managed until 2014. In 2011, she was awarded the prestigious title of Distinguished Scholar, an honor rarely bestowed.

She worked with the Ford Foundation’s New Delhi Office (1983-1994) and supported child survival, women’s health, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV and AIDS programs. She worked with the International Fertility Research Program (IFRP) which was later renamed Family Health International (1971-1975) and the India Fertility Research Programme (1975-1983). She designed and monitored multi-centric clinical trials globally to assess the safety and effectiveness of fertility control technologies. During 1962-1971, as faculty of the Departments of Preventive and Social Medicine at the Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi and the Institute of Medicine Sciences, Varanasi, she helped to develop this new discipline.

She has published 5 books and contributed chapters to 20 books. She has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and several articles in print media.

Ms. Neha Pahuja
Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Neha Pahuja is an international climate and energy policy expert with about 13 years of experience. Her work emphasises on bringing developing country perspective in a range of global governance issues. She has led many climate change and energy policy projects and programmes cutting across multiple sectors. She has designed and organised capacity building initiatives targeting variety of stakeholders. She is a Chevening Gurukul Fellow and attended Kings College London.

Ms. Alexandra Palt
Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer,
L'Oréal

A lawyer by training, Alexandra specialized in human rights. She began her career at a law firm and then worked for Amnesty International in Germany and at organizations specializing in diversity, change management and sustainability.

In 2012, she joined L’Oréal as Chief Sustainability Officer and launched L’Oréal’s first sustainability program, with a set of objectives to be achieved by the end of 2020.

In 2017, Alexandra was appointed Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, becoming the Executive Vice President of the Fondation L’Oréal in addition to her role as head of the Sustainability Department. She became a member of L’Oréal’s Executive Committee two years later. In June 2020, L’Oréal launched its new sustainability program for 2030, L’Oréal for the Future.

Mr. Shankar A Pande
Director,
Bankers Institute of Rural Development

Shankar A. Pande is an alumni of the prestigious Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi and a campus recruit to NABARD in 1986.. He has served NABARD and its subsidiaries for more than 34 years, including over 20 year in the Senior Management and over 06 years in Top Management positions.

At present, he is holding charge of Director, Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknow, the internationally acclaimed training institution in the development banking field. BIRD also hosts a Centre for Climate Change, promoted by NABARD.

Shri Shankar A Pande as Chief General Manager headed key Corporate Departments at NABARD Head Office Mumbai viz. Dept. of Economic Analysis and Research, Farm Sector policy and Climate Change Department, State Projects Departments and Business Initiative Department.

He has also headed two state offices of NABARD viz. J&K (as strategically important office) and Uttar Pradesh, the largest State Office (till date).

He also worked as Business Head (Africa) NABARD consultancy services (NABCONS), Nairobi, Kenya. His proactive initiative with Ministry of External Affairs resulted in GoI awarding an assignment to NABCONS for setting up of Agriculture and Rural Development Institute in Malawi, Africa. Due to his marketing initiative, NABCONS won International Consultancy Assignment with UNOPS and Development Bank of Ethiopia. He created brand image for NABCONS/NABARD amongst Governments, Central Banks, Agri. Finance/Micro Finance/ International agencies in Africa.

Earlier, Shri Pande was a Faculty member at BIRD (2000-2006). During his stint as Faculty Member at BIRD, he also carried out important assignments/studies for ILO, the World Bank, NABARD-GIZ, etc. on diverse subjects.

He has served as Director on the Board of National e- Repository Limited (NeRL), a subsidiary of NCDEX; NABARD consultancy services (NABCONS), Bihar Gramin Bank, Chandrapur – Gadchiroli Gramin Bank, Jammu & Kashmir State Finance Corporation and Banker Institute of Rural Development.

He has addressed key National and International events like Asia Pacific Financial Inclusion Summit; Indo Africa Cooperation in Agricultural Development at the Indo Africa business Forum, Nairobi, Kenya; Capacity Building in Micro Finance sector in India; Conference of Central Banks in Africa, Agrifinance Conference in Africa by USAID and GIZ; CoP-24, a Climate Change Conference in Poland, etc.

He has been a part of top decision making committees at NABARD level, besides various committees at State level. His article, ‘Reform Farm Loans – The Digital and Retail Way’ was published in the Financial Express. His interview has also been published in the Indian Express newspaper.

Dr. Suneel Pandey
Director,
TERI

Dr Suneel Pandey is Senior Fellow and Director, Environment & Waste Management Division, TERI. He also teaches at the TERI School of Advanced Studies. He is Ph. D. in hazardous waste characterization from Nagpur University and has more than 30 years of consultancy/ research experience in the areas of municipal, industrial and hospital waste management, waste-to-energy issues, impact assessment, air, water and soil quality monitoring, site assessments, performance evaluation of ETP and institutional strengthening and capacity building. He has obtained his Ph. D. degree in hazardous waste characterization from Nagpur University while working as Project Fellow at NEERI, Nagpur.

Mr. Banchhanidhi Pani Pani
Municipal Commissioner,
Surat

Mr.Banchhanidhi Pani is an Indian Administrative Services Officer (IAS) of 2005 Batch and belongs to Gujarat Cadre. Before joining Indian Administrative Services, he was an officer of 2004 Batch of Indian Police Services (IPS). He has diverse administrative experience and has rendered his services in Panchayat & Rural Development, Revenue and Urban Development sectors.

Government of Gujarat has recognized and awarded him as the Best District Development Officer (DDO) for the year 2012-13 for his services in the area of Rural Development and as the Best Collector for the year 2014-15 for his services in Sabarkantha in the area of Revenue Department. His efforts for Clean Sabarkatha has been registered under Guinness World Records where in total 2,41,402 number of participants participated in this mega exercise.

He has rendered his services as Municipal Commissioner of Rajkot from September 2016 to September 2019 and currently rendering his services as a Municipal Commissioner of Surat from September 2019.

He has been instrumental in driving various initiatives including Government of India’s Smart City Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission. The special efforts towards cleanliness has helped Rajkot secure 6th Rank and Surat secure 2nd Rank under Swach Survekshan by Government of India.

Mr. Harsh vardhan Pant
Consultant,
RAMA

Mr Pant is a Consultant with RAMA

Ms. Janhavi Parab
Deputy General Manager- Sustainability,
Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited

Ms Janhavi is a purpose driven sustainability expert having an experience in Climate responsive designs, landscape design, Environment Management, Climate change, Strategic projects/ Thought leadership initiatives, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and Community Development programs.

Ms parab is currently working with Mahindra Lifespaces, real estate arm of Mahindra Group,

• Developed first ever sustainability report as per Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Framework to make Mahindra Lifespaces the first real estate company in India to publish its sustainability Report in the year 2011-12.
• Played a pivotal role in setting up Thought Leadership Platforms such as Mahindra TERI Center of Excellence for Sustainable Habitat (CoE) and Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium (SHLC)
• Curated, Conceptualized and driving projects like the Green Army (with an objective of creating one million caring citizens) and Urbanscaping (transformation of public spaces) which are at a city level or Community level and trying to bring behavioural changes in the lifestyles of the citizens.

She has also been a part of 18 months journey of Women Leadership program at the Mahindra Group level, knowledge partners being S.P Jain school of Management studies to enable her to take a leap towards creating a pipeline of future leaders. Another recent accomplishment is that she has also undergone an online certification course in 'Sustainable Business Strategy' by Harvard Business School.

Mr. Sarabjeet Parmar
Executive Director,
National Maritime Foundation (NMF)

Captain Sarabjeet S Parmar is a serving Indian Naval Officer who has written and spoken extensively on maritime security and strategy issues at various national and international conferences. He was member of the XI Indian Antarctic Summer Expedition in 1991. He has been a Research Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and also worked in the Indian Navy’s strategic apex level offices where, as part of the core team published the Indian Navy’s unclassified maritime security strategy document titled Ensuring Secure Seas in 2015, and also carried out regional maritime assessments and completed the doctrine development plan. He is presently the Executive Director of the National Maritime Foundation and looks at maritime strategy and security related aspects in the Indo-Pacific, piracy, and international maritime law with a focus on lawfare.

Ms. Marilene Pavan
Researcher,
Lanzatech

Ms Pavan is currently working as Senior Scientist at LanzaTech Inc. She is a professional with 12+ years of experience in the fields of synthetic biology, metabolic engineering and biomanufacturing. Expertise also include: partnerships (prospection and management), people management and mentorship, fundraising, business development, writing of grants, patents, and scientific articles, project evaluation and management, budget management, scientific consulting, planning of scientific conferences, speaker. Currently a PhD Candidate at UNICAMP, Brazil, Bioenergy Program.
https://synbiobeta.com/here-are-the-stories-in-their-own-words-of-five-women-of-synthetic-biology/ 

Ms. Midori Paxton
Head - Ecosystems and Biodiversity,
United Nations Development Programme

Midori Paxton has been the UNDP Head of Ecosystem and Biodiversity Programme based in New York since 2016. She is responsible for a large portfolio of biodiversity projects, comprising approximately 300 projects in 130 countries.  These projects include support for strengthening protected area systems, biodiversity mainstreaming in landscape/seascape and development and sectoral planning, and for promoting nature based solutions for climate change mitigation/adaptation and for sustainable development.  She oversees a range of biodiversity finance initiatives including the Biodiversity Finance Initiative, Task for Nature-Related Financial Disclosure initiative, The Lion’s Share Initiative among others.  Previously, she worked as a Bangkok-based Regional Technical Adviser, providing policy and programming support for countries in Asia.  Between 2000 and 2010, she worked in Namibia; much of the time working under the Directorate of Parks and Wildlife Management, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, coordinating the project to strengthen the national protected area system. Midori holds a master’s degree in Environment and Development from University of Cambridge, and author of six books and hundreds of published photos and articles.

Mr. Kaustubh Phadke
General Manager,
GCCA India

Kaustubh is an Environmental Engineer, a certified Green Building Assessor with 19+ years’ experience in sustainability, carbon footprint mapping, water stewardship, sustainable supply chain management, and EHS management system. He is NEBOSH certified, and, alumni of the Swedish Institute, Sweden. He is currently working as a General Manager – Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA) India.

 His functional areas comprise of; accelerating Low Carbon Technology Roadmap in Indian cement sector, driving sustainability programs across the organization, Integrated, Sustainability & Business Responsibility Reports, Sustainability Roadmap implementation, taking sustainability practices in the supply chain, implementation of EHS practices at campuses & project sites, water & sanitation projects under the CSR and, liaisoning with Pollution Control Boards (PCBs).

Key achievements:

• Achieving Water Positive status for all 24 campuses of Larsen & Toubro

• Making L&T's two large Campuses Carbon Neutral

• Development of Combined Code of Conduct for suppliers Environmental & social risk management framework and Zero Accident Vision – Towards zero accident goal.

Kaustubh has worked as a technical consultant for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), a mission to Vietnam.

He is a university rank holder. His other areas of interest are participation in the marathon & cricket.

Dr. Janez Potočnik
Co-chair of the UNEP International Resource Panel, former European Commissioner for R&D and Environment, Partner SYSTEMIQ,
UNEP International Resource Panel

Janez Potocnik is an economist and former politician from Slovenia. He worked in the Government of the Republic of Slovenia as the Head of Negotiating Team for Accession of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union and then as Minister without portfolio responsible for European Affairs.

Mr. Potocnik was a Member of the European Commission from 2004 to 2014, initially responsible for the Science and Research and later responsible for the Environment. He was appointed as a Co-Chair of the IRP hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2014. In 2013, he received the United Nations Champions of the Earth Award.

Mr. Suresh Prabhu
India's Sherpa to G20 & G7, Member of Parliament,
Govt. of India

Mr Prabhu is Ace Administrator with Great Panache

Political and administrative experience of Mr Prabhu:

• He has held various cabinet portfolios. Known for his out of box thinking, has scripted various reforms and effected organizational transformations Prime Minister’s Sherpa to G 7 and G 20 2019 – Present
• Mr Prabhu has been official emissary of the Prime Minister of India in the G7 &G20 forums
• Shaping the official agenda of the Government of India on key issues for G7 &G20 Summit; in a short span has engaged with global leaders/thinkers and has led delegations across the globe
• Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India 2017 – 2019
• Boosting domestic manufacturing at the district level to achieve USD 5 trillion economy.
• He has taken various initiatives such as: Initiated the Start- the pilot District Level Development plan in six districts across five states with a focus on interventions critical to boosting manufacturing at the district level. He has also initiated the process of introducing the EODB framework at the district Level
• Besides this he has had impactful associations in trade promotion, Pivoting multilateralism on India, Investment Promotion, Technology and Innovation, Boosting the Start-up ecosystem, Forward looking Policy Making, Promotion of the aviation industry, Customer Focus and many such valuable sectors.

Mr. Rudhi Pradhan
Senior Energy Specialist,
ICF

Mr Rudhi Pradhan is working as Senior Energy Specialist with ICF. Prior to this, he was with TERI, in the post of Associate Fellow in the Industry Energy Efficiency division.

Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad
Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad is the Focal Point for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) & Chief Climate Change Negotiator for India as well Focal Point for Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, etc. since then. He has also coordinated United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) work in India as its Focal Point. Currently, he also supervises issues related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Environment Clearance, Environment Impact Assessment, Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), Society of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM) and administration & management of the Ministry.

Shri Prasad is a 1990 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya (AM) Cadre. He did his Post Graduation in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and M.P.A. with specialization in Economic Policy Management from Columbia University, USA. He has served in Government of Assam in various key positions including Secretary Finance, Tourism and Forests Departments. He held the charge of District Magistrate in Nalbari and Jorhat district of Assam and also headed, among others, the Panchayat & Rural Development Department as Director.

Mr. Nitin Prasad
Chairman,
Shell companies in India

Nitin Prasad is a dynamic and accomplished business leader with 20+ years of cross-cultural professional experience spanning industries from technology to energy and geographies from USA, Singapore to India.

Nitin has won numerous awards and recognitions – Prince Micheal Road Safety Award, Fortune 40 under 40, Economic Times – Spencer Stuart 40 under 40 and Business Time 25 hottest young executives amongst others. He has a proven track record of managing large diverse global teams, developing/implementing strategy, innovating and leading change across cross-functional and multi-jurisdictional roles. Nitin is passionate about Shell’s purpose of ‘powering progress together for more and cleaner energy’ and is a strong believer in collaborations and partnerships being key to solving climate change and other global systemic challenges.

In his current role since October 2016, as Chairman of Shell Companies in India, Nitin has governance oversight over all of Shell’s companies and investments into India as well as being a director in several of the operating companies and JVs. He has developed Shell India’s response to energy transition and climate change including leading business development through strategic partnerships for new climate resilient sectors such as Electro-Mobility, Bio-Products, Renewable Power, Energy Access, Industrial Decarbonization and Chemicals. Nitin is also responsible for building Shell India’s talent base, community programs and its reputation with the full range of external stakeholders incl. Government, Industry Bodies, Foreign Embassies etc. He has authored several articles, been extensively featured in numerous climate and energy conferences and is frequently referenced or quoted in the media.

Nitin is the CII Chairman of the Air Quality Task Force and Co-Chairman of the Hydrocarbons Committee. Nitin also serves on the FIPI Governing Council, USIBC Advisory Committee, India2022 Executive Committee and is an active participant in several other forums. He is also one of the co-founders of the recently created Industrial Decarbonization coalition.

Prior to his current role, Nitin was the Managing Director for Shell Lubricants for the cluster of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, leading the significant turnaround of a historically underperforming business. Previously Nitin has held other roles in Shell across verticals of strategy, marketing, project delivery and supply chain in geographies of APME, APACMEA, China, South East Asia and USA.

Prior to Shell, Nitin was a part of Altera Corp based in the Silicon Valley, starting new product lines and commercial businesses. During this time, he received 10 patents and developed several new flagship ventures.

Nitin did his schooling from the Doon School, India before completing an engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and thereafter went on to complete his MBA from INSEAD, France.

He is an avid sports enthusiast who enjoys playing golf, sailing, skiing and diving. Nitin currently lives in New Delhi with his family.

Mr. Manjeev Puri
Distinguished Fellow,
TERI

Manjeev Singh Puri joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982 and has served as Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium, Luxembourg, Nepal. Earlier he had served as Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN during the time that India was on the Security Council. He retired on 31 December 2019 in the rank of Secretary, Government of India.

Puri has also headed the division in the Ministry of External Affairs dealing with UN issues on the social and economic side and been involved as a lead member of the Indian delegation at numerous global negotiations on climate change, sustainable development, migration, human rights and UN reforms. In addition, he has served twice in Germany (in Bonn and Berlin), in Cape Town, Muscat, Bangkok and Caracas.

Major areas of his experience and professional focus relate to the environment, particularly climate change and sustainable development. He was a lead negotiator for India at the UN on issues relating to the post 2015 development agenda, Sustainable Development Goals and at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. He was a key member of India's delegation at various Climate Change negotiations, including the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen in December 2009 and before that at Montreal, Bali, Bonn and Poznan. Furthermore, he was involved with India's participation in the G8-G5 Summits from 2005 and was the point-person for the Major Economies Forum.

Puri has a Master’s degree in Management and did his BA (Honours) in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi.  

Dr. Sunita Purushottam
Head of Sustainability,
Mahindra Lifespaces

Dr. Sunita Purushottam is head of Sustainability at Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. She is also  member of the Mahindra and Mahindra CSR Council, member of the Mahindra and Mahindra Sustainability Council, Working Group Member: Digitalization workstream for Built Environment - World Business Council of Sustainable Development, Working Group Member: Building System Carbon Framework – World Business Council of Sustainable Development, Fellow of Royal Met Society, London, Certified GHG emissions quantifier.

Dr. Purushottam has over 20 years of sustainability strategy and environmental consultancy experience in the areas of environmental impact assessment; air pollution modelling and meteorology; GHG emissions inventory and carbon offsets; carbon neutrality strategy; waste management strategy; and water risk, technology solutions for sustainability and CSR. She is a physics postgraduate with Phd in environmental science and engineering.

Sunita has worked with regulatory bodies in UK and India in various infrastructure development projects, city planning and construction projects covering environmental impacts and mitigation. She is well versed with various reporting/disclosure frameworks such as SASB, GRI, CDP and GRESB and Integrated Reporting.  She has helped large companies globally to streamline their sustainability strategy through a systematic process-oriented approach and enabled the selection of right tools for systematic sustainability disclosure management. She is well versed with the use of technology in Sustainability management and has been associated with a startup for creation of a platform on Sustainability data management. She has helped companies develop an understanding of ESG risks and the importance of embedding in enterprise risk management systems.

Sunita has executed over fifty engagements in sustainable business strategy, sustainable development and corporate social responsibility across the UK, United States, Mexico, South Africa and India. She has a deep understanding of Climate Change Science and adaptation and has driven sustainability strategies for companies in the construction, real estate, banking, telecom, automotive, steel and IT sectors.

During her career spanning 20+ years, she has served in Infosys, SENES Consultants and Casella Stanger; and as founding member of a startup in the area of Sustainability Tech Solutions.  She has authored many white papers on Sustainability and is a speaker in national and international forums.

In her spare time, Sunita likes to bake, read, or tend to her garden. She is a perpetual cleaner and nature lover.

Mr. Mukundan R
CEO,
Tatachemicals

Mr. R. Mukundan, Managing Director & CEO of Tata Chemicals Limited, joined Tata Administrative Service in 1990, after completion of MBA from FMS, Delhi University.  He is a distinguished alumnus of IIT, Roorkee, Fellow of Indian Chemical Society and an alumnus of Harvard Business School. During his 30 year career with Tata Group, he has held various responsibilities across the Chemical, Automotive and Hospitality sectors of the Tata Group. He serves on industry forums and impact organizations.

Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai
Counsellor,
Delegation of the European Union to India

Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai is working as Counsellor at the Delegation of European Union to India on the Partnership on Smart and Sustainable Urbanisation between EU and the Government of India and on the India-EU Water Partnership as well as on Air Quality Management. Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai has previolusly worked as Counsellor Urban Development at the Royal Danish Embassy in New Delhi on the Sustainable Urban Water Management and has worked at Special Advisor on Global Cooperation, at Danish Energy Agency, MInistry of Climate, Energy and Utilies, Government of Denmark including on bilateral cooperation between Denmark and India, China and Ukraine and with partners in the field of climate and energy in Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Cyprus as well on energy efficiency in housing sector Latvia and Lithuania as well as worked with permits for emission of CO2, monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions, verification and accreditation under the EU Emission Trading Scheme and on Energy Efficiency in Industry. Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai has previously worked in the field of environment, GEF and urban projects at UNDP, New Delhi.

Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai is holding a Master Degree in Enginering from the Technical Univerisity of Denmark and a Master Degree in Urban Planning in Developing Countries from University of Wales College of Cardiff.

Ms. Aishwarya Raj
Research Associate,
TERI

Ms Raj's profile caters to the international, national and sub-national facets of Climate Change and environment. My zeal to learn more about the governance of global actors and stakeholders has led me to academically and professionally understand their operationalization in the realm of climate change. My contributions so far range from capturing the needs and requirements for implementing the Paris Agreement for developing countries through the Nationally Determined Contributions, establishing complementarities between Nationally Determined Contributions and Sustainable Development Goals, Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement, State Action Plans for Climate Change in India and building capacities of the Indian states for GHG inventorisation.

Dr. Umamaheshwaran Rajasekar
Chair, Urban Resilience,
National Institute of Urban Affairs

Dr. Umamaheshwaran Rajasekar is heading the Climate Centre for Cities (C-Cube) at National Institute of Urban Affairs, India. He has over 17 years of experience in developing risk reduction strategies, climate change analysis, institutional strengthening for governments, INGOs and multi-lateral agencies. His recent efforts have been towards bridging the technology and communication gap to enable informed decision making. He has been the team leader and project manager for some of the pioneering risk resilience efforts in India including implementation of early warning systems, urban disease surveillance and city resilience strategies.

His work has been published as peer reviewed journal articles, technical reports and has been presented at various international and national forums. Several of his work has been commended in the form of grants and awards. His recent work on development and implementation of Urban Health Services Monitoring System has been recognized as an intervention to watch, by the U.N Secretary General’s global pulse initiative.

Dr. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan
Secretary to the Government of India,
Ministry of Earth Sciences

Dr. M. Rajeevan 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 38 years of experience, both as an operational weather forecaster and also as an active researcher in weather and climate sciences. 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 climate 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 all three science academies of India, the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI); member of the International Academy of Astronautics, Paris; and an Expert Member of the recently constituted Research Board of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). He has more than 140 research publications in peer reviewed journals with a h-index of 48 and total citations > 8500.

Mr. Rajani Ranjan Rashmi
Distinguished Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Shri Rajani Ranjan Rashmi is a Distinguished Fellow and Programme Director of Integrated Policy Analysis in The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) where he works in the field of environment policy research. He is a senior retired IAS officer and has been India’s principal negotiator for climate change for many years. Mr Rashmi has been a member of the Sub Committee of the Finance Ministry of the Govt of India on Climate Finance and is a member of the Technical Advisory Body of the ICAO on CORSIA. Currently, he also chairs the Finance Commission of Manipur, one of the States of India.

Mr. B N Reddy
Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas

Mr B.N. Reddy joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1993, and has served in Indian Missions in Indonesia (1995-98), Lao PDR (1998-2001), New York (Permanent Mission of India) (2005-2008), Malaysia (2008-2011) and Geneva (as the DPR in Permanent Mission of India) (2013-16).  He has served in the Ministry of External Affairs in the Administration Division and subsequently as the Director/Joint Secretary to the External Affairs Minister of India.

Mr Reddy has learnt Bahasa Indonesia at the University of Indonesia (UI) during his posting in Indonesia in 1995.

Mr Reddy has a Master’s Degree in Thermal Engineering from IIT, Bombay, and Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani.  Prior to joining the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr Reddy also served with TELCO (now Tata Motors) and also in the Indian Engineering Service (IES).

Mr Reddy served as the High Commissioner of India to Nigeria from June 2016 to December, 2018. .  He has assumed charge as OSD(IC) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. He is accompanied by his wife Lalitha Devi, and they have a daughter and a son.

Mr. John A. Roome
Regional Director, South Asia Sustainable Development,
The World Bank

John Roome is Regional Director, South Asia Sustainable Development at the World Bank. Before that he was Senior Director for Climate Change. 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.John Roome is Regional Director, South Asia Sustainable Development at the World Bank. Before that he was Senior Director for Climate Change. 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. Sandeep Roy Choudhury
Director,
VNV Advisory Services

Sandeep is a co-founder and director at VNV Advisory Services, a social enterprise working with communities & climate change. He heads VNV’s ownership on low carbon social development projects such as sustainable agriculture, social forestry, clean cooking, water access, rural energy access, blue carbon and waste management. 

Sandeep’s work encompasses over 5 million rural households across 9+ countries in the South Asian region & over 50+ NGOs and implementation partners; currently working on over 1 million hectares of natural ecosystems through climate finance for afforestation, restoration, conservation sustainable agriculture, through these programs positively significantly impacting  members of marginalised and vulnerable communities in these developing countries.

He is involved in spearheading VNVs efforts towards rural water access, crop storage, agri-linkages and working with models of innovative financing through existing climate finance mechanisms to achieve scalability.
He is on the board of numerous non-profits working on climate related projects including Worldview International Foundation, Bangladesh Bondhu Foundation & Environment Protection Center Nepal. Sandeep has over 17 years of industry experience and is a Salzburg global fellow. He is also a director at “Carbon Initiative Forum”, a non-profit working on climate change awareness and is the co-chair of the International Carbon reduction Alliance (ICROA).

Dr. Shalini Sarin
Co Founder & Executive Director,
Elektromobilitat

Dr Shalini Sarin’s experience ranges from, global Chief People Officer to leading sustainable business in Clean energy. Profit with Purpose & Passion is her mantra and belief. She has worked across India, Europe and US in regional and global roles in HR and access to energy. And now serves an Executive Director with a startup in EV charging, Elektromobilitat along with a few other boards where she serves as an Independent Director. She is an executive coach and a strategic advisor on HR, CSR, Sustainability, Transformation and Leadership.

She serves as an Independent Director with Linde India, Meritor Automotive Axles and Kirloskar Oil Engines and on the Supervisory board of Nagarro SE, GmbH. She serves on the advisory committee of Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) and Chairs Center for clean energy at Plaksha University, both not for profit organizations.

Shalini holds a Doctorate in Organization Behaviour & Masters in Sociology & Human Resource Management. She has an Advanced Human Resource from Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Executive Coach from Motorola University-Chicago and a Psychometrician from British Psychology Society. She is certified from INSEAD on International Director’s program and IOD. She has authored many articles and presented at various Indian and International Conferences.

www.linkedin.com/in/shalinisarin

twitter@shalinisarin

facebook: Shalini Malhotra Sarin

Dr. Syamal Sarkar
Distinguished Fellow & Senior Director,
TERI

Dr S K Sarkar heads the Natural Resources and Climate Programme and is currently associated with TERI since September 2014. He is a Doctorate in Economics (1991) from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York. Dr Sarkar is an IAS officer (retired). He is a former Secretary to the GoI in the Department of Personnel & Training, and in the Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India. He served other Ministries including Finance Ministry in the Government of India, and worked in various capacities with Government of West Bengal. He worked as Member Secretary, West Bengal Pollution Control Board under State Environment Department during 2003-05. He also worked as consultant with the Asian Development Bank and with the World Bank/PPIAF (Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility). Dr Sarkar has got several publications to his credit, has authored and edited books on infrastructure issue and has presented a number of important papers in several conferences.

Mr. Naman Sawhney
Student,
City Montessori School, Lucknow

I am Naman Sawhney, a student of class 7H in City Montessori School Aliganj. I am quite good in studies, a professional eSports athlete(pubgm), love reading books and a state level basketball player. I love to travel with my friends and family.

Dr. Praveen Saxena
Chief Executive officer,
Skill Council for Green Jobs

Dr Saxena superannuated as Advisor in Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Director General of National Institute of Solar Energy  in 2015.

He is an International expert with enriched experience of providing leadership and strategic vision on energy policy, institutions building and consultancy to other countries in renewable energy; planning and coordinating with in-house as well as multi/bilateral partners on energy; promoting knowledge management through publications in international journals , networking & capacity building and research and development.

Recently, Dr Saxena was conferred with the International Business Leadership Innovation Excellence Award by Institute of Economic Studies (2017), Government of Malaysia. He has over 50 research publications in international journals, and has represented India’s interests in Renewable Energy in various multilateral organizations and International forums.

Mr. A K Saxena
Senior Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute

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 has over 39 years of experience in the apex organizations in the power sector in India namely Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Ministry of Power (MoP) and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).  

He retired as Chief Engineer, CEA. During his career, he has handled important portfolios like Chief (Engineering) in CERC (2013-2016) and Director (Operation Monitoring) and Director (Transmission) in MoP (2005-12).  

At TERI, Mr Saxena is Sr. Fellow and Sr. Director of Electricity and Fuels Division and is responsible for all the projects in power sector.  Currently, key focus areas of work are demand forecasting and supply side options, integrated demand – supply modelling, energy transitions, integration of renewable energy sources with the grid, load research, demand side management, smart grid, Battery Energy Storage System, E-mobility,  policy and regulatory studies, capacity building programmes, etc.  He possesses rich technical, policy, regulatory as well as research experience.

Ms. Astrid Schomaker
Director,
European Commission DG Environment

A lawyer by training, Astrid Schomaker is Director for Global Sustainable Development in the European Commission's Directorate General for Environment. Since joining the Commission in 1992, she has held a variety of posts in the areas of international relations and environment policy, amongst them leading the work on chemical policy, marine issues and the EU's environment policy strategy to 2020.

Ms. Astrid Schomaker
Director,
European Commission DG Environment

A lawyer by training, Astrid Schomaker is Director for Global Sustainable Development in the European Commission's Directorate General for Environment. Since joining the Commission in 1992, she has held a variety of posts in the areas of international relations and environment policy, amongst them leading the work on chemical policy, marine issues and the EU's environment policy strategy to 2020.

Mr. Serge Segura
Ambassador in charge of maritime negotiations,
Ministry of foreign affairs France

Serge Segura is a french diplomat. In 2015, he was appointed as the first french Ambassador for the oceans. This position has been transformed in 2021 in Ambassador, special representative for maritime negotiations.

Serge Ségura has a wide experience in diplomacy and Ocean subjects.

He leads french delegations in international meetings dealing with ocean matters

Ms. Moutushi Sengupta
Director India Office,
Macarthur Foundation

Moutushi Sengupta is a senior management professional with more than 24 years of experience in the development and corporate sector. As a part of the MacArthur Foundation, her current role as the India Director is to provide strategic leadership to the Foundation’s work in India. She leads in identifying and developing partnerships and programs for the Foundation. She also leads Leadership Group at SAWIE.

At MacArthur Foundation, She oversees grant making in India, including grants for the Population and Reproductive Health area, focusing on reducing maternal mortality and morbidity and improving young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights; grants for the Human Rights and Justice area, focusing grant making in the International Peace and Security area, related to the Asia Security Initiative; for the Conservation and Sustainable Development area; and other special grant making initiatives.

She has worked across a range of sectors and geographies to develop strategies; ensure proper design, implementation and evaluation of development interventions. experience in coordinating and negotiating with actors in development, including senior bureaucrats, political leaders, development networks and donors, such as DFID, UN institutions and the World Bank. Her particular strength lies in leading and managing large, diverse teams and delivering results through effective team work.

Before joining the development sector, Moutushi spent over five years in the corporate sector in finance, accounts and developing management information systems (MIS).

She is a gold medallist in her perusal of MBA in Finance, Marketing and Human Resource from Punjab University. In 2002, she pursued M.Sc in Applied Environmental Economics, Water Resource Management, Environmental Law and Natural Resource Economics.

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

Sanjay Seth 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 led 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.

Currently, he serves on several committees constituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India as follows:

1. ‘Member’ on the Expert Committee for "ClimateSMART Cities Assessment Framework" for the Energy and Green Buildings (MoHUA).

2. ‘Mentor’ on the India Smart Cities Fellowship Program 2019-20 for Enhancing Cities Capacity for Emissions Reduction in the Building Sector – MITIGATE (MoHUA).

3. Jury Member of Smart City Empowering India Awards 2019, (MoHUA).

4. Member of “National ClimateSmart Cities Alliance”, (MoHUA).

5. Member for Constitution of Expert Committee for fast tracking and framing model conditions for housing and construction projects requiring prior environment clearance –Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC)

6. Member of the National Steering Committee for implementation of a World Bank funded project to the National Agricultural Higher Education Project, (NAHEP), 9th March, 2020 onwards       

7. ‘Principal Member’ on the Building Construction Practices Sectional Committee, CED 13 (BIS).

8. ‘Principal Member’ on the National Building Code Sectional Committee, CED 46 (BIS).

By training he is a Civil Engineer and has more than 34 years of experience in the power sector, both on the supply side as well as demand side.

Mr. Girish Sethi
Senior Director-Energy Program,
TERI

Mr Sethi has more than 33 years of experience in the field of energy, environment and sustainable development. His direct responsibilities at TERI include providing strategic direction and coordinating the activities related to industrial energy efficiency, renewable energy, fuels and electricity including demand side management. These involve energy conservation studies, technology assessments, sectoral studies, demand forecasting, capacity building programs and projects concerning rational use of energy. Other areas of interest include GHG inventorization of corporate level GHG emissions and aspects related to technology transfer and promotion of low carbon energy technologies in the context of climate change. He is presently coordinating a new initiative at TERI that looks at options for deep Decarbonization in harder-to-abate industrial sectors in the longer term. He has represented TERI in various national and international forums on different aspects related to energy and environment.

He is a Chemical Engineer and holds Masters Degree in Energy Studies from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.  He has also completed a multi-disciplinary Masters course on “Technology in the Tropics” from the University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany.

Mr. Jagan Shah
Senior Infrastructure Adviser,
FCDO

Jagan Shah coordinates the FCDO's technical assistance for India's Department of Economic Affairs for project preparation, finance and public private partnership related to the National Infrastructure Pipeline, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, an international charter-based organisation co-created by India and UK. 

Mr. Ajay Shankar
Distinguished Fellow,
TERI

Ajay Shankar has had rich and varied experience in public service for over forty five 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. He played a crucial role in putting together the stimulus packages at the time of the global economic crisis of 2008 which enabled the Indian economy to recover in a short time and again grow at over 8%. The plan for the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project was developed under his stewardship. The FDI policy was further liberalized and rationalized. He was the Chairman of the National Productivity Council and of the Quality Council of India and gave greater momentum to their activities. He initiated the setting up of Invest India.

He served for a three year term, November 2011-2014, as Member Secretary of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC), an advisory body comprising leading Captains of Industry, key Secretaries of Government and eminent Academics. Some of the major recommendations of NMCC have been taken up for implementation by the Government including the National Skill Mission, Facilitating Start-ups, Reform of Labour Laws and reducing the Regulatory burden on enterprises. Sector specific recommendations for breakthroughs in manufacturing in Electronics and IT Hardware, Defence Manufacturing, Civilian Aircraft, Shipbuilding, Electric Vehicles, Steel and Textiles were evolved.

As Joint Secretary and then Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Power he played a key role in enactment of the Electricity Act, 2003, and 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.

As CEO, Greater NOIDA industrial Development Authority, he was responsible for the development of one of the most attractive Industrial townships and attracting considerable FDI to it. He was Secretary to the Lt. Governor of Delhi for over 5 years, and has also been Commissioner, Kanpur Division and Chairman of the Kanpur Development Authority and was closely involved with issues of urban planning, management and infrastructure development in these metros.

Before serving as Secretary (DIPP), he was Principal Adviser in the Planning Commission looking after Environment and Forests, Water and Sanitation as well as provision of Rural Infrastructure and contributed to the preparation of the Eleventh Five Year Plan in these areas.

He has been a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington D.C. USA. His articles on economic policy issues have been appearing in the national papers.

He has served on the Boards of major public sector companies such as IDBI, EXIM Bank, NTPC, NHPC, PFC and REC and has also served as an Independent Director on the Boards of HAL, Tata Global Beverages and L&T.

He has been a member of the Committee on Reform of Public Sector Undertakings, Electricity Distribution and Resources for the Power Sector for the 10th Plan and Restructuring of HAL. He was closely associated with the design of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission at the time of its launch.

He has served as the Chairman of (a) PPP Review Committee of the Railways and (b) Expert Committee set up by Government for Replacing Multiple Prior Permissions with a Regulatory Mechanism for improving Ease of Doing Business.

He is the President of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for MSME Clusters (FMC).  He is a member of the Board of Management of JK Lakshmipat University where he is also the Chairman of their Center for Policy Studies.

He has a Masters in Political Science from Allahabad University and a Masters in Economics from Georgetown University, Washington D.C.

Ms. Priya Shankar
India Director, Climate and Environment Program, Bloomberg Philanthropies,
Bloomberg Philanthropies

Ms Priya Shankar co-leads the global air quality portfolio, which includes projects in India, South-East Asia and Europe. She also works on issues of energy transition and subnational climate action and is currently on a part-time secondment with the COP26 Climate Champions’ team. She previously led Bloomberg Philanthropies' work on the India Smart Cities Challenge. Prior to that, she managed Urban Age, an international research program into the future of cities, at LSE Cities at the London School of Economics. She has also worked for Policy Network, a think-tank, where she worked on issues of governance, globalization and international affairs, managing an international dialogue series. She previously worked for Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft, where she helped set up an award for community initiatives in cities. She has co-edited and contributed to a number of publications and reports including Governing Urban Futures (LSE 2014), Handmade Urbanism (Jovis 2013), Living in the Endless City (Phaidon 2011), and Integrated City-Making (LSE 2008). She holds degrees from the University of Oxford and St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University

Dr. Jitendra Vir Sharma
Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Dr. Sharma holds a doctorate degree in economic valuation of forest ecosystems. He has nearly 34 years’ experience in leading, coordinating and managing projects and activities in the forestry sector. Dr Sharma has coordinated and implemented donor-funded projects from both a governmental perspective (as an Indian Forest Officer) and as Director of the Forestry and Biodiversity Division at TERI. He also has extensive expertise in global forest policy and international negotiations and has been a negotiator on behalf of Government of India to the United Nations under the UNFF process. As Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Forest Policy and Forest International Cooperation, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), he was responsible for international cooperation including negotiations. Dr Sharma coordinated with FAO and Asia Pacific Forestry Commission on behalf of Government of India. As National Focal Point he organised the 21st session of the Asia Pacific Forestry Commission in 2006. Dr Sharma was the key organiser and co-chair for a country led initiative on the Payment for Ecosystem Services under United Nations Forum on Forests hosted by the Government of Germany, Berlin.

Ms. Madhulika Sharma
Chief Corporate Sustainability,
Tata Steel Limited

Ms Madhulika is a B Tech ( Electrical Engineering) from BIT Sindri in 1991, Post Graduate Diploma in Executive Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur in 2002

She has more than 28 years of experience of working in numerous profiles across Tata Steel including Information Technology Services Department and as Executive Officer to ex-Managing Director of Tata Steel. As Executive Officer was actively involved in preparation and review of annual business plan and formulation of long term Strategy as well as the business risk assessment. In 2012 took over the challenging assignment of Chief Infrastructure Planning & Development for Tata Steel Plant in Jamshedpur and during this tenure made many visible changes inside the Steel Works at Jamshedpur. The green cover inside Steel Works improved to more than double in a span of 4 years.

Working in current role of Chief of Corporate Sustainability, Tata Steel India since July’ 2016.  

Recognized as one of the top 25 Sustainability Superwoman in Asia by CSR Works, Singapore.

Other engagements :

• Vice President, Eastern Region, UN Global Compact India Network
• Chairperson for Sustainability Committee of CII Jharkhand Chapter
• Member of Sustainability Reporting Expert Group of World Steel Association
• Chairperson of the Diversity & Inclusion Council for Jamshedpur
• Certified Coach in Tata Steel

Prof. Arun Sharma
Professor,
UCMS

Dr. Arun Kumar Sharma, MD, MBA, is Director-Professor in the department of Community Medicine and Head of the Department of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics at University College of Medical Sciences. He had been awarded Department of Health Research visiting scholarship to University of Illinois (Urbana-Champain) in 2015 for training in GIS and Spatial epidemiology, Hubert Humphrey Fellowship (Fulbright Scholarship)  at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (2004-05), Baltimore. He has more than 60 research publications. He is the President of Society for Indoor Environment. His current research interests include environmental health and spatial epidemiology of respiratory illnesses.

Dr. Sumit Sharma
Director,
TERI

Dr. Sumit Sharma is a PhD in air quality modelling from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He did his Bachelor of Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and  M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He has been working in TERI for last 16 years and for the last two years has taken up the position of Director -Earth Sciences and Climate Change Division. He is presently leading a group of about 50 researchers in the division focussing on various local and global environmental issues. In last 16 years, he has worked on about 50 projects related to air quality management, involving scientific assessments, policy advocacy, outreach, capacity building, and awareness generation. The scientific work included assessments based on air quality monitoring, emission inventorisation, urban and regional scale air quality modelling (dispersion and receptor), and air quality management plans. He has worked on pollution source apportionment studies carried out for different cities/regions in India to address regional and urban scale particulate and ozone pollution. He has worked on state of the art chemical transport models for providing scientific evidences to help decision making for air quality improvement in current and future scenarios

Mr. Alok Sharma
COP26 President Designate,
UK Cabinet Office

Alok Sharma was appointed full-time President for COP 26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, on 8 January 2021.

He was previously Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and President for COP 26 between 13 February 2020 and 8 January 2021.

He was previously Secretary of State for International Development from 24 July 2019 to 13 February 2020, and Minister of State for Employment at the Department of Work and Pensions from 9 January 2018 until 24 July 2019.

He was Minister of State for Housing and Planning, for the Department for Communities and Local Government from 13 June 2017 to 9 January 2018.

Ms. Richa Sharma
Joint Secretary,
MOEFCC

Ms. Richa Sharma is Indian Administrative Service / Chhattisgarh / 1994

Her education:
1 P.G. Delhi University, Psychology
2 P.G. IIM,BANGALORE Public Policy
3 B.A. UNIVERSITY OF DELHI DELHI LSR College Psychology (Gold Medalist)
4 M.A. UNIVERSITY OF DELHI DELHI University of Delhi Psychology (Gold Medallist)
5 POST GRADUATE IN PUBLIC POLICY AND MANAGEMENT, IIM Bangalore
6 M.P.M., NUS & HARVARD University LKYSPP & Kennedy School of Gov

Joint Secretary, M/o Environment, Forest & Climate Change New Delhi
Centre Climate Change / Environment & Forests
From 05/04/2019 to 04/04/2024

Dr. Manish Kumar Shrivastava
Assistant Professor,
TERI School of Advanced Studies

Dr Manish teaches courses on economics and governance of climate change, and global justice. His research interests include the question of capacity building for implementation and governance of climate change, social justice and low-carbon transition, the interaction between frugality and polycentricity in governance, the role of non-state and sub-national actors in climate governance, and vulnerability of large technological systems.  His recent research focuses on examing gender dimensions of climate actions (mitigation in particular), evolving forms of polycentric climate governance in the context of federal polity, and SDG trade-offs while implementing NDCs. Earlier he worked with The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. He holds a Ph.D. in Science Policy from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is also interested in people's art and its transformative potential.

Mr. Lennart Silvis
Global Director Water for Industry,
Royal HaskoningDHV

Lennart Silvis is member of the global Business Line Water Management Team of Royal HaskoningDHV. He has over two decades’ experience in creating and implementing strategies and partnerships focused on water. He is a strong global collaborator – connecting and engaging people from all over the world on the latest insights and innovations for enhancing climate and water resilience. His track record includes strategy development and implementation, relationship management, program management and public private partnerships in the water sector.

Before moving to Royal HaskoningDHV in 2018, Lennart held positions as Managing Director at the Netherlands Water Partnership, Chairman of the Amsterdam International Water Week and board member of Aqua for All and the Water Governance Centre. In these positions he has been building alliances connecting people from industry, science, business, policy and technology.

Lennart’s current focus is on driving strong business growth in Royal HaskoningDHV, particularly with industrial clients. He envisions sustainable and water resilient industries, and focuses on business continuity, water stewardship and sustainable use of water.

Lennart aims to create value by improving the financial, social, and environmental performance of industries over time. He invites you to partner with Royal HaskoningDHV in line with his favorite quote: “collaboration is the new competition”.

Mr. Pankaj Sindwani
Chief Business Officer,
Tata Cleantech Capital Limited

Pankaj Sindwani is the Chief Business Officer at Tata Cleantech. He is tasked to build Climate Finance Business across mainstream and emerging sectors. Besides Business, he has also been responsible for co-creating an ecosystem of alliances and partnerships with domestic and Global stakeholders for Clean Technology Finance in India.

A regular Speaker at multiple National and International forums on Clean Technology, he has also been mentoring Startups, more specifically in the Clean Technology space.

Pankaj has held various important positions in past both within and outside Tata Group and his previous responsibilities include roles in Sales & Marketing, Manufacturing Operations, and Corporate Strategy. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from BITS Pilani and an Executive Masters in International Business from IIFT, New Delhi.

Mr. Manjeet Singh
Associate Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Mr Manjeet Singh has an experience in energy efficiency policy making & implementation and climate policy research with a demonstrated history of working in the government, civil society and climate change research industry. Primarily focused on energy efficiency in buildings and appliances, developing energy standards for appliances, tracking international negotiations for HFC transition under Montreal Protocol, development of India cooling action plan and its implementation with a Master of Technology (M.Tech.) from National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut.

Mr. Siddharth Singh
Lead India Analyst and Coordinator,
International Energy Agency

Siddharth Singh is the Lead India Analyst and Coordinator for the International Energy Agency based in New Delhi. He was previously a German Chancellor Fellow, and has worked at the Wuppertal Institute (Berlin), Nansen Institute (Oslo) and TERI (New Delhi). He is the author of 'The Great Smog of India' (Penguin, 2018). 

Mr. Santosh Singh
Director, Clean Energy, Climate Change and Agriculture,
Intellecap Advisory Services Private Ltd.

Santosh leads the clean energy, climate change and agriculture practice at Intellecap. He supports clean energy entrepreneurs with knowledge, network, and capital solutions at Intellecap. He has more than 15 years of experience in Base of the Pyramid (BoP) market development with a focus on climate finance, energy access, and climate resilient agriculture. Before joining Intellecap, Santosh was working with the World Bank (South Asia Region) where his work focused on developing affordable clean cooking/energy access solutions, and climate finance interventions for various sectors. 

In the past, he has worked as a Technical Expert for GIZ and led the Rural Market Insight program at the Institute for Financial Management and Research. He has also advised Tata Trusts, CLEAN, GIZ and several social enterprises on energy access, result based financing and last-mile distribution models. He has authored several publications on energy access and BoP markets and presented his work to practitioners and academic audiences.

Santosh is a Mathematics graduate and has a post-graduate degree from Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.

Mr. Mahendra Singhi
Managing Director and CEO,
Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited

Mr. Mahendra Singhi is an affable and positive person. He is one of the five global Climate Defenders recognised by BBC World. Mr. Singhi is Managing Director and CEO of Dalmia Cement, a prominent cement manufacturing group in India which is ranked no.1 globally by CDP on Low Carbon Economy Transition and appreciated by UN Secretary-General on climate innovation. Dalmia Cement has already committed in 2018 to become carbon negative company by 2040.  Dalmia Cement follow philosophy of Clean and Green is profitable and sustainable & is having one of the lowest carbon foot prints in cement globally. It is also one of the most profitable and 4th largest major company in India with 30 million Tonnes capacity.

In past he headed Shree Cement Ltd. For 20 years which was adjudged as New Sustainability Champion by WEF during his tenure at Shree in 2012.

He has represented business and cement sector globally in the most recognized    multi-country platforms such as UN Climate Ambition Summit 12th Dec. 2020, Climate Action Summit of UN General Assembly on 23rd Sept. 2019 on invitation of UN Secretary-General; Paris Climate Agreement Ceremony on invitation from Ex. UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban ki-Moon; Global Climate Action in COP-24 on invitation of UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Ms. Patricia Espinosa; High-Level Govt.-Business dialogues invited by French Presidency. Mr. Singhi has more than 40 years of work experience in the cement sector.

Mr. Singhi also serves following organisations and commissions in India and abroad as:

1. Chairman - National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM) India,
2. Co-Chair, TERI Council for Business Sustainability (TERI-CBS), India,
3. Immediate past President of Cement Manufacturing Association (CMA) India,
4. Commissioner, Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), London, U.K.,
5. Commissioner, High-Level Commission on Carbon Pricing and Competitiveness, World Bank Group, U.S,
6. Director, Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), London. U.K. & Director, World Cement Association (WCA), London,
7. Chair, Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), India,
8. Member, Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, World Economic Forum,
9. Member, Climate Change Council in Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India,
10. Member, CII Working Group on Driving Accelerated Climate Action by Indian Businesses

Academic Qualification – Science & Law Graduate & Chartered Accountant (21st Rank)

Ms. Vaishali Sinha
Chief Sustainability Officer,
ReNew Power Pvt Ltd

Vaishali Nigam Sinha is the Chief Sustainability, CSR and Communications Officer at ReNew Power, one of India’s largest renewable energy IPPs (Independent Power Producer). Under the ambit of ReNew India Initiative (RII), Vaishali drives the company’s corporate social responsibility) and sustainability initiatives and is also Founding Chair, ReNew Foundation.

A strong advocate of equal participation of women in economic activities, Vaishali is also passionate about issues such as climate change, sustainable development and promoting women entrepreneurs and leaders. She is a regular speaker at international forums like the Climate Week NYC, California Governor’s Global Climate Action Summit, Clinton Global Initiative, and events organized by WEF, UNDP and United Nations Global Compact Network. She is a President’s invitee to Columbia World Projects – a high-level forum at Columbia University created to tackle major global challenges. She also serves on the President’s Advisory Council at Wellesley College and the Columbia Global Centre’s Mumbai Advisory Board.

Vaishali serves as an Independent Woman Director on the Board of several leading corporates. She is a member of the Governing Council of the UN Global Compact Network India (GCNI) and Chairperson of their Gender Committee; Chairperson of South Asian Women In Energy (SAWIE) – a body set up under USISPF to promote diversity and gender equity in energy sector; Chair, CII’s Indian Women Network and Woman Empowerment Committee and a member of the Governing Council of the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women. She is also a member of the Advisory Council of the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development and Advisory Committee of the India Climate Collaborative- a platform promoting policy advocacy and thought leadership on climate change. Vaishali has also authored several opinion articles on a range of topics from sustainability to gender parity to CSR which have been published in leading Indian dailies, magazines, web portals and industry journals.

In December 2020, Vaishali was named in She The People ‘s 40 Over 40 list for women achievers. In October 2020, Vaishali was named among India’s 100 most important PR & Corporate Communication professionals and listed among Asia’s Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy by Solar Quarter magazine. Vaishali was felicitated for her outstanding contribution towards woman empowerment by CSR Journal in July 2019 and also recognized as being amongst India’s Top 25 Impactful CSR Leaders by the India CSR Network in April 2019. In 2019, CEO Today magazine conferred the Businesswoman of the Year Award on her for her achievements as a woman professional. She was also a National Finalist at the NITI Aayog Women Transforming India Awards 2018, finishing amongst top 2% of women from across India.

Vaishali has completed the Owners and Presidents Management Program from Harvard Business School and has a Masters’ in Public Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she was an American Association of University Women (AAUW) scholar. After a decade on Wall Street and then London as an investment banker, she returned to India, where after several years in banking, she is now a social entrepreneur.

Dr. Shirish Sinha
Director, Climate,
Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)

Dr Sinha oversees CIFF’s Climate Change portfolio in India, which includes our work on Energy Decarbonisation, Air Quality, Electric Mobility, Regenerative Agriculture & Ecosystem restoration and Climate Policy. He also manages CIFF’s Clean Energy Transition portfolio in South, South East and East Asia and global programme on Climate Ambition and Transparency.  

Prior to joining CIFF, Shirish was the Deputy Head of Cooperation with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in India as, where he led and managed delivery of bilateral cooperation programmes on climate science, resilience & adaptation, energy access and climate smart cities.

In career spanning over 25 years in policy making and programme implementation in energy, climate change and sustainable development policy, Shirish has worked with national, bi-lateral and international organisations. Shirish was the Head of Climate & Energy Programme at the World Wide Fund for Nature – India (WWF India). In his earlier roles, he has worked with PwC, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

Shirish holds a PhD in Public Policy (Energy Policy) from the University of Twente, the Netherlands and Masters in Rural Management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) in India.

Shirish sits on the Donors Steering Committee of South East Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP) and Initiative for Climate Action and Transparency (ICAT).

Mr. Alexander Slater
Deputy Managing Director,
US-India Business Council

Mr Slater helps lead the Council's India team, oversees its policy and communications work, and is the focal point for its financial services, real estate and taxation portfolio.

Alexander previously served as a Senior Financial Officer in the World Bank Treasury and an advisor and speechwriter to the President of the World Bank, where he focused on ways to increase the Bank's support for sustainable infrastructure and regularly wrote about its strategy for promoting sustainable development and efforts to help countries achieve their Paris Agreement commitments. Before joining the Bank, he practiced law for seven years, including five at the international law firm of O’Melveny and Myers, where he advised CEOs and senior executives in matters of white collar defense, corporate and Congressional investigations, and regulatory review of foreign investment in the United States. He also clerked for Judge Barrington Parker on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Prior to his legal career, Alexander served as a foreign policy advisor and speechwriter to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, the current Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, and worked in the City Government of New York, where he was an Urban Fellow.

Alexander was born in New York City and grew up in Toronto. He holds a B.A. in history from Yale University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an M. Phil in international relations from Oxford University, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar.

Dr. Anna Sobczak
Policy Coordinator for coal regions in transition in the framework of EU Green Deal,
European Commission DG ENERGY

Dr Anna Sobczak has over 20 years of experience in European Union affairs, including 8 years’ carrying out research in regional/local economic development and EU enlargement and 12 years' experience in policy making at the European Commission across various EU policies, involving energy, climate, industry, innovation, skills, regional and urban development as well as trade and external relations. Currently, she is responsible for policy coordination for coal regions in transition in the framework of EU Green Deal at Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER). Her current responsibilities include coordinating and implementing policy actions related to the support of Coal Regions in Transition Initiative at the EU level and across the Western Balkans and Ukraine in the process of decarbonising their energy production and diversifying local economy. As an EU Social Media Ambassador, she is actively involved in EU Dissemination and Awareness Raising Campaign followed by over 17.500 professionals on LinkedIn. 

In her previous capacity at Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), she was responsible for policy initiatives that support and connect SMEs, ecosystems and clusters, focusing on industrial modernisation, innovation, and new industrial value chains. At DG GROW, she also worked on policy developments in industrial sectors across the EU and European Neighbourhood countries, with the focus on economic and trade analysis, skills, DCFTA negotiations and the Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue on the textile industry. At Directorate-General for Regional Policy (DG REGIO), she was involved in internal audit reports related to EU structural funds, urban and regional programmes.

In addition to her experience in European institutions, Dr Sobczak has 8 years’ practical experience in business consultancies and academic research across the world, including the renowned Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies in Florence and the Economists Advisory Group in London. She has a Doctorate Degree in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute (Italy) combined with Master in Economics in the context of International Economic and Political Relations. She is fluent in 6 languages (Polish, English, Italian, French, Serbian and Russian) with intermediate levels of German and Spanish.

Mr. Thomas Spencer
Fellow,
TERI

Mr Thomas Spencer is working as Fellow in TERI

Mr. Ashok Sreenivas
Senior Fellow,
Prayas (Energy Group)

Mr Sreenivas is a Senior Fellow at Prayas (Energy Group), an organization that works to promote public interest through policy analysis and advocacy in the energy sector. Ashok works on issues related to energy policy, energy transition, energy data and modelling, and energy access. He has also worked on the transport and oil-gas sectors, and has been part of various policy processes in the Indian energy sector.

Mr. Clay Stranger
Managing Director,
RMI

Clay Stranger is a Managing Director at RMI, where he leads the India Program. Through diverse engagements with the public and private sectors, he works to build confidence and commitment towards India’s clean energy targets. Clay serves as an advisor to India’s central and state governments on clean energy policy and technology. He is the lead author of over a dozen articles and reports on India’s clean energy opportunity, including the widely cited report, India Leaps Ahead: Transformative Mobility Solutions for All. Clay also co-founded the Urban Mobility Lab in India, a platform that supports a replicable process for identifying, integrating, and implementing mobility solutions in leading geographies, called Lighthouse Cities.

Clay previously served as the Director of the Office of the Chief Scientist, where he oversaw diverse research and collaboration engagements both within and outside RMI. From 2013-2015 he served as the Manager of Reinventing Fire: China, a partnership with the Chinese government to examine the maximum feasible share of renewables and efficiency technology in the Chinese energy economy through 2050. Clay has worked on energy strategy in more than 15 countries and brings rigorous approaches to research and engagement to help solve complex challenges in the energy sector.

Ms. Reena Suri
Executive Director,
India Smart Grid Forum

Reena Suri joined India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF), a PPP initiative of Govt of India, in 2013 and is currently the Executive Director of ISGF. She brings over 20 years of experience in the Energy Sector. She is responsible for the research projects, advisory services, business development, training and capacity building programs, customer outreach activities, members relations and finances of ISGF. Reena has contributed to the various advisory services, whitepapers and research reports of ISGF on key Smart Grid domains such as: Smart Grid Roadmaps for Indian, SAARC and ASEAN Utilities; Electric Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure; Blockchain for Electric Utilities; Energy Storage; Smart Metering Infrastructure; Customer Engagement etc. She has spoken in multiple Indian and International conferences and workshops on various domains of Smart Grid. 

Currently, Reena is leading the first of its kind Blockchain Pilot Project, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) trading of Rooftop Solar Energy. She was instrumental in crafting the partnerships between ISGF and a number of international organisations working on Blockchain Applications for Energy Sector such as Energy Web Foundation (www.energyweb.org); Energy Blockchain Consortium (www.energyblockchain.org); and Power Ledger (www.powerledger.io). Reena has been appointed as the Global Ambassador of Energy Web Foundation for India. She has also written a paper titled ‘Blockchain – A revolutionary and highly disruptive Technology for Future Energy Transactions?’ and has spoken on Applications of Blockchain Technology in Energy in many forums. Her article on Blockchain for Energy Utilities was recently published in Energy Magazine in India.

Reena is the founder-editor of the Smart Grid Bulletin published by ISGF since January 2014 which has online circulation of over 75,000 senior professionals in 120+ countries. As an outreach specialist, she has been involved in development of the Customer Outreach programs for the utilities implementing the Smart Grid projects in India. Reena is also responsible for designing and delivering training and capacity building programs on various domains of Smart Grids for policy makers, regulators and utility officials. She is instrumental in making the India Smart Grid Knowledge Portal (www.indiasmartgrid.org), one of the most popular portals on smart grids globally.

Reena has worked with ISGF Board to conceive, design, develop and the successful delivery of ISGF’s Annual Event, India Smart Utility Week (ISUW, www.isuw.in) since 2015. She is the principal show director of ISUW which in a short span has grown to be the signature event on Smart Grids and Smart Cities around the world. 

Prior to joining ISGF, Reena has worked with various International organisations such as Tetra Tech, Nexant Inc., PA Consulting and Academy for Educational Development (AED). She has worked on energy related projects funded by United States Agency for International Development such as Distribution Reform, Upgrades and Management (DRUM) Project, South Asia Regional Energy Initiative for Energy (SARI/E) and Small Grants Program. Under the DRUM Project, Reena worked with electricity distribution companies in India to help them upgrade their infrastructure to match international benchmarks. Reena has also helped in developing several modules on Smart Grid and been instrumental in conducting Train the Trainer workshops. She was involved in conducting a series of Smart Grid Maturity Model (SGMM) workshops for utilities in India. These workshops enabled her to study the position of Indian utilities on SGMM landscape and their aspirations for future. Reena assisted BESCOM in design of their IT Strategy and Roadmap and Pilot Architecture Design for a Smart Grid Pilot.

Mr. P V S Suryakumar
Deputy Managing Director,
NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development)

Mr. P.V. S. Suryakumar joined NABARD in 1986 and has handled a variety of functions; appraisal, funding & monitoring of projects, headed & implemented various types of programs, training, policy, advocacy & communications. He worked across the geographies; Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, New Delhi and Karnataka.

Academically, he obtained a Masters in Plant Genetics from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi in 1986. He is a Commonwealth Scholar and obtained Masters in Sustainable Development from the Staffordshire University, Stroke-on-Trent, UK in 2010. He undertook the 25th Management Education Program at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 2001.

He is an Associate of the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance.

He is an author of cases, contributed to newspapers on policy issues and published two books on Cases and Sustainable Agriculture.

Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi
President,
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)

Kazuhiko Takeuchi graduated from the Department of Geography, the University of Tokyo in 1974. He obtained M.Agr. and Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Agriculture, the University of Tokyo. He served as a Professor at the Asian Natural Environmental Science Center, and as Professor at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Science and as Director and Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S) at the University of Tokyo. He also served as a Vice-Rector and Senior Vice-Rector at the United Nations University from 2008 to 2016. He was Director and a Project Professor of IR3S at the University of Tokyo from 2017 to 2019. He took up the position as Project Professor of the Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI) at the University of Tokyo in April 2019. He has served as President, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) since 2017. He has served, inter alia, as Chair of the Central Environmental Council, Government of Japan, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Sustainability Science (Springer Nature). Prof. Takeuchi specialises in landscape ecology, landscape planning, and sustainability science.

Ms. Nicole Thomas
India Program Manager,
International Energy Agency

Nicole is responsible for providing authoritative analysis, data, policy recommendations, and real-world solutions to help countries provide secure and sustainable energy for all. Part of the Agency’s focus on opening its doors to major emerging economies, Nicole is responsible for overseeing the Agency’s relationship and collaboration with India.

Prior to joining the IEA in 2019, Nicole held a range of positions within the Australian Government with a focus on energy, resources and environment policy, and significant experience in international engagement through postings to India and France. Nicole holds a Master of Environment and Resource Economics from the Australian National University and Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern Queensland.

Ms. Jan Thompson
Acting High Commisisoner to India,
British High Commission New Delhi

Jan was appointed Deputy High Commissioner to India in August 2018. She served as British Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2013-2017 and then, temporarily, as Deputy High Commissioner to Canada prior to her arrival in New Delhi. Previous postings have included Germany (1992-1994) and the UN Security Council in New York (1997-2000). Jan also led work on the Balkan wars (1994-1997) and headed the UK department on Afghanistan (2002-2005). After the Asian tsunami she flew to Thailand to establish a temporary British office to help the victims. From 2007-2010 she served as the UK’s Lead Climate Change Negotiator before moving on to head the UK department in the Libya conflict. Jan is currently serving as Acting High Commissioner to India.
Jan joined the FCO in 1990 after two years spent working for the BBC. She is single, likes mountaineering (she has climbed Kilimanjaro and to Everest Base Camp), and is a semi-professional actress with a particular passion for Shakespeare. She speaks French, German and Czech, and is now embarking on Hindi.

Mr. James Thornton
Founding CEO,
ClientEarth

James is a world authority on the power of the law to create lasting change, having dedicated his life to fighting for climate and environmental justice. He is a global thinker, revered public speaker and a beacon of hope for our planet.

He launched ClientEarth in 2007, sparking fundamental change in the way environmental protections are made and enforced across Europe. Now operating globally, ClientEarth uses advocacy, litigation and research to address the greatest challenges of our time – including nature loss, human health and social justice.

In the last decade alone, his creative and critical-thinking has shaped an EU-wide law banning illegally harvested rainforest timber, won numerous cases against governments for failing to tackle air pollution, and blocked the largest coal plant in Europe. He and his team of not-for-profit lawyers use the most effective tool in the arsenal for change, the law.

The New Statesman has named James as one of 10 people who could change the world. The Lawyer has picked him as one of the top 100 lawyers in the UK and he was named as one of the 1,000 most influential people in London. He has won Leader of the Year at the Business Green Awards three times and was awarded Charity Leader of the Year in 2020. The Financial Times awarded him its Special Achievement accolade at the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards.

He can be heard on a diverse mix of broadcast, print and multimedia including BBC 4, BBC Radio 3, TEDx and The Guardian.

Mr. Frans Timmermans
Commissioner & Executive Vice President- European Green Deal,
European Commission

Mr Frans Timmermans is the Commissioner & Executive Vice President- European Green Deal, European Commission and has extensive experience. A brief about his experience is given below:

• First Vice-President of the European Commission, in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights- 2014-2019
• Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands- 2012-2014
• Member of the Dutch parliament, Partij van de Arbeid (Dutch Labour Party)- 2010-2012 and 1998-2007
• Minister of European Affairs, The Netherlands- 2007-2010
• Senior Advisor and Private Secretary to High Commissioner on National Minorities of the OSCE Max van der Stoel-1995-1998
• Staff member of EU Commissioner Hans van den Broek-1994-1995
• Deputy Head of the EC Affairs Section, Directorate-General for Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs., The Netherlands- 1993-1994
• Second Secretary, Dutch embassy in Moscow- 1990-1993
• Policy Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands- 1987-1990
• Postgraduate courses in European Law and French Literature, University of Nancy- 1984-1985
• Degree in French language and literature, Radboud University Nijmegen- 1980-1985

Prof. Geetam Tiwari
MoUD chair Professor in the department of Civil Engineering and TRIPP,
Indian Institute of Technology

Prof. Geetam Tiwari obtained Master of Urban Planning and Policy, and PhD in Transport Planning and Policy, from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She has been working in the area of traffic and transport planning and traffic safety focusing on pedestrians, bicycles and bus systems. She has worked with the city, state and central governments in India on public transport and road safety projects. She has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has co-edited four books on transport planning and safety.

Dr. Rahul Tongia
Senior Fellow,
Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP)

Dr. Rahul Tongia's work focuses on technology and policy, especially for sustainable development. He leads the Energy, Natural Resources, and Sustainability group at CSEP, and is also active in broader issues of technology. Dr. Tongia’s work spans the entire gamut of energy and electricity, with focuses on supply options including renewable energy (covering finance, grid integration, etc.); smart grids, which use innovative information and communications technology to improve management of the electric utility grid; issues of access and quality; and broader issues of reforms and regulations, including electricity pricing.  His recent book Future of Coal in India: Smooth Transition or Bumpy Road Ahead? (Sept. 2020) was recognised as a top Energy Policy Book by BookAuthority.

He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Founding Advisor of the India Smart Grid Forum, and was the founding Technical Advisor for the Government of India’s Smart Grid Task Force.

Mr. Nigel Topping
High Level Climate Action Champion,
UNFCCC COP26

Mr Topping works alongside the Chilean High-Level Climate Action Champion, Gonzalo Muñoz. The role of the high-level champions is to strengthen collaboration and drive action from businesses, investors, organisations, cities, and regions on climate change, and coordinate this work with governments and parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Nigel was most recently CEO of We Mean Business, a coalition of businesses working to accelerate the transition to a zero carbon economy. Prior to that he was Executive Director of the Carbon Disclosure Project, following an 18 year career in the private sector, having worked across the world in emerging markets and manufacturing.

Mr. Pradip Kumar Tripathi
Secretary,
Ministry of Steel

Shri Tripathi is a senior IAS officer succeeds Binoy Kumar, who superannuated on May 31, 2020. Shri Tripathi is an IAS officer of 1987 batch of Jammu and Kashmir (JK) cadre. Prior to this, Shri Tripathi has been posted as Special Secretary and Establishment Officer in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Dr. Arun K Tripathi
Director General,
National Institute of Solar Energy

Dr. Arun Kumar Tripathy has over 36 years of experience in planning, development and implementation of various renewable energy programmes and projects in country.  He has worked in various capacities with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and also provided advisory services to various reputed organisations like IREDA, Institute of Engineers, BIS and several others.  He has over 40 scientific and technical papers to his credit and authored several books on topics spanning environment and energy and sustainable development. He is passionate about growth of renewables in the country.

Mr. Upendra Tripathy
Director General,
International Solar Alliance

Mr. Upendra Tripathy, former Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, has made exceptional and outstanding contribution towards achieving 175 GW target and for ushering in policies that transformed India’s renewable energy sector between 2014 and 2016. In ex-officio capacity, he has headed Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), National Institute of Solar Energy and National Institute of Wind Energy, National Institute of Bio Energy, Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States (AREAS) and International Solar Alliance (ISA). Mr. Tripathy galvanised both the Ministry of Renewable Energy and the Solar Energy Corporation through a plethora of new and imaginative policy measures.

His institution building abilities and innovations got reflected in building of Hassan Kalamandir (1989), Center for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) in Indian Institute of Science (2009), Environmental Management Policy Research Institute (EMPRI) (2003), Akshar Foundation (2001), turnaround of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) (2003-2008) and institution of Nrupathunga Award in Karnataka (2008). For these achievements, and for all his work in transforming a city Transport undertaking in Bangalore into a profit making one, the Prime Minister of India bestowed the PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration of Mr. Tripathy in 2009. Other awards that recognise his abilities, excellence and innovative thinking, are – Extra-Ordinary Citizens’ Award from Rotary International-2008, Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) Award 2016 for outstanding contribution to India’s Renewable Energy Sector, 10th Enertia Life Time Achievement Award- 2016 and UBM 2016 as Crusader of the year for Renewable Energy.

What helps Mr. Tripathy in being an outstanding administrator of great eminence is his 36 years of diverse experience in an across related sectors- land administration, rural development, agriculture, education, social inclusion, environment, petroleum and natural gas, and transportation. He has worked in federal, provincial sand local administrations in India.

HE Mr Tripathy currently heads International Solar Alliance as DG and can be at reached at utripathy@gmail.com and utripathy@isolaralliance.org. 

Mr. Adair Turner
Chairman,
Energy Transitions Comission

Lord Turner chairs the Energy Transitions Commission, a global coalition of major power and industrial companies, investors, environmental NGOs and experts working out achievable pathways to limit global warming.  In addition, he is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Chairman of Chubb Europe and on the Advisory Board of Envision Energy (Shanghai).

From 2008-2013, Lord Turner chaired the UK’s Financial Services Authority, and played a leading role in the post crisis redesign of global banking and shadow banking regulation. Lord Turner has held other high profile roles in public policy: he was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (1995-2000); chairman of the UK Low Pay Commission (2002-2006); chairman of the Pensions Commision (2003-2006); and chairman of the Climate Change Committee (2008-2012) an independent body to advise the UK Government on tackling climate change.

Amongst his business roles, Lord Turner was at McKinsey&Co (1982-1995);  was Vice-Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe (2000-2006) and a Non-Executive Director of a number of companies, including Standard Chartered plc (2006-2008).

He writes regularly for Project Syndicate, and has published “Between Debt and the Devil” (Princeton 2015), and Economics after the Crisis (MIT 2012).

He is an honorary fellow of The Royal Society since 2017.

Prof. Magdalena Urbaniak
Professor,
European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences/UNESCO Chair on Ecohydrology and Applied Ecology

Magdalena Urbaniak is an ecologist by education with a special emphasis to water resources protection. Her research has been focused on the land-water transport of selected xenobiotics including priority hazardous substances in the field of water policy and contaminants of emerging concern. Her study concerns the hydrological processes and ecological determinants of transport, deposition and conversion of xenobiotics in water and land ecosystems. The purpose of these studies is to optimize the bioremediation technologies, reduce xenobiotics transport from the land ecosystem to water, and prevent its bioaccumulation in the ecosystems and biomagnification in trophic chains. The performed studies are in line with the integrated approach to the protection and rehabilitation of water and land ecosystems, and contribute to the implementation of environmental regulations at national and international level. This knowledge is based on the Integrated Water Resources Management approach and considers the river basin as the basic component of research performance.

Mr. Hitesh Vaidya
Director,
National Institute of Urban Affairs

Hitesh Vaidya has more than 20 years of broad-based urban development policy, project formulation, implementation and program management experience on mainly UN, World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) assignments. The areas he has been associated are urban development, urban governance and urban Infrastructure management. Poverty Alleviation has been an integral component in all the projects.  Prior to joining National Institute of Urban Affairs, He was Country Representative of UN-Habitat India. He was intensely involved in providing capacity assistance to India's urban eco-system to roll-out urban flagship missions in India.  His strength lies in developing institutional arrangements and project implementation strategies through facilitating effective convergence and coordination with various stakeholders.

Mr. Ram Vaidyanathan
Head - Environmental Sustainability,
Godrej Industries Limited

Mr Vaidyanathan is responsible for driving the Group’s green strategy. He has 12 years of experience in the sustainability sector, across a wide range of roles from regulatory/policy, to process engineering, operations, strategy advisory, business development, business strategy, and product development and management.

Prior to Godrej, Ram was CEO of WiSH Energy Solutions, a renewable energy subsidiary of the Enzen Group. He previously worked as a consultant at Enzen’s Clean Energy & Environment Practice, and at PI Industries Ltd as Environmental Manager. Prior to that, he worked on water treatment technologies and developing policy and regulations for drinking water at the National Environment Agency, Singapore.

Ram completed his MBA in Strategy & Marketing from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and his Masters in Environmental Science from the Singapore-Stanford Partnership, a collaboration between Stanford University, USA, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Ms. Sanne van der Mijl
Project Leader Climate Adaptation Summit 2021,
Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management

Ms Sanne van der Mijl has experience in the fields of sustainability, circular economy, climate mitigation and adaptation and renewable energy. Sanne has previously worked on different international policy issues, ranging from European projects to climate negotiations and the SDG’s.

Sanne’s academic qualifications include Master Degrees in landscape architecture and climate change policy.

Dr. Annapurna Vancheswaran
Senior Director,
TERI

As Senior Director, Communication Outreach and Advocacy Unit (COAU) at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the focus of Dr Annapurna 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 has been teaching Business Ethics as part of MBA programme of the University. In addition to her above responsibility, from 2019 - 2015 she was additionally appointed as Vice-President, TERI, North America to oversee TERI’s programmes and activities in the region. 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.

Mr. Bose Varghese
Head - Green Initiatives,
Infosys Limited

Mr Varghese is the Head of Green Initiatives in Infosys Limited, global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. He manages all environmental sustainability programs including the corporate RE100 and Carbon Neutral commitments. His leadership has been instrumental in making Infosys one of the global leaders in climate action and sustainability. Under his leadership, Infosys turned carbon neutral for financial year 2020, thirty years ahead of the timeline set under the Paris Agreement. He has been actively involved in climate action advocacy.

Prior to this role, he was the founder-Director of Vie2Sustain Consulting LLP, Bangalore, and the head of Climate Change & Sustainability practice at EY, Bangalore. He has extensively worked in the US and India in the areas of energy, environment, sustainability, climate change, and cleantech.

Ms. Deeksha Vats
Chief Sustainability Officer,
Aditya Birla Group

Ms Deeksha is leading the sustainability agenda for Aditya Birla Group, across all its locations on strategic, operational, communication and advocacy aspects. She is Civil Engineer with masters in Environment Science and Engineering.

Deeksha is a sustainability professional with over 25 years of experience in both consulting and corporates at group and company levels. She worked across diverse industry sectors such as heavy and general manufacturing, utilities, retail, telecom, financial institutions, and also Government bodies and multilateral funding agencies. Her focus areas for these engagements have been climate change, energy mix transition, water risk mitigation, waste and contaminated site management, resource conservation, biodiversity and forestry.

Mr. Darsh Vatsa
Student,
Delhi Public School, Sonepat

Darsh Vatsa has been working on various environmental issues since 2019, and he also recently formed a youth climate action group named "ResistTwo". He has been into researching and writing articles on issues like Air Pollution, Fossil Fuels etc. and with the mission to help more people understand the root causes of Climate Change has turned to advocacy through social media and online sessions.

Mr. S. M. Vijayanand
Former Chief Secretary,
Govt of Kerala

A 1981-batch IAS officer, Mr. Vijayanand passed his MA (English) with first rank from the University of Kerala and cleared his Civil Services examination securing seventh rank. During his 11 years as Secretary, Local Self-Government, Mr. Vijayanand had played a key role in the devolution of funds, powers and personnel to the local government institutions, besides serving as Member-Secretary of the Sen Committee on Democratic Decentralisation and served as member of the second and fourth Finance Commissions of Kerala and the third Administrative Reforms panel of the State.

Ms. Namita Vikas
Founder and Managing Partner,
auctusESG

Namita Vikas is a senior business leader with 30 years of diverse global experience in climate change strategy and sustainability across sectors including Banking, Technology & FMCG, Namita comes with an illustrious experience Sustainable Finance, ESG Risk Management, Climate Strategy and Disclosures. Ranked one of the “Leading Women in Business Sustainability” by the prestigious WBCSD and was globally recognized as “Sustainability Leader of the Year” by Ethical Corporation, UK. Namita has introduced Responsible Banking to India, raised over USD 1 billion capital and credit lines towards mainstream green finance and issued India’s 1st Green Bond in 2015. She is one of the architects of UN Principles for Responsible Banking and served as Chairperson and member of global advisory bodies like United Nations Environment Program- Finance Initiative (UNEPFI), United Nations Natural Capital Finance Alliance and International Capital Markets Association. She is a prominent speaker at UN General Assembly and G-20 on Climate risks and sustainable finance.

Dr. Amardeep Wander
Project Director,
Asia Pacific Waste Consultants

Dr Amardeep is an international waste management and marine litter expert. Dr Amardeep has extensive experience providing waste management and policy advice and provides practical solutions for waste management challenges and control of land and marine sources of plastic litter into the marine environment. Amardeep has more than twelve years of experience working with academia, local government and international aid organizations across Australia, the Pacific, the Caribbean, Central America, Africa and Asia.

Dr Amardeep leads the APWC practice, managing a team of experienced waste management professionals, as well as in-country project teams, to co-create waste management solutions. She has extensive experience in waste data and project management, waste auditing, recycling, technical reporting and evidence-based policy. Her strengths include strategy and program planning, stakeholder engagement and community consultation.

She has a proven track record of designing programs and projects that allow for valid, robust and appropriate collection of data whilst keeping the practical realities of waste management in mind. Most recently, Amardeep developed a comprehensive data collection methodology that supports a common approach for waste data collection, endorsed and adopted by World Bank (Regional Recycling Network), SPREP (PacWastePlus), JICA (J-PRISM-II), PRIF (Regional Recycling Network), EU- EDF11, CCOA (Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance) and UNE (GEF).

Mr. Mike Ward
Senior Evaluation and Sustainability Consultant,
Climate Investment Funds

Mike Ward is a sustainability professional with over 25 years’ of experience at the intersection of sustainable development, learning and change. He is currently working as a Senior Evaluation and Sustainability Consultant with the Climate Investment Funds and has conducted in-depth case studies on just transition in South Africa and India. Mike has a Masters in International Environmental Science, a Masters of Business Administration and is currently registered for a PhD with Rhodes University (South Africa).

Mr. Olivier Wenden
Vice-President and CEO,
Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation

Appointed in October 2019 as Vice-President & CEO of the Foundation, Wenden has previously served as Executive Director for 5 years. Launched in 2006 by HSH the Prince of Monaco, in order to act against the environmental dangers threatening our planet and making populations vulnerable, theFoundation focuses its efforts on three principal domains of action - climate change and renewable energies, biodiversity and water resources - and funds initiatives in the fields of research and studies, technological innovation and socially aware practices. Its programs are mainly focused on three priority areas - the Mediterranean Basin, the Polar Regions and the Least Developed Countries.

Wenden actively participated in the international development of the Foundation and the definition of its fundraising strategy, while strengthening the network of partners. Before joining the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Wenden worked for the Parliament of Monaco as chief of staff and international affairs and communication advisor (2007-2013). He also served as chargé de mission for the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Monaco (2013-2014). He graduated from Sciences Po Bordeaux with honours and has a Master 2 Degree in international projects management (Sorbonne Nouvelle, University of Paris).

Mr. Jacob Werksman
Principal Adviser,
European Commission, Directorate General for Climate Action

Jacob Werksman has, since 2012, served as Principal Adviser to Directorate General for Climate Action in the European Commission, where his work focuses on the international aspects of European climate policy.  He is Head of Delegation for the European Union to the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and advises the Commission with regard to international partnerships to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  He supports the Commission Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal and the European External Action Service in strengthening bilateral relationships between the EU and major economies, including the United States, India, and other international partners.

Werksman is an international lawyer, specializing in international environmental law and international economic law.  Prior joining the Commission, he provided legal and policy advice to developed and developing country governments, NGOs and international institutions in the context of the multilateral negotiations on climate change, biosafety and trade.  He has taught and published widely on the international legal dimensions of climate policy, including on the design of compliance mechanisms, climate finance and on the relationship between carbon markets and international trade and investment agreements. 

Prior to joining the Commission, he held posts at the World Resources Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation, United Nations Development Programme, and the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD) in London. He has lectured in international environmental and economic law at the masters level at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, New York University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies and University College at the University of London.  Werksman holds degrees from Columbia University (A.B.), the University of Michigan (J.D.) and the University of London (LL M.).

Mr. Tobias Winter
Director,
Indo-Germen Energy Forum (IGEF) Support Office

Mr. Tobias Winter was born in East-Berlin, Germany and holds a degree in Business Administration of the Rhine-Westphalia Institute of Technology Aachen (RWTH Aachen University). During his career, Mr. Winter has gained professional experience in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and the corresponding legislation in Germany, India, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. As an expert in energy economics for six years he was working in Latin America on behalf of the German federally owned international cooperation enterprise (GIZ). From 2009 to 2014 he has been the Director of the Competence Center in Renewable Energies for the German Chambers Network in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In 2015 he came back to India, since then leading the Support Office of the Indo-German Energy Forum, to promote cooperation in energy security, energy efficiency, renewable energies, investments in energy projects and collaborative research and development with participation from India and Germany.Mr. Tobias Winter was born in East-Berlin, Germany and holds a degree in Business Administration of the Rhine-Westphalia Institute of Technology Aachen (RWTH Aachen University). During his career, Mr. Winter has gained professional experience in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and the corresponding legislation in Germany, India, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. As an expert in energy economics for six years he was working in Latin America on behalf of the German federally owned international cooperation enterprise (GIZ). From 2009 to 2014 he has been the Director of the Competence Center in Renewable Energies for the German Chambers Network in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In 2015 he came back to India, since then leading the Support Office of the Indo-German Energy Forum, to promote cooperation in energy security, energy efficiency, renewable energies, investments in energy projects and collaborative research and development with participation from India and Germany.

Mr. Frederic Woringer
Head of Climate and Infastructure,
AETS

Frederic Woringer joined AETS in June 2018 as Head of the Climate and Infrastructure department. He is a civil engineer with 22 years of experience in infrastructure and private sector development. After workFrederic Woringering for a major French contractor, he was in charge of programming, monitoring and evaluating several roads, (waste)water and building projects under the 8th-10th European Development Funds (for a total of 350 million euros) in Jamaica and Tanzania, where he designed the first Transport Sector Budget Support programme. As the International Director of the regional Chamber of Commerce in Bordeaux (France), he created urbaquitaine.com, an alliance of 70 SMEs specialising in ‘green and smart cities’.

Dr. Peter Zeniewski
Analyst,
IEA

Energy analyst, IEA