Ms. Smita Agarwal
Head Education,
Tata Steel Foundation

Smita Agarwal has worked in the field of education for over two decades. Most of her work has centred around improving the conditions of schooling for underprivileged children in India. She is currently focussed on creating a scaled-up, replicable model to revitalise school education. Learning remains her personal passion. Over the years she has worked to integrate international research on learning in rural Indian schools. Smita has held senior positions in large-scale multilaterally funded government projects and engaged with state governments and NGOs across the country. She has done pioneering work on the neglected category of children of distressed seasonal migrants that has led to policy change. She has authored several papers and a book titled “Locked Homes, Empty Schools” with a foreword by Nobel Laureate Prof Amartya Sen. Since 2014 Smita has been heading the Education Program of Tata Steel’s CSR.

Ms. Nandini Agarwal
Programme Associate,
Council on Energy, Environment and Water

Working towatds catalysing policy change towards food systems transformation through research and ground implementation of supply side interventions, improving market linkages and nudging demand side shifts for nutritious, localised and sustainable foods.

Current and select previous engagemets: 

Programme Associate, Sustainable Food Systems, Council on Energy, Environment and Water  - Feb 2021 - Present

Project lead, Sustainable food education and urban farming, Edible Routes, New Delhi - Nov 2019 – Feb 2021

Climate action researcher, adelphi, Berlin - July – Dec 2018

Researcher, solar policy, Auroville Consulting, Tamil Nadu – Oct 2015- Oct 2016

Academics and fellowships: 

Masters in Environmental Policy, Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po - 2017 - 2019

Global Climate Youth Ambassador, World Bank Group, 2019-2020

BA (honors), Political Science, 2012 

Mr. Naseer Ahamed
Minister of Environment,,
Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka

A professionally qualified Engineer, having graduated with honors from the prestigious King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Honorable Naseer Ahamed was re-inducted into the cabinet of ministers to the portfolio as Minister for Environment, which portfolio he held under the premiership of Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksha for a brief period with additional charge of investment promotion in strategic economic sectors.

Previously, Minister Ahamed had the distinction of serving as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council, where he held, in addition, the charge of Finance and Planning, Law & Order, Local Government & Regional Administration, Rural Development, Tourism & Environment, Building & Construction, Transport, Rural Industries and Housing.

Dr. Manjyot Ahluwalia
Regional Lead-Asia,
Global Methane Hub

Dr. Ahluwalia is Regional Lead for Asia at the Global Methane Hub--a catalytic fund to help countries reduce methane emissions and deliver co-benefits

Ms. Ritu Ahuja
Climate Change Analyst,
World Bank

Ritu Ahuja is a climate policy and DRM professional, currently working with the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management of the South Asia Region. An economist by training, she works on climate policy drivers to enable scalable climate action in building cross-sectoral systemic resilience and enhancing adaptive capacity, through innovative financial instruments and mechanisms. In her work at the Bank, she supports the India office on means of embedding climate and disaster risk resilience measures across the Bank’s operations in India and South Asia, identifying innovative mechanisms towards financing adaptation and resilience, and strengthening institutional frameworks. In the past she has worked with TERI, an Indian think tank, developing her fundamental understanding on ground level issues and in turn effective policy enablers. She is based out of New Delhi.

Mr. Ishaaq Akoon
Senior Manager Climate Change,
City of Ekurhuleni

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber
COP28 President Designate and Special Envoy for Climate Change,
UAE

H.E. Dr Sultan Al Jaber is Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT), has served as Special Envoy for Climate Change for two terms (2010-2016, 2020-present), and played a proactive participatory role at over ten COPs, including the historic Paris COP21 in 2015. He was instrumental in establishing the nation's renewable energy trajectory, making him the first CEO to ever hold the position of COP President. As COP28 President-Designate, Dr Al Jaber will play a crucial role in leading the intergovernmental process, building consensus, and driving climate outcomes with a broad range of partners, including business and civil society, to raise ambition. 

Ms. Mariam Almheiri
Minister of Climate Change and Environment,
Ministry of Climate Change and Environment

She leads the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment’s mission of spearheading the UAE drive to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, protect the country’s ecosystems, and enhance it’s food and water security through developing and implementing effective measures, policies, and initiatives.

Prior to her current role, Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri was Minister of State for Food and Water Security. Her responsibilities included monitoring national food stocks and water supply, channeling investments in food and water technology innovation, and building international partnerships in this area.

Previously, Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri held the post of Minister of State for Food Security, where she oversaw the development of the necessary infrastructure to achieve the country’s food security objectives in line with the UAE- United Arab Emirates Centennial 2071.

Dr. Manish Anand
Senior Fellow,
TERI

Dr Manish Anand (Senior Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute - TERI) is a multidisciplinary professional with more than 16 years of experience in policy research, advocacy and capacity building encompassing diverse areas of agriculture, food and land use, resource use and efficiency and emerging technologies. His research and policy analysis work currently focuses on generating evidence, strategies and methodologies based on systems thinking approaches towards sustainable food and land use systems, including sustainable agricultural practices, natural resource use, rural livelihoods, human health and nutrition, and climate change.  He is academically trained in science policy, innovation studies, developmental studies and agriculture.

Dr. Rachna Arora
Team Leader,
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Dr. Rachna Arora is working as a Team Leader in the EU-Resource Efficiency project of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and as a Team Leader on the GIZ Circular Economy solutions preventing Marine litter project. 

She has been working with GIZ since last 15 years under the bilateral projects, projects of the European Commission and the partnership projects with the private sector with relevant Ministries and government departments towards policy formulation and its implementation. She holds a doctorate degree in environmental chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. She was a member of the Inter-departmental committee set up by Niti Aayog (Policy think tank, GoI) on Resource Efficiency strategy. She is also a working group member of the FICCI Circular Economy Committee to support industry research and dialogues on Circular Economy.

Dr. Roshni Arora
Applied Freshwater Scientist,
The Nature Conservancy Centre India

Dr Roshni Arora is a hydroecologist with more than eight years of experience in freshwater science, hydroecology, data analysis and modelling, and biodiversity conservation. At TNC India, Roshni works as an Applied Freshwater Scientist, leading and managing freshwater ecosystem conservation and planning projects. 

Mr. Masatsugu Asakawa
President,
Asian Development Bank

Masatsugu Asakawa is the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He was elected President by ADB’s Board of Governors and assumed office on 17 January 2020. Under his leadership, ADB made significant contributions to the region’s COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery planning. He also guided a series of new and innovative financing initiatives—including an Energy Transition Mechanism and elevated ADB’s 2030 cumulative climate financing ambition to $100 billion. Prior to joining ADB, he served as Special Advisor to Japan’s Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and has a professional career in diverse fields such as international finance, development, and taxation. Mr. Asakawa also worked for international organizations as the Chief Advisor to ADB President (1989- 1992), senior staff at the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund (1996-2000), and Chair for the Committee on Fiscal Affairs at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2011-2016).

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

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.

Ms. Harpreet Kaur Bajaj
Principal Transport Economist,
Ramboll

Harpreet is a Principal Transport Economist at Ramboll with over 16 years of experience. She is involved in carrying out pre-bid/ post-bid/ due diligence traffic and revenue forecasting studies/ project appraisals, for developers, investors, lenders and financial institutions. She has been involved in active mobility in Ramboll. She represents the Cycling Service Line in Smart Mobility spearhead of Ramboll, India. She has been extensively involved in the preparation of Green Paper on “Gender and Mobility” where in local expert interviews, surveys and focus groups discussions in the seven capitals of Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, India, and Singapore were conducted. The Green Paper is an attempt to create more awareness of the importance of gender in transport and mobility planning and design by identifying gender differences in behavior, views, and challenges that the users are facing in their daily lives.  

Mr. Siddarthan Balasubramania
Principal Strategist,
ClimateWorks Foundation

Siddarthan works to elevate and scale philanthropy role in devising strategies, policies and programs to address global climate change challenge with a focus on India and its interface with other key geographies. His decades of experience comprise bilateral development agencies, (UKDFID, UKFCO, Norway's NORAD), interngovernmental organisation (Country Head, India- GGGI) and internaitonal NGO (WRI, Washington DC). 

Mr. Siddarthan Balasubramania
Principal Strategist,
ClimateWorks Foundation

Siddarthan works to elevate and scale philanthropy role in devising strategies, policies and programs to address global climate change challenge with a focus on India and its interface with other key geographies. His decades of experience comprise bilateral development agencies, (UKDFID, UKFCO, Norway's NORAD), interngovernmental organisation (Country Head, India- GGGI) and internaitonal NGO (WRI, Washington DC). 

Mr. Manish Bapna
CEO and President,
Natural Resources Defense Council

Manish Bapna is president and chief executive officer of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), one of the nation’s most influential environmental groups, which works to ensure the rights of all people to clear air, clean water, and healthy and equitable communities. During his 25-year career, Bapna’s leadership roles have focused on designing sustainable development strategies that are equitable, durable, and scalable. Most recently, he served as executive vice president and managing director of the World Resources Institute, a leading global research organization focused on the environment and development, for more than 14 years. As NRDC’s new president and CEO, Bapna joins the 51-year-old nonprofit of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates around the globe to tackle the biggest environmental issues we face today. 

Ms. Xiye Bastida
Co-founder,
Re-Earth Initiative

Xiye Bastida is a Climate Justice Activist who advocates for the centering of frontline communities in climate policy. She is an organizer for Fridays For Future NYC and helped mobilize up to 300,000 people in the 2019 climate strikes. In 2020, she co-founded Re-Earth Initiative, a youth-led Climate Justice education organization. As a public speaker and writer, she advocates for youth and Indigenous rights, and highlights the intersectionality of the climate crisis. She is also a commissioner at the Climate Governance Commission that will develop reform proposals on global climate governance. She currently attends the University of Pennsylvania where she is pursuing a BA in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Policy.

Mr. Yogesh Bedi
Chief of Urban Mining & Steel Recycling Businesses,
TATA Steel

Yogesh Bedi is an Industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in the industry. He is in-charge of two Businesses – The Urban Mining Business & the Steel Recycling Business for Tata Steel. He has recently commissioned India’s 1stSteel Recycling Unit, at Rohtak, Haryana. This sustainability initiative is a disruptor of sorts & is likely change the way scrap is bought & sold in India. He has a passion for Sustainability & Circular Economy and is a Thought Leader at the very top, that is, in the National policy formulation. He is a member of Circular Economy committees of Niti Ayog,  MoRTH & FICCI. 

Mr. Suman . Bery
Vice Chairperson,
NITI Aayog

Mr. Suman Bery has recently taken over as Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog. He has served as Director-General of NCAER in New Delhi and Chief Economist of Shell International, based in Hague.Mr Bery has served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council; India’s Statistical Commission; and Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy. He commented extensively in the media on economic issues, contributing a monthly column for a business newspaper.His professional writings include contributions on the political economy of reform, financial sector and banking reform, and energy trends and policy.Mr Bery holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford and did graduate work in public policy at Princeton University

Dr. Anshu Bharadwaj
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. Atul Kumar Bhatnagar
General Manager, OMQ Division,
Tata Steel Limited

Mr. Atul Kumar Bhatnagar is currently the General Manager of OMQ Division and leading the Iron Ore Business of Tata Steel. He has been working with TATA Steel for 30 Years in various fields like operations, maintenance, and project development for the opening and expansion of new mines in India and abroad for coal, iron, and fluxes. He has rich experience in beneficiation plant design, erection & commissioning, operations, and maintenance. Key interest in improving efficiency during process flow sheet development, review, and audits of beneficiation plants of Tata Steel and associated companies in India and abroad. Atul is an Electrical Engineer from IIT BHU and completed a general management programme at XLRI Jamshedpur.

Mr. Amit Bhatt
Managing Director for India,
International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)

Amit Bhatt is the ICCT’s Managing Director for India. He is based in New Delhi and has over 20 years of experience in transportation, urban development, and management. Before joining ICCT, Amit was Executive Director for Integrated Transport at WRI India for 12 years. Prior to the World Resources Institute he worked with the Urban Mass Transit Company, India’s leading urban transport consultancy, and with Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member at the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi. Amit has a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s degree in transport planning from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. Amit also has a master’s degree in economics and a diploma in transport economics and management.

Mr. Amitava Bhattacharyya
Distinguished Fellow, Environmental and Industrial Biotechnology Division,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Shri Amitava Bhattacharyya, retired IAS, was appointed as an Independent Director on the Board of ONGC w.e.f. 19.07.2019. He was Central Information Commissioner during 2016-18 before he retired from the civil services as the Chairman of the Staff Selection Commission, Government of India on 31.12.2015. Shri Bhattacharyya acquired his graduation in physics from Presidency College, Kolkata, and post-graduation from the University of Delhi. Later, he served in National Physical Laboratory-CSIR, before joining the Indian Administrative Service in 1980. Subsequently, he did a course in Human Resources and Public Administration from Maxwell School of Citizenship, Syracuse, USA. He served the Government of Gujarat in various capacities both in the field as well as in the Secretariat. Later, he served for about two years in the UPSC as Secretary. 

Mr. László Borbély
State Counsellor to the Prime-Minister,
Government of Romania

László BORBÉLY is a politician who has significantly contributed to the democratic development of Romanian society, both as one of the most well-known leaders of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania and through the different high ranking functions held in the Romanian Parliament and the Romanian Government in the field of International Affairs, Environment and Sustainable Development, Regional Development and Infrastructure. László BORBÉLY held the position of Minister of the Environment, was Minister of Regional Development Public, Works and Housing, state secretary at Ministry of Public Works and Territorial Planning, Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Transport as well as Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies. At international level, László BORBÉLY served as Chairman of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Sustainable Development, position which he has fulfilled with a rigorous professionalism, yielding important results.

Ms. Jane Burston
Executive Director,
Clean Air Fund

Jane Burston is Clean Air Fund’s founding Executive Director. Before bringing together donors to set up the Clean Air Fund, Jane was Head of Climate and Energy Science in the UK Government, where she was responsible for the UK greenhouse gas inventory and a £45m science programme, and previously led a team of 150 scientists working on Energy and Environment at the National Physical Laboratory.  

Jane was featured by WIRED as one of their changemakers of tomorrow and was named as a ‘Young Global Leader’ of the World Economic Forum and a social entrepreneur of the year in the UK. She is a regular commentator and conference speaker and also trustee of Parkinson’s UK. 

Ms. Mechthild Caspers
Head of Division,
German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection

Mechthild Caspers is head of the division “Climate Policy in the Land Sector” of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV). She joined the Ministry in 2002 and has been working in the Directorate for Nature Conservation since 2017. One of her main priorities is the development of the German Federal Action Plan on Nature-based Solutions for Climate and Biodiversity.

Mr. Rajesh Chadha
Senior Fellow,
Centre for Social and Economic Progress

Dr Rajesh Chadha is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP). His research focuses on the issues of ensuring efficient, socially just, and environment-friendly growth of the non-fuel mining sector in India while also addressing related climate change issues. His most recent work is on assessing India’s need for critical minerals. He was formerly a Professor & Research Director at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and former to that, an Associate Professor of Economics at Hindu College, University of Delhi. He received his PhD in Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.

Mr. Siddharth Chaturvedi
Senior Program Officer,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Siddharth Chaturvedi is a Senior Program Officer, Agricultural Development, Asia at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He leads the investments in the South Asia region with a focus on Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, with a lens of climate change adaptation and women empowerment. Previously, he has worked with the World Bank, The Tata Cornell Institute and Ministry of Rural Development (India) on diversifying farm incomes, developing economic pathways to reduce hidden hunger, and enabling alternate livelihoods.

Dr. Rajiv Chhibber
Vice President,
Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd

Dr Rajiv Chhibber is a Senior Corporate Affairs, Public Policy, Communications & Media Strategist with experience across several industries including Pharmaceuticals/Medical Devices and has worked in the past in the Development Sector in the key areas of Healthcare, Climate Change, Energy and Sustainable Development. Dr Chhibber is currently Vice President, External Affairs at Sahajanand Medical Technologies, a global developer and manufacturer of minimally invasive coronary and vascular systems. He is a member of various key industry associations where he is heading committees / sub-committees in areas of Public Health Advocacy, Pharma & Medical Devices, Environmental Health, and Climate Change issues playing a stewardship role in creating the roadmap for India’s MedTech and healthcare system, assisting the governments vision to achieve India’s Health and Sustainable Goals.

Mr. Manish Chourasia
Managing Director,
Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd.

Profile of Mr Manish Chourasia Managing Director, Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd

Mr Manish Chourasia is a financial service professional with 27 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 the world, jointly promoted by Tata Capital Ltd and International Finance Corporation (IFC). During his tenure to date, the company, starting from scratch, has funded over 300 projects in Clean-tech sector saving 16.9 tons of CO2 annually, executed several marquee advisory assignments, and tied up with some global climate investors like GCF, FMO, CDC amongst others to channelise 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 Sept 2019 year, it was inducted in the Global Green Bank Network recognising the pioneering role being played by it in mainstreaming climate finance in India. In June 2022 the company won Earth Care Award sponsored by Times of India Group, for enterprise in Renewable Energy.

Manish is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT, Rookee and an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University. In Feb 2020 he was presented “100 Top-most Influential BFSI Leaders” award by World BFSI Congress. In June 2021 he was made one of the 3 co-chairs of Global High-level Taskforce formed by ISA for mobilizing USD 1 trillion towards deployment of solar energy technologies and expand solar markets in member countries. Apart from this he also chairs working group on G 20 climate finance formed by Gateway House and is member of CII Net Zero Council.

He is an avid runner with a number of long distances run to his credit.

Mr. Manish Chourasia
Managing Director,
Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd.

Profile of Mr Manish Chourasia Managing Director, Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd

Mr Manish Chourasia is a financial service professional with 27 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 the world, jointly promoted by Tata Capital Ltd and International Finance Corporation (IFC). During his tenure to date, the company, starting from scratch, has funded over 300 projects in Clean-tech sector saving 16.9 tons of CO2 annually, executed several marquee advisory assignments, and tied up with some global climate investors like GCF, FMO, CDC amongst others to channelise 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 Sept 2019 year, it was inducted in the Global Green Bank Network recognising the pioneering role being played by it in mainstreaming climate finance in India. In June 2022 the company won Earth Care Award sponsored by Times of India Group, for enterprise in Renewable Energy.

Manish is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT, Rookee and an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University. In Feb 2020 he was presented “100 Top-most Influential BFSI Leaders” award by World BFSI Congress. In June 2021 he was made one of the 3 co-chairs of Global High-level Taskforce formed by ISA for mobilizing USD 1 trillion towards deployment of solar energy technologies and expand solar markets in member countries. Apart from this he also chairs working group on G 20 climate finance formed by Gateway House and is member of CII Net Zero Council.

He is an avid runner with a number of long distances run to his credit.

Ms. Helen Clarkson
CEO,
Climate Group

Helen joined Climate Group in 2017 as its Chief Executive Officer. In addition to leading the growing Climate Group team, Helen sits on the board of the We Mean Business Coalition , is on the board of the  Sustainable Development Capital Energy Efficiency Income Trust, and is on the Mission Council for Pukka Herbs.  

Prior to joining Climate Group, Helen worked at Forum for the Future, Médecins Sans Frontières, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte.

Mr. Jon Creyts
CEO,
Rocky Mountain Institute

Jon Creyts is the CEO of RMI. He is an internationally recognized leader on global energy issues and climate change.

Jon served as a senior leader at RMI for nearly a decade before assuming the role of CEO. While chief program officer, he helped grow the institution more than tenfold in size. He has extensive knowledge and practical experience applying market forces like finance, policy, data, and technology to support the rapid decarbonization of infrastructure and industries globally. He oversees and steers all RMI’s global programs and operations and advises the organization’s global network of market affiliates.

Prior to joining RMI, Jon was a partner with McKinsey & Company where he spent 11 years in the global energy practice. Before that, he was a designer in the energy and aviation industries and is an alumnus of Lockheed Martin’s renowned Skunk Works prototyping facility.

Dr. Winfried Damm
Head, Energy Programme,
GIZ - India

Dr. Winfried Damm, graduated at FU Hagen, Germany, received a MBA from Michigan State University (USA) and a Ph.D. from FU Berlin.  

He worked for two years as a consultant, four years for a member of national parliament in the energy sector and joined the municipal utility (Stadtwerke) of Leipzig in 1992. There he headed sales, marketing, PR, strategy, controlling, M&A, international department and was responsible for external relations among others. He had been involved in many national legislative outcomes starting with the first feed-in-law for renewables up to capacity market discussions. 
 
Dr. Damm started working with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in December 2014 and joined the GIZ India office in January 2015 as Director of the Indo-German Energy Programme.  

Ms. Shradha Das
Green Skipper,
M E School

Shradha is a very active girl studying in class VII in M E School in a remote mining town Noamundi of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. She leads all environment protection and awareness related activities done under EMC as Green Skipper. 

Ms. Amrita Dasgupta
Energy Analyst,
International Energy Agency

Amrita Dasgupta has been an Energy Analyst on the World Energy Outlook team at the International Energy Agency (IEA) for four years. The World Energy Outlook (WEO) is the IEA’s annual flagship publication that provides critical analysis and insights on trends in energy demand and supply, and what they mean for energy security, environmental protection and economic development. Amrita works on topics of clean energy innovation and was the lead analyst for battery technologies, battery recycling and solar PV for the report on the Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions in 2021. She is one of the core members of the team that works on critical minerals at the IEA. Amrita holds advanced degrees in physics and renewable energy engineering from EPFL in Switzerland and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and has previously worked as a researcher for photovoltaic materials at the École Polytechnique in France. 

Mr. Kartikeya Desai
Founder & CEO,
Desai & Associates

Kartikeya N Desai is the Founder of Desai & Associates, an innovative finance focused research, advisory and advocacy firm. He teaches Impact Investment at Ashoka University and Climate Finance at Anant University, and has played an active role in the development of the social finance industry over two decades through his leadership at pioneering impact investment firms and the Impact Investors Council industry association. Previously Mr. Desai led Asha Impact, a multi-family office and foundation for Indian UHNIs and business leaders, was a Partner at Kois, a global development finance consulting firm, and a venture capitalist with pioneering impact funds Lok Capital and Aavishkaar. He started his career in investment banking with Merrill Lynch in 2005, after completing his education at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and SIPA, Columbia University. He was one of the 200 young CEOs selected as the Indian Prime Minister’s Champions of Change in 2017.

Mr. Nitin Desai
Chairman, Governing Council,
The Energy and Resources Institute - TERI

Mr. Nitin Desai was a national and international civil servant. He joined the Planning Commission as an Adviser in 1973, served as Secretary of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and went on to become Secretary and Chief Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance in 1988.

At the international level he was a Senior Adviser to the Brundtland Commission. He joined the UN in 1990 as Deputy Secretary General for the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and was appointed as Under Secretary General at the UN in New York in 1993 and stayed in that post till 2003.  During this period, he led the work on sustainable development and in other economic and social areas.

After his retirement in he has been involved in a variety of public policy activities nationally and internationally. He is the Chairman of the Governing Council of The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI). 

Mr. Nitin Desai
Chairman - Governing Council,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Mr Nitin Desai is a distinguished economist and a well-known voice in public policy for a nationally and internationally, especially in the sustainable development sector. He was in the Planning Commission (1973-88) and later served as the Chief Economic Adviser and Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, in the Ministry of Finance (1988-90). He also served as Senior Economic Adviser for the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) where he introduced the concept of sustainable development. He was the Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs in the UN, where his major contributions included the organization of a series of global summits, notably the Rio Earth Summit (1992), the Copenhagen Social Development Summit (1995), the Monterrey Finance and Development Summit (2002) and the Johannesburg Sustainable Development Summit (2002). He oversaw the creation of the Commission on Sustainable Development in the UN, and was the first Under Secretary General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development.

Ms. Trupti Deshpande
Senior Programme Manager -Electric Mobility,
Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation

An Architect, town planner by training, Trupti comes with eight years of experience in urban planning, urban transport, clean transport and electric mobility. She has closely worked with Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) and various public entities on multimodal integration, e-bus tender, cost benefit analysis for E-bus and conventional bus variants.  She has published many articles on electric mobility and urban transportation to create awareness within the general public.  Trupti has an M.Tech degree in Town and Country Planning from College of Engineering, Pune, and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from B.K.P.S. College of Architecture, Pune.

Dr. Vibha Dhawan
Director General,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Dr Vibha Dhawan is associated with The Energy and Resources Institute since 1985. She also served as the Vice-Chancellor of TERI School of Advanced Studies from 2005-2007. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India.

Dr Dhawan is actively involved in research as well as policy development, both at the national and international level. She is a task force member of a number of committees of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), the Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) etc.

She is currently serving as Adjunct Professor, Consul General South Asia Partnership, Michigan State University. She has successfully completed a number of international assignment such as co-ordinator for the Asia Pacific Consortium on Agriculture Biotechnology (APCoAB); Advisor to Director General, The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT); and Deputy Director, Research Partnerships & Co-ordination with the Borlaug Institute for South Asia. She has served on the boards of prestigious organizations in India and overseas including Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Ambedkar University, Ayurvet Foundation and Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI).

Dr. Vibha Dhawan
Director General,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Dr Vibha Dhawan is associated with The Energy and Resources Institute since 1985. She also served as the Vice-Chancellor of TERI School of Advanced Studies from 2005-2007. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India.

Dr Dhawan is actively involved in research as well as policy development, both at the national and international level. She is a task force member of a number of committees of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), the Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) etc.

She is currently serving as Adjunct Professor, Consul General South Asia Partnership, Michigan State University. She has successfully completed a number of international assignment such as co-ordinator for the Asia Pacific Consortium on Agriculture Biotechnology (APCoAB); Advisor to Director General, The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT); and Deputy Director, Research Partnerships & Co-ordination with the Borlaug Institute for South Asia. She has served on the boards of prestigious organizations in India and overseas including Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Ambedkar University, Ayurvet Foundation and Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI).

Dr Dhawan as a researcher was instrumental in the establishment of the highly successful Micropropagation Technology Park at TERI. Her other major achievements includes developing e-contents for the post-graduate programme in biotechnology for the University Grants Commission. Her recent research interests are in the area of biofuels. She is currently the coordinator of the DBT-TERI Centre on Integrated Production of Advanced Biofuels and Biocommodities. She was Advisor, Bio-resources & Biotechnology, to the Late Tarun Gogoi, the former Chief Minister of Assam.

She is the winner of Indian Women Achievers Sammaan 2017 by NRI Achievers; Women Leadership Agriculture Award 2016 by the Indian Council of Food & Agriculture; First Biotech Product and Process Development and Commercialization Award of the Department of Biotechnology in 2000, the Kamal Kumari National Award for Science and Technology and the first All India Biotech Association (AIBA) award in 1998.

She has authored 6 books and over 50 publications.

Dr. Rita Dhodapkar
Principal Technical Officer,
CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur

Dr. Rita Dhodapkar is the Science Secretary of CSIR-NEERI and Principal Technical Officer in the Director's Research cell of CSIR-NEERI. She is working in the research areas of environmental monitoring, water and wastewater management, waste management with respect to urban and rural scenarios, monitoring and mitigation of contaminants of emerging concern, and contaminated soil monitoring and remediation. Rita is also a member of the Environment Protection Committee, Bureau of Standards. She is the lead Coordinator for Horizon 2020 and the Department of Science and Technology-sponsored Research on Water and Wastewater Technologies. Her international collaborations are with 19 European Universities and CSIRO, Australia.

Mr. Saurabh Diddi
Director,
BEE

Ms. Swati Dsouza
Program Head,
IndianZEV Center, UC Davis

Swati Dsouza is the programme head for the India ZEV centre, ITS at UC Davis. Her research interests include just transitions, power and transport sector decarbonisation, supply chain security. Previously at Brookings India (now CSEP) she managed and co-edited the book “The Next Stop: Natural gas and India’s journey to a clean energy future” which puts together a roadmap to increase gas consumption in India. Swati was also associated with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) where she led the research on fossil fuels and transitions in India’s electricity sector to renewable energy.

Dr. LOKESH CHANDRA DUBE
Senior Manager, Standard Development and Innovation,
Gold Standard

Dr. Lokesh Chandra Dube is Senior Manager for Energy, Land Use & Forests portfolio at The Gold Standard Foundation, one of the leading carbon standards. Prior to this, Lokesh served as Programme Officer in NATCOM Cell of MoEFCC, Government of India. He was instrumental in preparing India’s Biennial Update Reports and was part of India’s delegation to UNFCCC COP and IPCC. Lokesh has also worked as a Consultant with Emergent Ventures India and a Greenhouse gas auditor with TÜV NORD. Lokesh has an M.Sc. in Environment Management from FRI, Dehradun, an M.Phil. in Energy and Environment from Devi Ahilya University, Indore and a Ph.D. on carbon forestry from TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi. A Fellow of International Society for Tropical Ecology and a recipient of Aquaguard Young Scientist Award from Eureka Forbs, Lokesh is also on the Roster of Experts to the UNFCCC. He has several publications to his credit.

Ms. Bahar Dutt
Associate Professor,
Shiv Nadar University

Award winning journalist Bahar Dutt is trained as a conservation biologist- and has worked as an Environment Editor with India’s leading English newschannel CNN-News18 and has won over 14 national and international awards for her reportage on green issues. She is the author of the book ‘Green Wars- Dispatches from a Vanishing World by Harper Collins in 2014 and Rewilding in India with Oxford University Press in 2019.  She is currently Associate Professor at the Shiv Nadar University in New Delhi. 

Dr. Yasmine Fouad
Minister,
Ministry of Environment of Egypt

Dr. Yasmine Fouad was appointed Minister of Environment of the Arabic Republic of Egypt on 18 June 2018 and COP27 Ministerial Coordinator and Envoy since December 2021 till present. Dr. Fouad holds MSc in Environmental Science and PhD in Political. She has more than 24 years’ experience in Environment and International cooperation, working in Government, UN organizations, NGOs and Universities. As Minister of Environment, she has successfully changed the environment narrative at the national level
Dr. Fouad has clear milestones at the international level. 
At the Academic level, she has been selected as a lead author to chapter four of the IPCC Special Report on “Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems” in 2017.

Mr. Chirag Gajjar
Associate Director,
PwC India

Chirag oversees Climate Change and Sustainable Cooling at PwC India. In this capacity, he engages with Businesses, Industry Asscociations, Govetnments and Think tanks to help clients deliver sustained outcomes as they seek to build trust with their stakheolders.  

Dr. Prasanth Gargava
Member Secretary,
Central Pollution Control Board

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.

Dr. Prodipto Ghosh
Distinguished Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Prodipto Ghosh is involved in research and teaching at the interface of science, economics, philosophy, and public policy. Currently, he is Distinguished Fellow at TERI. He is also Member of the Task Force on Inter-linking of Rivers, and Task Forces of other bodies including FICCI, etc. He was earlier Member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Cabinet, Governing Council of the Indian Council of Social Science Research. He was a member of the IAS from 1969 to 2007, when he retired as Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. He has also held the positions of Economic Advisor and Additional Secretary to the PM, Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, and Senior Environment Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, Manila. He has a Ph.D in Economics and Policy Analysis from the Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, and a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi. 

Prof. 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 superannuated as Professor-in-Charge of Department of Environment and Water Management, A.N. College, Patna, India on 30th June after 44 years of active service. Currently he is working on a multinational (Indo-Dutch-Bangladesh) research project DELTAP for arsenic mobilization in Gangetic floodplains of Bihar supported by NWO-Wotro – The funding agency of The Netherlands Government. Dr.Ghosh is also working on DST-UKIERI supported project Nutri-SAM jointly with University of Salford ,UK. 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. DST has awarded another Inter-Institutional research project in 2020 titled "Tribute Ganga"with IITG,TERI and ANCP.Dr.Ghosh has published more than 74 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 is also working as member of Regional Empowered Committee of Department of Environment and Forest, Government of India since 2015.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. Ghosh has been granted Indo-Japan research project with Tokyo University to study impact of arsenic on Gallbladder in 2022.He is also working on lead poisoning in Bihar with Vital Strategies (USA).

Dr. Amrita Goldar
Senior Fellow,
Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)

Dr. Amrita Goldar has more than 15 years of experience working on projects related to energy, environment and climate change for both government and non-governmental clients. Many of her recent projects are for the central government ministries (MoF, MoEF&CC, MoP, etc.) that inform India’s negotiation standpoint at international forums.

Within ICRIER, she has worked on and led projects related to estimating the financial requirements for meeting India’s NDC commitments and adaptation needs,  G-20 ETWG negotiations, circular economy, and sustainable EV battery supply chains, tourism and waste management links, municipal bonds for financing urban solar rooftop projects, climate change impacts on urban economic competitiveness, cost-benefit analysis of urban local public health interventions, MSMEs and sustainability standards, techno-economic analysis of various renewable energy technologies for telecom towers, and impacts of rationalizing fossil fuel subsidies in India.

Her ongoing projects include understanding battery waste management linkages to sustainable EV supply chains, designing a critical mineral policy for India, studying the impact of renewable policies on jobs created in states, facilitating private adaptation flows, reviewing policy measures needed for transitioning to net-zero steel sector, and providing inputs for energy negotiations during India’s G20 and Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Presidency in 2023.

She was granted her Ph.D. degree in 2018 Economics from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her doctoral thesis was on Bilateral Investment Agreements and their impact on India-bound FDI.

She has multiple national and international publications to her credit. She has written multiple working papers as both a lead and a contributing author that delve into work done for projects.

Mr. Zac Goldsmith
Lord,
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

The Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park is the Minister for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

He was previously Minister for Asia, Energy, Climate and Environment at the FCDO from September to October 2022. Before that, he was the Minister for Pacific and the Environment at FCDO and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). He was first appointed as a Minister of State in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development (DFID) and Defra on 13 February 2020.

Before that, he was Minister of State at Defra and at DFID from 10 September 2019 to 13 February 2020 and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Defra and at DFID from 27 July 2019 to 10 September 2019.

Prof. Ashvani Gosain
Director,
INRM Consultants

Dr. Ashvani K. Gosain, is Professor Emeritus in the Civil Engineering Department, IIT Delhi and his area of research includes Water Resources Engineering, climate change, water security, AI, ML and GIS Technologies. Prof. Gosain pioneered the climate change impact and vulnerability assessment on Indian water resources that was incorporated in National Communications made to the UNFCCC. Prof. Gosain contributed to the formulation of the Ganga River Basin Management Plan (GRBMP), as Team Leader of the Water Resources Management group. He is also part of the expert committees appointed by the National Green Tribunal to suggest solutions to deal with the pollution in Ganga and Yamuna. He has to his distinction formulation of the Ganga Act on behalf of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (now Jal Shakti), as a member of the committee. He has also formulated the Drainage Master Plan of NCT of Delhi for the Delhi

Ms. Surbhi Goyal
Senior Energy Specialist,
The World Bank

Surbhi Goyal is a Senior Energy Specialist with the World Bank’s Delhi office. She is leading some of most innovative projects/technologies in renewable energy sector in India and been recognized as one of the ‘Asia's Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy’. Some such projects/technologies involve grid-connected large-scale solar parks, floating solar, hybrid solutions involving solar/wind/battery energy storage, solar in snow, hydropower, repurposing of coal-fired thermal power project sites, and Green Hydrogen. She holds a master’s degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics.

Mr. H.E. Christophe Guilhou
Directeur du développement durable,
Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires

Directeur du développement durable - Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères

Dr. Neha Gupta
Senior Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Dr Neha is an environmental awareness and behaviour change communication and sustainability expert with nearly two-decade experience in this field. She has a PhD in wastewater.

https://www.teriin.org/profile/neha 

Mr. Nitin Gupta
Vice President,
Capgemini-INVENT India

Nitin has more than 25 years of rich professional experience in providing business advisory services, formulating IT strategies, undertaking program/project management of large implementation projects and being a P&L lead. He has worked across industries in multiple geographies including India, Middle East, US, UK, and Europe. He is currently the Head of Sustainability Advisory at Capgemini Invent.

Mr. Deepak Gupta
Head - Carbon Offsets Business,
ReNew Power

Deepak Gupta heads Carbon Offsets business at ReNew – a leading decarbonization services provider. Deepak has over 20 years of experience in clean energy and environment, focused on carbon mitigation strategies across renewable, efficiency, waste management, air pollution control and climate policy. Deepak has been actively involved in policy formulation for climate change mitigation, in close collaboration with Government of India, global civil society and philanthropic organizations.

Deepak also served as a member of several committees of the Government of India and contributed to initiatives such as "India's Wind Potential Reassessment ", "RE Roadmap 2030", “India Innovation Lab for Green Finance”, and “Green Power Market Development Group”. He also served as a member of the Committee constituted by the GoI to develop NDC submissions to UNFCCC, for the RE sector. Deepak is a Certified Energy Auditor, and alumnus of IIT Delhi, Faculty of Management Studies, and Delhi College of Engineering.

Ms. Ilka Hirt
Deputy Director General,
BMUV, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, Gemany

Ilka Hirt has been Deputy Director-General for International Policy at the BMUV since 2022. The Directorate is responsible for the international cooperation of the BMUV including its international climate policy and specifically the environmental aspects thereof. As Deputy Director General Ilka Hirt also coordinates the bilateral cooperation of the BMUV with partner countries as well as multilateral processes, including the United Nations, G7 and G20. Prior to this role, she was Head of Division for EU Coordination at the Federal Environment Ministry (then the BMU) for five years. Before starting at the BMU in 2008, Ilka Hirt worked for the French Ministry of Finance and the Environment Ministry of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. She is a fully qualified lawyer and graduate of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA).

Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
Vice President of Guyana,
Government of Guyana

Bharrat Jagdeo: Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo’s life, from humble origins, reflects the successes of passions pursued – great international inroads for Guyana and a unity of the peoples and potential of his country, Guyana.

Armed with a Master's in Economics from the Peoples Friendship University of Russia, in May 1995, Dr. Jagdeo was named Guyana’s substantive Finance Minister. Dr. Jagdeo went on to becoming President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, on 11 August 1999.

During his tenure as President (1999-2011) major economic and social reforms were undertaken in Guyana. By the time he relinquished office as President, Guyana was one of the fastest growing economies in South America and the Caribbean, recording several years of consecutive growth even through the global financial crisis of 2007-2008.

Dr. Jagdeo was selected as one of the young global leaders by the World Economic Forum in 2005. Time Magazine had named President Jagdeo a 2008 ‘Hero of the Environment. The United Nations, in 2010, declared President Jagdeo, as one of its ‘Champions of the Earth Awardees’.

He currently serves as Vice President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.                                                           

Ms. Nialé Kaba
Minister of Planning and Development,
Government of Côte d'Ivoire

According to the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, H.E. Mr. Alassane Ouattara, Ms. Nialé KABA is a first-class economist.

Ms Kaba is an Economist-Statistician Engineer, graduated from ENSAE Paris. She also holds a Postgraduate degree in International Economics and Development Economics and a degree in Economic Policy Management from the IMF Institute.

She starts her career in 1989 in education, and quickly joined the administration where she held senior positions from 1995 to 2007, such as: Chief of Staff at the Prime Minister's Office, Deputy Director of Cabinet at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Director of Cabinet at the Ministry in charge of Crafts and the Informal Sector, and Director General of Côte d'Ivoire Tourism.

Since 2011, she has served in ministerial positions: Minister for the Promotion of Housing (2011-2012), Minister in charge of Economy and Finance (2012-2016), and Minister of Planning and Development since 2016.

Mr. Rakesh Kacker
Vice Chairman,
TERI Alumni Association

Rakesh Kacker

Joined IAS in 1977 ; Tamil Nadu Cadre

Retired as Secretary, GOI, Ministry for  Food Processing Industries in 2013

Worked as Director India Habitat Centre after retiring from Government. 2013-2018

Some Recent Part  time Assignments

• Chairman, Committee for framing Uniform Standard Bidding Guidelines for RE Sector ( Ministry of New and Renewable Energy , GOI ( 2020-2021)

• Member ,Expert Committee for revision of SBDs and MBDs : 2015-2019(Ministry of Power, GOI)
• Member, High Powered Committee for revision of bidding documents for Coal Mines: 2017-2019 (Ministry of Coal , GOI)

• Chairman CSR Board Michelin Tyres CSR Board  Chennai (2013-2018)
• Member, Institute Body, AIIMS, Jodhpur (2013-2020)

• Independent Director , Board of ONGC Videsh (2017-2020)
• Independent Director, Board of PTC India (Power Trading Corporation of India) (2017-2022)
• Independent Director , Board of PTC India  Financial Services Limited (2019-2021)
• Member Dispute Resolution Committee , MNRE, GOI( 2020-2022)
• President TERI Alumni Association (2019-2022)

Current Assignments

• Independent Director, Board of Planetcast Media Services limited (2019-)
• Member Managing Committee of several schools of DPS Society(2018-)
• Advisor, IamGurgaon, ( 2018- Gurgaon based NGO)
• Vice Chairman  TERI Alumni Association(2022- Delhi based NGO)
• Member Advisory Board, Unlimited India (2021- Mumbai based NGO)
• Consultant , RTI India  

Dr. Abdul Kader
Principal Director & Head,
CIPET, Ahmedabad

Dr. M. Abdul Kader is holding M.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry from Bharathidasan University, Trichy and a Master of Technology (M.Tech) in Rubber Technology followed by Ph.D. in Polymer blends both from IIT Kharagpur. He has more than 36 years of experience in teaching, research and administration in various capacities. He has also three years of postdoctoral experience in South Korea and Japan and worked on various industrial projects. He has 38 International Journal publications and more than 35 paper presentations in International conferences, 13 chapters in book publications.  He has guided 6 Ph.D. scholars and carried out sponsored research projects funded by government agencies and private industries. He is a member of BIS technical committees and ISO TC60 Committee. He has traveled to many western, middle Eastern and east Asian countries. He is at present Serving as Principal Director & Head, of CIPET, Ahmedabad.

Mr. Amitabh Kant
G20 Sherpa,
G20 Secretariat

Na

Mr. Tarun Kapoor
Advisor to Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,
Government of India

Mr. Tarun Kapoor is Advisor to Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. Prior to this assignment he was Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service with over 36 years xperience at the State and National levels. He is an Electrical Engineer with Masters in Business Administration. His areas of specialisation are Solar Energy and Hydro Power and energy transition.

Before taking over as Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Kapoor was posted as Vice Chairman, DDA. He has worked as Additional Chief Secretary in the State of Himachal Pradesh looking after various Departments from time to time like Power, Environment & Forests, Food and Civil Supplies, Excise, PWD etc. He has also worked as District Magistrate for Shimla and Chamba Districts and has also worked as Managing Director of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. and Himachal Pradesh Transmission Ltd. He has also worked as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India looking after National Solar Mission for over five years.

He also participated in the International Conferences and Seminars mainly in the area of Renewable Energy

Dr. Panagiotis Karamanos
Country Coordinator,
International Urban and Regional Cooperation Program

Panagiotis Karamanos has more than 20 years of experience in India, Europe, and the US on environmental, urban, aviation and policy issues. He is the Country Coordinator for the European Union International Urban & Regional Cooperation project. Panagiotis also serves as the Senior Advisor to Airport Carbon Accreditation, the only voluntary global carbon management standard for airports.

Mr. Anup Karanth
Sr DRM Specialist,
The World Bank

Anup Karanth is Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist at the World Bank. He provides technical support to Bank’s Disaster Risk Management work program in India, supports the implementation of ex-ante and recovery projects, and offers knowledge and learning resources / technical solutions to clients and development partners. He has over 20 years of work experience and has actively supported the design and implementation of disaster recovery and risk mitigation projects, strengthening institutional mechanisms, and capacity building for disaster risk reduction/emergency management in South Asia and South-East Asia region. His areas of interest are building sciences, risk assessment, seismic risk management, school and hospital safety, code implementation & regulatory aspects, urban climate change resilience, and public safety. 

Dr. Livleen Kaur
Associate Director,
TERI

Dr Livleen Kaur Kahlon, a senior researcher at TERI, is an experienced Environment Educator who builds and oversees high performance teams of motivated colleagues for strategic execution of various models of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Her work aspires to achieve a transformative impact amongst a range of target audience. She has a core competency in critical review and analysis of documents and reports related to environment education, youth empowerment and outreach, and popularization of scientific and environment topics. She has issued public statements and communications related to EE (Environment Education) and conceptualized stakeholders’ dialogues related to GEC (Global Environmental Citizenship). She has an extensive work experience of 27 years and has worked with CSIR-NIScPR, WWF-India, and TERI.

Ms. Deepali Khanna
Vice President,
The Rockefeller Foundation

Ms. Deepali Khanna is Vice President, Asia for The Rockefeller Foundation and leads the Foundation’s initiatives here to build strategic collaborations to maximize impact and influence. As a part of the senior leadership team at the Foundation, she contributes to the Foundation’s efforts to make opportunity universal and sustainable. With over three decades of experience in the development sector, working with organizations such as MasterCard Foundation, Plan International, and UNICEF, she yields immense technical expertise and leadership across strategic planning, grant-making, policy advocacy and thought leadership and cultivating strong working relationships with varied stakeholders.

Ms. Neha Khanna
Manager,
Climate Policy Initiative

Neha Khanna is a Manager at CPI’s Delhi office, where her work focuses on green and sustainable finance, ESG, responsible and inclusive finance. With over a decade of experience working with multinational corporations, banks, multilateral, DFIs, and foundations across the globe, Neha is a climate expert specializing in risk management and financial inclusion.

Prior to CPI, Neha has worked at Intellecap, Accenture, and the management consulting arm of ICRA Ratings. At Intellecap, she contributed to various sustainable and development finance projects by identifying areas and designing interventions.

Neha holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras with a semester abroad at Mannheim Business School, Germany, and a Bachelor’s of Technology in Computer Engineering.

Dr. Ashok Khosla
Chairperson,
Development Alternatives

Dr. Ashok Khosla is a pioneer in environment and development sustainability. His work to develop local, national and global systems and networks for promoting sustainability has had an impact in India and internationally. He taught in the first University course on the environment, at Harvard University; established the first governmental agency for the environment in a developing country, in India; created the first international information system on the environment, Infoterra in UNEP, and founded the first social enterprise for sustainable development, the Development Alternatives Group. He has also helped define the environmental programs of many international organisations, including the United Nations Environment Program, UNDP, the United Nations University and UNESCO. He has been co-chair of the UN’s International Resource Panel and President of IUCN and the Club of Rome, and has served in senior positions with many international commissions, summits and environmental and conservation organizations. Among his awards and honours, he is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and has received the UN Sasakawa Environment Prize, the Zayed International Environment Prize and WWF’s Duke of Edinburgh Medal for Conservation. He studied natural sciences at Cambridge University and holds a PhD in experimental physics from Harvard University.

Ms. Aarti Khosla
Director,
Climate trends

Aarti is the Founder-Director of Climate Trends, a communications and  research organisation that works on issues of climate change, energy, decarbonisation and resource efficiency. She has over 20 years of experience working as a communicator, the last 13 of which have been dedicated to creating knowledge, awareness and capacity on climate and environment related issues in India.

Dr. Masahide Kimoto
President,
National Institute for Environmental Studies

Dr. Masahide Kimoto received Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from University of California, Los Angeles in 1989. His main fields of study are climate dynamics, predictability, and human impacts on the climate system. He is president of National Institute for Environmental Studies and professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo. He was a member of Joint Scientific Committee of World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), a review editor of IPCC AR6 (Working Group I) and a lead author of IPCC AR5.

Mr. T Surya Kiran
Executive Director,
Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU)

Mr. T. Surya Kiran is currently holding the position of Executive Director, Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU), an apex body of all State Road Transport Undertakings in the country. Mr. T. Surya Kiran has rich experience of more than 30 years in Road Transport Industry in various areas like Operations, Personnel Management, Traffic Management and Planning & Marketing etc. in Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) / Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), a major Public Transport undertaking in the country. He has also worked for Dubai Public Transport for two years.He is on the Board of Directors of Odisha State Road Transport Corporation, Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation and member of the Executive Committee of Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA).

Dr. Jayahari KM
India Country Coordinator, Food and Land Use Coalition,
Food and Land Use Coalition

Jayahari KM (Hari) is India Country Coordinator, Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), a program co-led by World Resources Insitute India. His primary responsibility is to coordinate FOLU India activities and work closely with FOLU India core partners and collaborations. He is one among the WRI India Directors who is leading FOLU programme.

In his career, Hari has worked in different capacities in institutions like Kerala Forest Research Institute, WWF India, Winrock International India till 2015, focusing on Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Conservation. He has initiated and implemented many conservation programs primarily in Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas. From 2015-17 he led Sahjeevan, an NGO working in pastoral and dry-land agriculture sectors, as an Executive Director. Prior to his current role at World Resources Insitute India, he played an instrumental role in building spatial databases in India, like India Observatory (www.indiaobservatory.org.in) at the Foundation of Ecological Security, and Restoration Opportunity Atlas of India (india.restorationatlas.org) at World Resources Insitute India. He also provided consultancy services to national and international organizations like Tetra Tech, ICLEI South Asia, etc.

Jayahari holds a PhD in Forestry (Wildlife Biology) from Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.

Dr. Priyanka Kochhar
Professor,
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

With over eighteen years of experience as a researcher, committed to advancing sustainability in built environment through industry engagement, education, and advocacy, Priyanka currently serves the President of the TERI Alumni Association.

Priyanka has been driving strategic partnerships, outreach, communication, capacity building and policy interface for implementation of sustainable habitat through the GRIHA and LEED green building rating systems across India, and internationally.

She has served on the Board of UNEP Sustainable Building Climate Initiative (SBCI) and its Advocacy Committee as the youngest member and was the first Rockefellar Young LEADer.

An architect by qualification, Priyanka has served on several committees established by the Government of India, led research projects on resource efficiency in the built environment and has numerous publications to her credit.

Mr. Edwin Koekkoek
First Counsellor,
Delegation of the European Union to India

Edwin Koekkoek is First Counsellor on Energy and Climate Action in the European Union (EU) Delegation to India, responsible for EU-India cooperation on Energy and Climate, including the implementation of the 2016 Clean Energy and Climate Partnership. Prior to joining the EU Delegation, he worked for 7 years in the Netherlands' Ministry of Environment, 5 years as part of the Dutch delegation to the UNFCCC climate negotiations and 2 years as senior policy advisor on air quality. He then worked for 11 years for the European Parliament (EP), including 5 years in the Environment Committee, inter alia on climate change and renewable energy. He specialized in the EU legislative procedures and negotiations between the EP and Council. He also worked in the Cabinet of the EP President, advising him inter alia on energy and climate. He studied Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands.

Mr. Edwin Koekkoek
Counsellor,
European Union Delegation

Edwin Koekkoek is First Counsellor on Energy and Climate Action in the European Union (EU) Delegation to India, responsible for EU-India cooperation on Energy and Climate Action, including the implementation of the 2016 Clean Energy and Climate Partnership.

Prior to joining the EU Delegation, he worked for 7 years in the Netherlands' Ministry of Environment, 5 years as part of the Dutch delegation to the climate negotiations and 2 years as senior policy advisor on air quality.

He then worked for 11 years for the European Parliament, including 5 years in the Environment Committee, inter alia on climate change and renewable energy. He specialized in the EU legislative procedures and negotiations between the Parliament and Council. He also worked in the Cabinet of the President, advising him inter alia on energy and climate issues.

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

Ms. Nitika Krishan
Key Expert -EU Funded Project,
KPMG

Nitika has over 25+ years of all-encompassing experience in Urban Development and Infrastructure sectors. Across her career span, she has been associated with flagship missions of Government of India in Urban Transformation sector like the Smart Cities Mission, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) (Housing for All-Urban) among other projects.   As an experienced Urban Planner, Nitika has worked extensively with various public and private sector clients and multilateral agencies in project designing, management and delivery of multi disciplinary infrastructure assignments across diverse thematic areas.   During her career, she has worked with several §Multi-lateral donor/funding agencies viz, Asian Development Bank; United States Trade and Development Agency, European Union §Government entities such as Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt. of India, Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India, Govt. of Haryana, etc.

Ms. Thelma Krug
Vice Chair,
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC

Thelma Krug is a former researcher at the Earth Observation Coordination at the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil, under the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication (MCTIC). She is Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the Sixth Cycle of Panel, after having been co-chair of the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories from 2002 until 2015. She served as Deputy National Secretary for Policies and Programs of Science and Technology at MCTIC and National Secretary for Climate Change and Environmental Quality from the Ministry of the Environment. For more than 15 years she represented Brazil in the negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Her main areas of interest are climate change and the role of deforestation, forest degradation and land-use change; and national greenhouse gas inventories. 

Mr. Saurabh Kumar
Head (GEAPP India),
Global Energy Alliance for People & Planet

Mr. Saurabh Kumar is an Indian Revenue Service officer of 1992 batch.  He joined Indian Revenue Service as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax and worked as Deputy Commissioner in various sensitive intelligence assignments.  After IRS he joined  the Union Ministry of Power, Government of India as Deputy Secretary in charge of the Budget and Finance wing with the task of appraising large power projects for government investments. He was part of the government structure that was responsible for taking investment decisions in large power projects. Saurabh has also worked in various capacities in the Income Tax Department, Ministry of Power, and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). On the completion of the GRIPS Young Leaders Program in 2006, Saurabh was appointed as Secretary of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) during 2007-2010, the nodal central body for promoting energy efficiency in India & also the core agency for the implementation of the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power. One of the key projects implemented under his leadership is one of the world’s largest CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) based efficient lighting projects. 

Mr. Sanjay Kumar
Director General,
Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) of NITI Aayog

Shri Sanjay Kumar is a 1995 batch IAS officer of Telangana cadre and is currently Director General, Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) of NITI Aayog.  Prior to this, he was Additional Secretary in Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, (MoHUA) Government of India - handling two flagship Schemes - PM SVANidhi and DAY-NULM.

Shri Sanjay Kumar holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) Degree from Roorkee University (Now IIT Roorkee); MTech – Building Science and Construction Management from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, and Master of Science in Public Management and Governance from the London School of Economics and Political Science, U.K.

Dr. Arvind Kumar
Scientist F,
Department of Science and Technology, DST, India

Qualified graduate in Agricultural Engineering and; Master & PhD in Soil &Water Conservation Engineering specialization. I have research experience of using Geostatistical and GIS tools for modelling environmental variables e.g. soil/water salinity, Ground water exploration using geophysical technique, artificial groundwater recharge, water resource management, wastewater treatment and resue. My present specific areas of interest are developing interventions for wastewater treatment, air pollution mitigation; Groundwater management, study climate change on hydrological cycle ; applications of data analytics, AI and ML and looking for collaboration in these areas. Teaching experience( post graduate student) Water Resource Management, Agricultural Drainage Engineering, Soil salinity, hydrology, irrigation Engineering.
Presently engaged in R&D management and building international collaborative scientific programmme with EU, BRICS, SCO, TWAS.

Mr. S Vijay Kumar
Distinguished Fellow,
TERI

S Vijay Kumar joined TERI as Distinguished Fellow, in November 2013. Prior to that, he was a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) which staffs the senior positions of India’s bureaucracy at Central and State levels. He has served as Permanent Secretary of the India’s Ministry of Rural Development (2012-13) and as Additional Secretary and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Mines (2008-2011).

In TERI he works on policy issues related to natural resources, including land, water and minerals and mentors TERI colleagues in natural resource related sectors, and advises on TERI project design and implementation strategies, including policy aspects. He also leads the TERI-wide initiative on SDGs and Policy Coordination to ensure that research on SDGs and related policy across the Institute is better coordinated. He also convenes the meetings of the Sub-Committee of Distinguished Fellows constituted to improve the policy focus of TERI. He has authored, along with colleagues in TERI, policy papers on mineral resources, environmental governance, water resources etc.

He is also the Leader of the Food and Land Use (FOLU) Coalition India programme , which is being implemented since 2019 by a consortium of four institutions, namely The Energy and Resources Institute(TERI), the World Resources Institute (WRI), the Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). The FOLU Coalition work in India focuses on increasing the sustainability of Indian agriculture and improving the nutritional status of India through better food production and waste reduction practices.

Mr. Jeevesh Kumar
Founder,
Greenscape

An Engineer by profession, visionary by heart, Jeevesh ventured into this sustainable electronics material management industry in 2007. An opportunity lies in a problem. Jeevesh saw this problem as a future Urban Ore. This kick started his journey as an entrepreneur. Jeevesh's dream is to make India Atma nirbhar and a resource efficient economy by the means of extracting secondary raw materials and promote cautious capitalism while bringing back critical materials to supply chains and lessen the dependency on primary ores. 

Mr. Ashish Kundra IAS
Pr.Secretary-cum-Commissioner (Transport),
Government of NCT of Delhi

Sh. Ashish Kundra, IAS Pr. Secretary cum Commissioner (Transport), GNCTD Shri Ashish Kundra belongs to the 1996 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. He currently leads the office of Pr. Secretary cum Commissioner (Transport), Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. Shri Ashish Kundra, with a keen interest in Technology, did his graduation in Bachelors of Technology (Electronics) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi. He has vast administrative experience spanning across 25 years of serving the nation. Sh. Ashish Kundra has held numerous high-pressure posts like being the Chief Electoral Officer of the state of Mizoram, he was also appointed as the Private Secretary to the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry from 2009-2014, from 2014 till mid-2016 he served as an Administrator of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, from 2003-2006. Mr. Kundra served as Director in Finance Department and Additional CEO of Delhi Jal Board.

Mr. Amit Lahoti
Senior Commercial Director and General Manager-Asia,
Ball Beverage Packaging

An accomplished business leader with over two decades experience across general management, finance, commercial and supply chain in the packaging industry. A considerable part of his career has been with Ball Corporation; a leading supplier of metal packaging for beverage, personal-care and household products. Ball is a Fortune 300 company on the New York Stock Exchange. Amit is the Senior Commercial Director and General Manager for Asia in the beverage packaging business where Ball has its manufacturing facilities in India, Myanmar and Vietnam. Amit joined Ball in London and has since then successfully completed 3 progressively senior leadership roles in finance functions in Europe and Asia.  Amit has completed the General Management Programme with the Harvard Business School and is an alumni of Harvard. He also enjoys playing tennis and supports the Manchester United football Club.

Ms. Heeta Lakhani
Founder & Director,
The ClimAct Initiative

Heeta Lakhani is the Founder & Director of the ClimAct Foundation. She has a Masters of Science in Environmental Studies and Resource Management from TERI University, India. She is a firm believer in the power of youth participation in grassroots and international processes and strives to create change-makers who combat the climate crisis with knowledge-based action. Heeta was introduced to the world of the United Nations Climate Change process at COP21 in 2015 and was the Global Focal Point for YOUNGO for 2020-21. She also co-founded the Youth Negotiators Academy, which focuses on training youth to be effective negotiators in the UN intergovernmental processes.

Ms. Terhi Lehtonen
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment for Finland,
Ministry of Environment for Finland

BIOGRAPHY

Terhi Lehtonen joined the Ministry of the Environment as State Secretary 4 July 2019 from European Commission Directorate General for Climate Action. Before DG CLIMA she advised the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament on environmental and climate policy for 14 years. From 2001-2003 she worked as the head of office for MEP Heidi Hautala in Brussels and Strasbourg. Ms Lehtonen set up the European Office of City of Turku – Southwest Finland in Brussels in 1998 and represented the region towards the EU institutions until 2001. She also worked for the Finnish Embassy in Brussels as a trainee in 1997 and as an attachée during the 1999 EU Presidency.

Ms. Gina Elisabeth Lund
County Governor,
County Governor of Agder

Ms. Gina Lund is acting County Governor of Agder in Norway. She was appointed by the Norwegian government for this six-year position in 2022. She holds a master degree in law from the University of Oslo, and is a former politician of the Norwegian Labour Party.

Ms. Lund has broad work and leadership experience from both government (politics and administration), private businesses and NGO’s. She has held positions such as Vice Minister to the Ministry of Labour, Director General of Skills Norway, Special Adviser in the Ministry of Education and Research, Head of Department in the Ministry of Justice and the Police and Deputy Head of Emergency Department for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Ms. Prathiba M. Singh
Judge,
Delhi High Court

Justice Prathiba M. Singh completed her 5-year law course from University Law College, Bangalore. She graduated as the 1st Rank holder from Bangalore University and represented India at the Philip C. Jessup Moot Court competition in Chicago, USA. After her graduation, she was offered the ODASSS scholarship by the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust to study LL.M. at the University of Cambridge (U.K.). She enrolled with the Bar in 1991.

Before being elevated to the Bench, she was a leading Intellectual Property lawyer in India. She had the distinction of handling landmark matters in all areas of IPR laws including patents, trademarks, designs, copyright, plant varieties, internet laws, etc. As the Managing Partner of Singh & Singh, she advised clients and handled cases relating to commercial disputes, arbitration, telecom, broadcasting laws, media laws, writs, regulatory issues, education, etc. During her years of practice, she regularly appeared before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, High Court of Delhi, TDSAT, IPAB, Trademark and Patent Offices.

Mr. Rohan Malhotra
Executive Director,
ISERDIndia Analytics

Rohan’s research interests includes studying of strategic technologies from the perspective of geopolitical scenarios. He is more aligned to find the intersection of emerging technologies into the areas that hold strategic importance for India, the technologies of future that will help India reorient its strategic posture. Further, the interests includes focusing on how India’s diplomatic conduct will be reshaped using Science as a tool with a solution oriented practice in key sectors. 

He has been also involved in researching about military technologies and how Nanotechnology coupled with AI, Biotech can help integrate mechanisms to provide a strategic defense to Indian Armed Forces in the hybrid warfare context. Furthermore, his other areas of interests include Waste Management, Cyber/ Digital Diplomacy, Satellite Diplomacy and working on strategic materials in the areas of IoT and smart manufacturing practices. 

In the future, he wanted to work on the strategic importance of Rare Earth Metals and how the modern day diplomacy is centered around these strategic mineral resources, with India’s approach to AatmaNirbharta vis-à-vis increasing potential for rare earth’s mining and production. 

Dr. Ananda Mallawatantri
Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka (Environment, Climate Change and Green Finance),
Presidential Secretariat

Dr. Ananda Mallawatantri counts over 40 years of work experience. His carrier included over 20 years in International Development with USAID, UN and IUCN. Key positions he held included IUCN Country Representative in Sri Lanka, UNDP Assistant Resident Representative for Environment Sustainability and Disaster Resilience in Sri Lanka and Senior Advisor and Director for Energy and Environment at USAID Colombo.

Dr. Mallawatantri holds a Bachelor of Science Special degree in Chemistry and a Diploma in Business Administration from University of Colombo. He received his Doctorate in Soil Physics and MS degree in Environmental Science from the Washington State University, Pullman, USA as a Junior Fulbright Fellow. He enjoys and contributes his experience through student advising, applied research, advocacy, thought leadership, teaching and serving in expert panels in Government and Private Sector.

Prof. Iain Martin
Vice-Chancellor,
Deakin University

Professor Iain Martin is Vice-Chancellor and President of Deakin University in Australia.

Prior to this, he was Vice-Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at the University of New South Wales.

Professor Martin grew up in the United Kingdom and attended the University of Leeds where he completed his medical degree, Doctorate and Master of Education.

Professor Martin spent 12 years at the University of Auckland in New Zealand with positions including Professor of Surgery and Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for external and strategic partnerships. He was appointed to a number of government roles in New Zealand and has worked extensively with the Australian Medical Council in the assessment and accreditation of medical schools and specialist colleges.

In April 2021, he was appointed Chair of the Australian Technology Network of Universities and has served as Chair of the Victorian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee since January 2022.

Dr. Ajay Mathur
Director General,
International Solar Alliance

Dr      Ajay      Mathur      is      the      Director      General      of      the International Solar Alliance. He earlier headed The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), and was responsible for mainstreaming energy efficiency in houses, offices and industries through a number of innovative initiatives. 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 was also member of Indian Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change and co-chairs of the global Energy Transitions Commission.

Dr. Vinod B Mathur
Bureau Member,
UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

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 worked as the Chairperson of the National Biodiversity  Authority (NBA) from 1st September, 2019 to 31st August, 2022. Dr. Mathur obtained his doctorate degree from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom in1991. He has been the Regional Vice-Chair of the IUCN-World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA-South Asia) from 2011-2021.   Dr. Mathur has been actively contributing on biodiversity 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 (2019-2023) & Vive Chair (Asia-Pacific Region). 

Ms. Katie McGinty
VP and Chief Sustainability Officer,
JCI

Kathleen “Katie” McGinty is Vice President and Chief Sustainability and External Relations Officer for Johnson Controls, the global leader for smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings technology. Katie serves on the Executive Committee of the company and helps drive Johnson Controls top tier sustainability performance including recognition as one of the World`s 100 Most Sustainable Corporations.  Katie champions technology development, sustainability, and creative policies to solve tough environmental problems. Katies loves opportunities where she can work with people who bring diverse insights and ideas to help chart a positive course for the future of the planet. 

Mr. Katie McGinty
Vice President and Chief Sustainability Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer,
Johnson Controls

Kathleen “Katie” McGinty is Vice President & Chief Sustainability, Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer for Johnson Controls, a leading energy efficiency and buildings technology company. Katie helps drive JCI top tier sustainability performance including recognition as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations and AAA MSCI ESG Rating and government policies encouraging smart buildings and energy efficiency. Katie 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. Purvi Mehta
Deputy Director,
Global Growth and Opportunity, BMGF

Purvi Mehta leads the program’s agricultural development work in Asia. She joined the foundation in 2014 after working for six years at CGIAR, where she was head of Asia initiatives for the International Livestock Research Institute and head of the South Asia Biosafety Program for the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Purvi serves on the board of several organizations, including the International Alliance for Ecology, Health Canada, the International Center for Rural Agriculture, and India’s National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd. She is also a member of the World Food Prize Foundation’s Council of Advisors.

Purvi is an honorary professor at Amity University in India and is a visiting scientist at Cornell University. She has also been closely involved with several agriculture and nutrition policy platforms in India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. She was the 2014 recipient of the India magazine Agriculture Today award for her contributions to agriculture policies in South Asia. She has authored two books and more than 50 publications.

Purvi holds a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University and degrees from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and Tokyo University.

Dr. Purvi Mehta
Director- Global Growth and Opportunities,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Dr. Purvi Mehta is the Deputy Director, Global Growth and Opportunities division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and currently also leads the climate adaptation programs globally.   She has her formal education, up to PhD, from M.S. University, India, Tokyo University, Japan and North Carolina State University- USA. Dr. Mehta has worked with leading international organizations like the CGIAR, as head of Asia for the International Livestock Research Institute and as head of South Asia Biosafety program (IFPRI, USAID), and brings a blend of Asia and Africa experience.  She is on board of several organizations, including, International Alliance for Ecology and Health, International Centre for Rural Agriculture, Independent Director on Board of National Commodity Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX), Advisory Council- World Food Prize etc. She is honorary professor at Amity University-India and visiting faculty at Cornell University

Mr. Himanshu Shekhar Mishra
Senior Editor (Political & Current Affairs),
New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV)

Himanshu Shekhar Mishra works as Senior Editor (Political & Current Affairs) in New Delhi Television (NDTV India). He covers Government and Parliament for NDTV. He was part of Prime Minister's official entourage to the UN General Assembly’s Annual Session in New York (September, 2003) and also to Indo-Turkish Summit held in Ankara and Istanbul (2003). He covered Prime Minister’s official visits to Pakistan (January, 2004) and Afghanistan (August, 2005). He has extensively researched and published eight papers on issues related with climate-related disasters like floods, COVID-19, Disaster Journalism and BRICS. His Paper on Jammu and Kashmir floods in September, 2014 was selected for presentation at 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan in March, 2015. He has co-authored a book on COVID-19 titled “Stop Predicting- Revisit Life: Lessons from COVID-19” (Bloomsbury, 2022).

Mr. Manish Mishra
Chief Corporate Affairs,
Tata Steel Limited

Manish Mishra is Chief Corporate Affairs, at Tata Steel Limited, and is based in Delhi. Manish represents Tata Steel at various Industry and global multilateral forums like CII, UNFCCC, OECD, etc. He has been part of several National and International policy discussions related to steel, mining, trade, environment, and fiscal matters. Manish has been with Tata Steel for over 30 years in different roles of managing mining operations and working closely with various stakeholders like local communities, and statutory and regulatory bodies. He is an alumnus of IIT(ISM) Dhanbad

Ms. Roopa Mishra
Joint Secretary and Mission Director of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban,
Ministry of Home and Urban Affairs

Ms. Roopa Mishra (IAS) is the Joint Secretary and mission Director of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, since August 2021.

Mr. N. Mohan
CEO, Delhi EV Cell,
Government of NCT of Delhi

Mr. N. Mohan, is the CEO at Delhi EV Cell constituted under the Transport Department, Government of NCT of Delhi. He is a Certified Energy Auditor as per the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and a Mechanical Engineer holding an MBA in Marketing and International Business. He has more than a 17 years of experience in project management, implementation of clean energy projects, developing distinctive business strategy, EV policies, integrating the digital ecosystem for e-mobility and regulatory experience.  Prior to joining Delhi EV Cell, he held key management positions with Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) – A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of EESL, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) – A Joint Venture of PSUs of Ministry of Power, GoI, Forbes Marshall (P) Ltd and Triveni Turbines Limited

Mr. Ruturaj Mohanta
Green Skipper,
Shrama Shakti Government High School

Student of Class VIII, Shrama Shakti Government High School. He is a resident of mining town Sukinda from Jajpur district in Odisha. 

Ms. Soma Mondal
CHAIRMAN,
Steel Authority of India Limited

Smt. Soma Mondal is currently the Chairman of Maharatna Company, Steel Authority of India Limited w.e.f. 1st Jan’21.  An Electrical Engineer from NIT, Rourkela in 1984, she commenced her career at NALCO and rose through the ranks to take over the mantle of Dir(Comml.) at NALCO in 2014.  She joined SAIL in March, 2017 as Dir(Comml.). After assuming charge of Chairman, SAIL, she has been leading the SAIL’s efforts in all round improvement in performance of the company.  Smt. Soma Mondal has the distinction of not only being the first woman Functional Director of SAIL, but also the 1st woman Chairman of the Company.  Currently, she is Chairperson of SCOPE – an apex professional organisation representing CPSEs.  She is also Chairman of FICCI Committee on Steel.

Ms. Jennifer Morgan
State Secretary / Special Envoy for International Climate Action,
Federal Foreign Office

Jennifer Morgan has been State Secretary and Special Representative for International Climate Policy at the Federal Foreign Office since March 2022. Born April 21, 1966 in Ridgewood, New Jersey, she studied Political Science and International Relations at Indiana University, Bloomington and received her Master’s Degree in International Affairs at The American University in Washington, D.C.
In her professional career, Jennifer Morgan held various leadership positions, including Director of the Global Climate Campaign of WWF International and Director of the Climate Program of the think tank World Resources Institute (WRI). She was also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Council for Sustainable Development of the Federal Government. Before her assignment to the Federal Foreign Office, from 2016 to 2022 she was Managing Director of the environmental organization Greenpeace International (GPI). Jennifer Morgan lives in Berlin and has the German citizenship.

Mr. Peter Mwandri
Associate,
Green Climate Fund - GCF

Peter Mwandri, Associate Data Analyst - Data Modeling pmwandri@gcfund.org

Peter is an Associate Data Analyst - Data Modeling at the Independent Evaluation Unit of the Green Climate Fund, where he provides analytical and operational support for collecting high-quality evidence and analysis for the IEU’s evaluations. He has over six years of experience in research, data management and evaluation. Prior to the IEU, he worked at In-depth Consulting as a Data Analyst. He holds an M.Sc in Statistics from Hallym University (South Korea) and a B.Sc in Statistics from Dodoma University (Tanzania).

Dr. JYOTI NALE
Project Advisor,
IEWP Action, GIZ India

Dr Jyoti Nale is currently working as a Project Advisor for the India-EU Water Partnership (IEWP) Action at GIZ India. Her core work areas include River Basin Management, Environmental Flows and Water Use in Irrigation.

She holds a Ph D in Water Resources Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Focus of her doctoral research was “integrating ecological concerns within hydrologic and hydraulic framework for comprehensive environmental flow assessment of Ganga River Basin”. She is an expert on habitat modelling studies, and she is the first Indian researcher to undertake the river basin scale Environmental Flows study.

Dr Jyoti has contributed significantly to the RBM and related studies in various river basins in India including the ‘IIT consortium’s Ganga River Basin Management Plan’ and the ‘Tapi RBM Plan’ under the IEWP Action. She led the development of “Guidance Document for E-Flows Assessment and Implementation in India”, under the IEWP Action. Her present work also involves Trainings and Capacity Development regarding water allocation, morphological alterations, and E-Flows assessments.

Ms. Vaishali Nandan
Head of Projects,
GIZ India

Ms Vaishali Nandan is Head of Projects “Climate Smart Cities” and “Cities Combatting Plastics entering Marine Environment”, at GIZ-India. She has over 25 years of experience in issues related to waste management, urban planning, and climate change. A Geographer and Urban Planner by profession, she has several papers to her credit and has been part of several expert committes

Ms. Leena Nandan
Secretary,
Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change

Leena Nandan is presently the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. She is an IAS officer of the 1987 batch, who belongs to the UP cadre. She is a graduate in English Honours from Patna Women's College, and has done her Masters in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila. She has served in Uttar Pradesh in various capacities, as District Magistrate in 4 districts, Managing Director, UP Women Welfare Corporation, M.D. UP Tourism Development Corporation, as well as different postings in the UP Secretariat.

Ms. Leena Nandan
Secretary,
Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change

Mrs. Leena Nandan is an IAS officer of 1987 Batch, UP Cadre. Mrs. Nandan is a graduate in English (Hons.) from Patna Women’s College, Patna University and has done her Master’s in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila. Mrs. Nandan has served in various capacities in the State and Central Government as District Magistrate in 4 districts, Managing Director, UP Tourism Corporation, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism etc. She was posted in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as Joint Secretary in 2016 and continued there as Additional Secretary and then Special Secretary upto 2020. Mrs. Nandan assumed charge as Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs on 1 st May 2020, before taking over as Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 1st January 2022.

Ms. Jayashree Nandi
Environment/Climate Correspondent,
Hindustan Times

Jayashree Nandi is Hindustan Times’s environment and climate correspondent. She primarily covers climate science and negotiations; environmental issues in India such as air and water pollution; forests and wildlife among others. With 14 years of experience in writing on environment, she has worked with The Times of India in the past before joining Hindustan Times in 2018. Jayashree won the Centre for Media Studies Young Environment Journalist of the Year award in 2019. She also won the merit award for sustained environmental reporting on the environment at fourth Asian Environmental Journalism Awards (AEJA) in 2015. She has taken up a number of journalism fellowships including Biodiversity Media Initiative fellowship of the Earth Journalism Network. Jayashree has authored a picture eBook for 4- to 6-year-olds on this year's Uttarakhand flood disaster titled "Saving Raini."
 

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Ms. Ekta Narain
Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer,
Recykal

Ekta has 20+ years of experience in diverse fields of BtoB sales, BPO, FMCG sales and education, now a thought leader in sustainability and circular economy as a Co-Founder at Recykal. Director at MRAI (Material Recycling Association of India), Advisor to PRCA 2.0(Plastic Recycling Conference Asia) and Executive Member at MSMECCII. Have been part of several forums as speaker and moderator on plastic- e-waste management, Sustainability Solutions to brand owners for circularity. Winner of Women's Leadership Award in March 2021. She is now on mission to contribute to save planet earth from Plastic waste and E-waste with "Recykal" to partner with brands to encourage recycling of Plastic and E waste accelerating circular economy.

Ms. Shruti Narayan
Regional Director, South and West Asia,
C40 Cities

Shruti Narayan is the C40 Regional Director for South and West Asia. She is based out of New Delhi, India and works closely with city leadership to sustain and scale up C40’s efforts in the region.

Prior to this she was an Upstream Officer with International Finance Corporation’s (IFC, World Bank Group) Asia Pacific Cities Platform and has also led IFC’s Green Building program in South Asia. Shruti has almost 20 years of global work experience specializing in energy efficiency and sustainability. Her work experience also includes Will Alsop Architects in London, Arup in San Francisco and USAID ECOIII in New Delhi, where she has worked with diverse clients such as corporates, developers, institutions, policymakers and donor agencies to identify, design, incorporate and implement sustainable solutions with the goal of reducing resource consumption and maximizing efficiency. In addition, she has also been a faculty member in sustainable design with educational institutions globally such as Stanford University, USA, California College of Arts, USA, and the School of Planning and Architecture in India.

Ms. Sushree Smita Nath
Green Skipper,
Government High School Kusupanga

Sushree ia a pro active student of Kusupanga High School in Meramanadali of Dhenkenal district of Odisha. She leads the EMC group for designing environment protection awareness in her school. 

Dr. Bruno Oberle
Director General,
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Dr Bruno Oberle assumed office as Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in July 2020.

He brings over 40 years of experience to IUCN at a time when redefining humanity’s relationship with nature is more urgent than ever. Before joining IUCN, Dr Bruno Oberle served in some of Switzerland’s most prestigious positions related to the environment. Between 2005 and 2015, as State Secretary for the Environment and Director of the Federal Office for the Environment for Switzerland, he represented Switzerland in leading international institutions and international negotiations, playing a key role in the Global Environment Facility and in the establishment of the Green Climate Fund.

Dr Oberle is a leading expert in the fields of sustainable resource management and green economy and has explored and shaped the interface between environmental policy, economic development and social equity from the perspective of state regulator, entrepreneur and scientist.

Prior to joining IUCN, Dr Oberle served as Chair of the Green Economy and Resource Governance programme at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) from 2016, where he also headed the International Risk Governance Centre. Since 2019, he has chaired the Global Tailings Review, which aims to establish an international standard for the safe management of tailings storage facilities that can be applied to dams around the world. He was also the lead author of the Global Resources Outlook 2019, written in his capacity as an active member of the International Resource Panel, which he joined in 2015.

Preceding his academic and government roles, Dr Oberle founded and managed companies in the fields of environmental consulting and environmental management, using the expertise gained from his doctorate in environmental sciences at ETH Zurich.

Ms. Damilola Ogunbiyi
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Chief Executive Officer,
Sustainable Energy for All

Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She is a global leader and advocate for the achievement of SDG7 – universal access to reliable, affordable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. 

She is one of the Commissioners for the Global Commission to end energy poverty, an initiative driven by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and The Rockefeller Foundation. She is the Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council, established ahead of COP26, and will continue at least until COP30, to bring together leaders in the power sector across politics, finance and technology to speed up the transition from coal to clean renewable energy in developing countries.   

Dr. Erik Olsen
Head of Research Group for Sustainable Development,
Institute of Marine Research

Erik Olsen is the head of the research group for Sustainable Development at the Institute of Marine Research, in Bergen, Norway, where he has been working since 1999. He has earned a PhD in fisheries biology in from the University of Bergen (2002). He has extensive experience with organizing and leading scientific surveys and investigations in Norwegian waters as well as in Nortwest Africa, Sudan, Angola, Mozambique and Bangladesh. Integrated ocean management and marine spatial planning has also been a key area of work and Erik was deeply involved in the development of the Norwegian Integrated management plans. 

Mr. Hiroshi Ono
Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs,
Ministry of the Environment, Japan

ONO Hiroshi was appointed Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs of Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Japan on July 1, 2022. Before becoming the Vice-Minister, he held prominent positions during his 35 years in MOE Japan as Director-General of Global Environment Bureau, Director-General of Environmental Management Bureau and others. He has attended various international meetings representing Japan for environment, climate change, including G7, G20, and COP. He obtained master’s degree from the Graduate School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo in 1987.

Dr. Suneel Pandey
Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Dr Suneel Pandey is Senior Fellow and Director, Environment & Waste Management Division, TERI. In addition, he is also working as Director, Emerson Centre for Sustainability and Adjunct Faculty at TERI School of Advance Studies (TERI SAS). He has more than 30 years of consultancy/ research experience in the areas of municipal, industrial and hospital waste management, their linkage with climate change aspects and circular economy and resource efficiency, 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. Prior to joining TERI, Suneel has worked for ERM India and at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on development of landfill liner for containment of land disposed hazardous waste and deriving material balances and associated environmental pollution for Hong Kong region as part of Post Doctoral Research.

Mr. Satyendra Rajnath Pandey
Member,
Gujart Electricity Regulatory Commission

Shri Satyendra R. Pandey is Member, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) since December, 2020. Prior to his present assignment, he served as Electricity Ombudsman for Gujarat State, Legal Advisor to GERC and in Erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) i.e. GUVNL. Shri Pandey holds the Post-Graduate Degree in Electrical Engineering, Law, and Management. He has also done PGDM (Finance) & (HRD). He is well versed in Power Sector having more than 37 years of rich and varied work experience in all the facets of the Power Sector i.e. Regulatory, legal, finance, commerce and technical aspects pertaining to Generation, Transmission, System Operation, and Distribution. In the GERC he is instrumental in formulation of Regulations framed under the Electricity Act, 2003, dealt with subject matter of Determination of Tariff, Promotion of RE Projects , Electricity subject matter of generation, transmission and distribution sector.

Dr. Suneel Pandey
Director & Senior Fellow,
TERI

Dr Suneel Pandey is Senior Fellow and Director, Environment & Waste Management Division, TERI and Director, Emerson Centre for Sustainability Studies at the TERI School of Advanced Studies. He 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. Prior to joining TERI, Suneel has worked for ERM India and at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on development of landfill liner for containment of land disposed hazardous waste and deriving material balances and associated environmental pollution for Hong Kong region as part of Post Doctoral Research.  

Mr. Sameer Pandita
Director,
Bureau of Energy Efficiency

Mr. Sameer Pandita is currently the Director Bureau of Energy Efficiency. Before joining the BEE, he worked as a Research Associate at TERI. 

Mr. Virender Pankaj
CEO,
Aseem Infrastructure Finance Limited

Mr Virender Pankaj has over 30 years of rich experience in the Project, Corporate and Structured Finance. He has been associated with Aseem Infrastructure Finance Limited (AIFL) as Chief Executive Officer since inception in FY 2021. In less than 2 years of time, AIFL has established itself as one of the fastest growing infra finance company, with an asset book of more than INR 10,000 Crore, with Green Energy assets contributing to ~45% of the book. Prior to joining AIFL, he was associated with L&T Infrastructure Finance Limited and State Bank of India in project finance, project appraisal, working capital, corporate and structured finance. In his previous assignment, he managed an asset book of ~ 50000 Crore in areas of Infrastructure Finance, Structured Corporate Finance and Supply Chain Finance and built a leadership position in green energy financing.

Mr. Akash Passey
President- Bus Division @ E-mobility,
Volvo-Eicher Commercial Vehicles Ltd.

Akash Passey is the founding President of the Bus Division at VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd –a Joint Venture between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors Limited in India. VECV is the third largest Indian Commercial Vehicle manufacturer with extensive operations in India and select international markets. Prior to taking up this assignment Akash served as Sr. Vice President – Volvo Bus Corporation, Sweden.  As a member of the Volvo Bus Executive Management, he was most recently responsible for business performance in the International Region covering Asia Pacific, Africa/Middle East, China, CIS countries and India. Having run businesses from India, Sweden and Singapore, Akash regards the opportunity to present innovative people transportation solutions and working with talented people across the globe as the biggest perks of his job.

Mr. Janos Pasztor
Executive Director,
Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative - C2G

Janos Pasztor (a Hungarian and a Swiss citizen) is Senior Fellow of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and is Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G).He has four decades of work experience in the areas of energy, environment, climate change, and sustainable development. Before taking up his current assignment he was UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change in New York under Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.Earlier, he was Acting Executive Director for Conservation (2014), and Policy and Science Director (2012-2014), at WWF International. He directed the UNSG’s Climate Change Support Team (2008-2010) and later was Executive Secretary of the UNSG’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (2010-2012). In 2007 he directed the Geneva-based UN Environment Management Group (EMG).

Mr. Janos Pasztor
Executive Director,
Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative - C2G

Janos Pasztor is Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), with over four decades of experience in energy, environment, climate change, and sustainable development. Previously UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change under Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He worked in different capacities at WWF International, UNEP, UNEMG, UNFCCC, UN, Brundtland Commission, Beijer Institute.  He has BSc, MSc degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Mr. Mahesh Patil
Chairman,
Goa State Pollution Control Board

Mr. Mahesh Patil has 25 years of experience in Mineral sector in a multinational company. Leadership position in occupational Health, safety, Environment management, and CSR / Sustainability. He has a thorough knowledge of Environmental regulations at state and national, excellent liaison and communication skills. Strategic planning and project management in India and abroad. He is well versed with global trends of sustainability i,e, GRI reporting, Climate change, IFC guidelines, Global Compact

He served as Director on LEAD India board from March 2016, Expert member of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority from, 2019, for three years and Member of NITI Ayog committee for preparation of working paper on ‘Indian Mining Sector @2035’ as sectorial expert on Sustainability. He also served as sustainability consultant to Hindalco Industries and Mineral Enterprises Ltd. He is Founder of NV ECo Agro Tourism Pvt. Ltd. www. NV Ecofarm.com

Ms. Anjali Patra
Green Skipper,
Girls Residential Bridge Course Center

Anjali is a student of class X from Joda High School. Joda is a remote tribal dominated and mines rich small town in Keonjhar District of Odisha. Anjali proactively leads activities (like taking session on waste seggregation, paper making etc) in her residential school as well as in another early school. 

Prof. Anand Patwardhan
Professor,
University of Maryland, College Park

Anand Patwardhan is Professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was earlier a Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay. Anand has a BTech (Electrical Engineering) from IIT-Bombay and a MS (Civil Engineering) and PhD (Engineering and Public Policy), both from Carnegie Mellon University. Anand’s research focuses on mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change, and the assessment of vulnerability and adaptation, as well as broader issues of science, technology and innovation policy. He has been a coordinating lead author for the IPCC, and a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environmental Facility. He currently serves as co-chair of the Science Committee of the World Adaptation Science Program (WASP), and co-chair of the Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA).

Ms. Seema Paul
Program Director,
Sequoia Climate Foundation

Seema Paul is a program director at Sequoia Climate Foundation, where she leads grantmaking portfolio for India.  Prior to joining Sequoia, Seema successfully led the launch of two environmental start-ups in India—Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and, more recently, The Nature Conservancy. She has also worked in two philanthropic start-ups focused on climate change—Ted Turner’s United Nations Foundation and Climateworks Foundation—as well as for international organizations such as UNAIDS. She is Rockefeller Foundation’s Lead International Fellow and an Alfred Friendly Press.   Seema completed the International Executive Program at INSEAD and holds one master’s degree in public policy from University of Maryland and another in English literature from University of Delhi.

Ms. Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya
Minister,
Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment

She graduated as bachelor of Philosophy and Sociology. She began his career as professor at the Faculty of Social and Humanistic Sciences at the Eastern University in Santiago de Cuba province, in which held the position of chief professor in the Department of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. She has held various educational, institutional and political positions from th grassroots level to municipal and provincial levels, up to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic of Cuba in which she serves as a member since 1997.  In 1998 was appointed to the professional activity of the Cuban Communist Party, where from the very beginning oversaw the work related to the national development policy in the fields of Science, Technology, Innovation and the Environment. Similarly, she was assigned that responsibility in the Scientific Pole of Biotechnology. From 2000 to 2012 she worked at the Department for Science.

Dr. Janez Potočnik
Co-Chair,
International Resource Panel

Dr Janez Potočnik (1958) graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (Ph.D. degree 1993). He started as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research (1989) and was nominated for a Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development in 1994. He was appointed Head of the Negotiating Team for Accession of Slovenia to the EU (1998). He was also Director of Government Office for European Affairs (2000), Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister (2001) and Minister responsible for European Affairs (2002). In 2004 he joined the European Commission, first as ‘shadow’ Commissioner for Enlargement, and then as Commissioner for Science and Research. In 2010 he became the European Commissioner for Environment. After the end of his mandate in November 2014, he was appointed as a Co-Chair of UN Environment International Resource Panel. From April 2016 he has also been a Partner of SYSTEMIQ.

Mr. Shri Prakash
Distinguished Fellow,
TERI

Mr Shri Prakash joined TERI in July 2011 as Distinguished Fellow, after a long and distinguished career in Indian Railways. His association with TERI goes back to 2003-2004 as a Visiting Senior Fellow.  For over 9 years he is guiding research in sustainable transport policies in Centre for Research in Sustainable Mobility in TERI. The main research areas currently pursued in the Centre is urban transport, electric mobility particularly on freight transport and smaller and intermediate passenger electric vehicles, modal shift from road to rail as India has a robust rail network, transport modelling and forecasting etc. Concurrently, he is a Professor in Sustainable Mobility in TERI School of Advanced Studies since 2014. He is also Director of Public Policy and Sustainability Programme organised for senior civil servants by Government of India in TERI School of Advanced Studies.

Mr. Amit Prothi
Director General,
Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

Mr. Prothi brings a wealth of international experience and expertise on climate and disaster resilience issues.  He is an international expert with nearly 25 years of progressive leadership in the fields of urban planning and resilient infrastructure, with experience across more than 15 countries in North America, Asia and Europe. He has managed multidisciplinary teams on thematic topics that relate to climate change mitigation and adaptation including environmental planning, urban policy, land use and transportation planning, natural resource management, flood management, disaster resilient infrastructure, housing, and community development.

Recently, at the Atlantic Council's Arsht Rock Resilience Centre and previously at the Resilient Cities Network (and its predecessor 100ResilientCities), he engaged directly with cities, national governments, private sector partners, funders and technical experts.

Mr. Prothi has a Bachelors in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi and a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Mr. Bhuwan Purohit
Executive Director (Corporate Strategy & Planning),
RUBAMIN

Brief Profile
 
An Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a qualified Company Secretary, he is the Whole Time Director of Rubamin a USD 315m group engaged in manufacturing of copper blister, mining, mineral exploration services, manufacturing of non-ferrous metal chemicals and recycling of galvanizing zinc waste, spent catalyst and now Lithium-Ion Battery Black Mass. He has been the Head of Rubamin’s Zinc Division, India’s Largest Zinc Oxide & Zinc Chemicals manufacturers and exporter, for 11 years and now heads the Corporate Strategy & Planning for Rubamin group.
 
He has authored several articles and presented several papers in National & International conferences on Sustainable Recycling, Commodity Hedging, Surface Coatings, Micronutrients for Agriculture, Animal Feed and Zinc Oxide in Rubber. He is currently the President of Recycling and Environment Industries Association of India, New Delhi. He has in the past held the executive offices of several industry associations including Member of the Executive Committee of Indian Rubber Institute (Gujarat Chapter), Director for Material Recycling Association of India (Non-Ferrous Metals) (2018-19) & Vice President Exim Club, Gujarat (2017-18).

Dr. Nurul Quadir
Secretary and Former Negotiator,
Society of Experts on Environment and Development

Dr Nurul Quadir, a former civil servant, earned Ph.D from UK and MSc in Urban Environment Management from AIT, Bangkok, Thailand. He served Bangladesh Government for about 30 years including eight years in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.  Currently Dr. Quadir is teaching at North South University as a Faculty (part time) in the Department of Environmental Science and Management.

Dr. Quadir is a Member of the LDC Elders Group and advise/support the group as and when required by the group. Dr.Quadir is very much involved in the climate change negotiation process. He was the executive committee member of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage of the UNFCCC. He was also the Alternate Member of the CDM Executive Boad of UNFCCC/KP. Currently, Dr. Quadir is the General Secretary of the Society of Experts on Environment and Development (SEED)

Mr. Sony R K
Manager,
Food and Land Use Coalition

Sony R.K. is a Manager with Food and Land Use Coalition India (FOLU India). His primary responsibility is managing the FOLU India Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, working closely with FOLU India core partners. Before joining WRI, Sony worked with ICLEI South Asia, where he managed projects focused on biodiversity mainstreaming in cities and habitat degradation assessment in the western Himalayas. He has also worked with academic institutions and research organizations, like Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Winrock International India. His work in these organizations focused on wildlife ecology, conservation and management, and environmental impact assessment. He also worked as a visiting faculty at the Trans-disciplinary University, Bengaluru, where he designed and taught social science and qualitative research methodology courses.

Mr. Michael R. Bloomberg
UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition & Solutions, Founder of Bloomberg LP,
Bloomberg Philanthropies

Mike Bloomberg is an entrepreneur and three-term mayor of New York City whose innovations in business, government, and philanthropy have made him a pioneering leader on critical global issues. Bloomberg LP, the technology and media company he launched in 1981, revolutionized the investment industry and now employs some 21,000 people. Elected mayor just weeks after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Bloomberg led New York City’s resurgence – spearheading the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, cutting carbon emissions, increasing New Yorkers’ life expectancy by three years, and spurring record job growth. His foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, works on initiatives in public health, education, the environment, government innovation, and the arts, as well fighting COVID-19. He has given away $14.4 billion. Bloomberg serves as UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions and as WHO Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School.

Ms. Riya Rahiman
Lead- Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS),
Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)

Riya Rahiman is Lead - Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) at CDRI. With more than a decade experience focussed on urban and infrastructure resilience, climate action and environment assessment, Riya has contributed to the implementation of key national and international initiatives in over 100 + cities in South, Southeast Asia and Small Island Developing States. Her expertise focuses on research and policy analyses to inform governance and support governments through capacity strengthening and technical advisory to foster resilient development. Prior to this, Riya was seconded by UNDP to support in setting up the CDRI Secretariat and rolling out flagship technical initiatives including IRIS. Previously, she led the policy research at ‘Centre for Urban Planning and Governance’ at TERI. She has authored several publications and is a Coordinating Lead Author for GEO-cities, a UN global publication released in Nov 2021.

Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai
Counsellor (Sustainable Urbanisation, Water & Air),
Delegation of the European Union to India

Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai work as Counsellor at the Delegation of the European Union to India, New Delhi on Sustainable Urbanisation, Water & Air. Previously Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai worked as Counsellor, Urban Development at Royal Danish Embassy, New Delhi on Sustainable Urban Water Management between Udaipur Municipal Corporation and City of Aarhus, Denmark & the bilateral cooperation between India and Denmark on Sustainable Urbanization. Ms. Kristensen Rai has worked at the Danish Energy Agency, Ministry of Climate and Energy on global cooperation between Denmark and India, Czech Republic and Ukraine. Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai has previously worked at UNDP, New Delhi. Ms. Kamilla Kristensen Rai is holding a M.Sc. in Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and a M.Sc. in Urban Planning in Developing Countries from University of Wales College of Cardiff (UK).

Dr. Rengalakshmi Raj
Director - Ecotechnology,
M S Swaminathan Research Foundation

Currently heading JRD Tata Ecotechnology Centre in M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai. Have been working in the interface areas of science and society in different capacities as a development researcher and field-level practitioner since 1995 in MSSRF.  Broader research areas are in trans-disciplinary research on technologies, institutions and policies on agricultural production systems and rural development. Have hands-on experience in the areas of sustainable livelihoods, agriculture production systems, climate information systems and adaptation, water resources planning and management, conservation of small millets, agro-biodiversity management, digital tools for development, gender and development and institution building. 

Dr. M V RAMANA MURTHY
Director,
National Centre for Coastal Research , NCCR

Dr. M.V. Ramana Murthy, Mission Director, Deep Ocean Mission, Doctorate from IITM, Chennai, Specialized in Offshore and Coastal Hydrodynamics, Modelling of (Coastal Processes, Tsunami, Storm Surge, Urban Flooding) Ports and Harbour Structures, and Integrated Ocean Management. With 30 years of experience in Coastal Research and Ocean Technology, he has successfully demonstrated many societal oriented projects such as Establishment of Desalination Plants in UT Lakshadweep, Coastal Protection and Beach Restoration at Pondicherry and Kerala, Urban Flood Warning System (I Flows) for Mumbai and Chennai, Assessment of Health of Coastal Waters (SDG 14). Recent projects include preparation of Detailed Project Report for Sea Dyke across Gulf of Khambhat with Govt of Gujarat to create a largest fresh water reservoir and Integrated Ocean Management initiative-Development of framework for Blue Economy to be implemented by govt of India. The other areas of work include development of ICZM and Shoreline Management plans, Feasibility studies for Offshore Wind, technical services to central/state governments and industry with more 100+ projects. 80 publications, AICTE – INAE Distinguished Visiting Professor under (DVP) Scheme and member of many technical and policy formulation committees related to coastal areas such as Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and BIS codes on Natural Hazards and Ports & Harbours. He is recipient of National Award on Ocean Technology 2021.

Mr. Abhinav Ramaria
Head - Programs & Operations,
Aspire Labs

Abhinav has over 16 years Techno-commercial experience at Indian, International Organizations and Startups.   Expert Mentor for Incubation and Scaling of Plastic Waste Management Startups and Enterprises.  Abhinav is a Management Professional with over 16 years of experience in corporate and startup space. He has expertise in Business Management, Innovation Programs, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies and Plastic Waste management related Policy research.  He has rich onsite and corporate experience at JSW Steels and Polyplex Corporation Limited where he led teams and initiatives with special focus on Sustainability.He has been a speaker at number of national and international level seminars in Plastic Waste Management and Sustainability.  He is a mentor to number of sustainability startups including being a thematic mentor at startup incubators like Startup Oasis,CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad, FLCTD (Facility for Low Carbon Technology Deployment), AIM Smart City Accelerator etc and at ATL, Niti Aayog.  

Ms. Gabriela Ramos
Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences,
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO

Gabriela Ramos is the Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO, where she oversees the institution's contributions to building inclusive societies. Her mandate includes tackling economic inequalities of income and opportunity, and promoting social inclusion and gender equality. She also oversees the youth support agenda, promotion of values through sport, fight against racism and discrimination, and ethics of science, including of neurotechnology and the internet of things. She has overseen the development and adoption of the first global instrument to promote the ethics of artificial intelligence, adopted by acclamation in 2021 by UNESCO's General Conference. She also launched the Global Forum against Racism, to catalyse the political support that member countries have given to this cause. On gender, she has advanced several initiatives, particularly to combat gender stereotypes and biases, including in new technologies.

Previously, Gabriela Ramos worked as Cabinet Director and Sherpa for G20/G7APEC at the OECD, contributing to increasing the OECD's global impact and leading key initiatives such as "Inclusive Growth", "New Approaches to Economic Challenges", "Climate Change and Growth", the gender strategy and work on well-being and children. At the G20, she contributed to the international reform of tax systems; the adoption of the gender quota (to reduce the labour gap) and the establishment of the W20; and the adoption of the principles of artificial intelligence, among others. She also oversaw Global Relations and the OECD's membership enlargement process.

Ms. Vandana Rao
Deputy Commissioner, Shahdara South Zone,MCD,
Indian Administrative Service, Government of India

Vandana Rao is an IAS officer of 2015 batch.  She has served in a number of different capacities across various territories. She has worked as Chief Officer of Diu Municipal Council, CEO of Diu Smart City Limited.  She served as Director Education in the state of Goa apart from handling various other departments like Sports, Information &Technology. She also handled industrial development corporation of Goa along with being CEO of Investment Promotion Board. Currently she is managing Shahdara South zone of the MCD and is working on solid waste management.

Dr. ASM Shahidur Rashid
IFPRI Director for South Aisa,
IFPRI

Dr. Shahidur Rashid, Director - South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute

Dr. Rashid is Director of South Asia at International Food Policy Research Institute.  He has been with IFPRI since 1998. He has conceptualized and implemented multi-country research programs in both Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.  He has initiated partnership with regional bodies which includes, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). His research outputs have been published in top publishing houses like John Hopkins, Oxford and Pennsylvania university. Throughout his career he has worked to translate research into policy actions to improve food and nutrition security.

Dr. M Ravichandran
Secretary,
Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India

Dr. M. Ravichandran is the Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Earth Science, since Oct 2021. He was Director, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa during 2016-2021. He obtained his Ph.D degree in Physics from University of Pune. He worked as an Atmospheric Scientist in Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM), Pune (1988 to 1997), Ocean Technologist at National Institute of Ocean Technology (ESSO-NIOT), Chennai (1997-2001) and a Physical Oceanographer at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS), Hyderabad (2001-2016), before joining at NCPOR.

He is a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) and Fellow of India Meteorological Society.  He is editor for Pure and Applied Geophysics (Atmosphere and Ocean Sciences) since 2015.

Spent more than 500 days at sea on-board research vessels for various ocean related studies and published more than 150 publications in referred Journals.

Dr. Monique Retamal
Research Director,
ISF-UTS

Dr Monique Retamal is a Research Director and Program Lead for Resource Stewardship at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney. She has a background in environmental engineering and social research and fifteen years’ experience undertaking research into sustainable urban systems, including for water, sanitation and solid waste. She specialises in sustainable systems of consumption and production in the Asia-Pacific region. Her research is currently focused on circular supply chains and environmental governance for plastics and textiles. Monique is currently leading UTS’s contribution to an international research collaboration between six research institutions in India and Australia to identify pathways for a circular economy for plastics in India, which includes a focus on policy frameworks and circular business models. Monique recently undertook research on environmental governance of the textiles and garment industry in Asia for the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In 2020, Monique led a research project for the Australian Government investigating the impact of the international trade in waste plastics on marine plastic pollution in the Asia-Pacific region. Monique’s interdisciplinary PhD investigated the sustainability of collaborative consumption in Southeast Asian cities, which involved interviews with over seventy businesses, policymakers and sustainability experts in the region. Monique is a Board Member of the Asia Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP).

Mr. Umesh Revankar
CEO and Managing Director,
Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd.

Mr. Umesh Revankar is Executive Vice Chairman at Shriram Finance. Mr. Umesh Revankar has three and half decades of proven leadership experience in the financial services industry.  He started his career with the Shriram Group as an executive trainee in 1987. He has been associated with the Shriram group for the last 35 years, has shouldered various responsibilities, and has worked in several key leadership roles of business operations.He has been instrumental in Shriram transport becoming India's largest commercial vehicle financer. He is Co-Chairman of the industry body for NBFCs, the Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC). He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in finance from Mangalore University. He also attended an Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. 

Mr. Sourav Roy
Chief Executive Officer,
Tata Steel Foundation

Sourav leads the Tata Steel Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility for Tata Steel, which is one of the oldest, deepest and most meaningful societal impact portfolios in the country working across more than 200 blocks of India and reaching more than 3 million lives a year. He has been with the Tatas for 15 years now, and is part of the Tata Administrative Services - the flagship leadership programme of the group. He started with the group in the domain of corporate finance and subsequently, in his last engagement, anchored the sustainability strategy work of the Tata Sustainability Group (TSG) to integrate social and environmental aspects within the approaches to business by Tata companies. He was also responsible for setting up disaster response frameworks for the Tata group while managing post disaster relief and long term rehabilitation programmes in Uttarakhand, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Nepal and other regions within and outside India. He has also worked with the Grameen Bank (Bangladesh) and other organizations in the Indian development sector before joining the Tata group and retains a keen interest in development finance. Sourav holds a graduate degree in Economics from Delhi University in 2004 with Postgraduate Diploma in Management from IIM Ahmedabad in 2007 and M.A. in Business Law from National Law School (Bangalore) in 2015. He loves playing any sport, understanding the history of cinema, trekking and reading a good book in his spare time.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs
President UN SDSN,
Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University

Jeffrey D. Sachs is University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed the Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Co-Chair of the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition, Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, academician of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, and Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Honorary Distinguished Professor at Sunway University. He has been Special Advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary General António Guterres. He spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees. Sachs has received 41 honorary doctorates, and his recent awards include the 2022 Tang Prize in Sustainable Development, the Legion of Honor by decree of the President of the Republic of France, and the Order of the Cross from the President of Estonia. His most recent books are The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020) and Ethics in Action for Sustainable Development (2022). 

Dr. Claudia Sadoff
Executive Managing Director,
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Dr Claudia Sadoff, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), is a globally recognized leader in water management for international development. She served as the Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR Center working globally to find water solutions for sustainable, climate-resilient development. Prior to joining IWMI, she spent over 20 years at the World Bank where she held multiple positions, including Lead Economist and Global Lead for Water Security and Integrated Water Resource Management. She served as a Member of the Scientific Group of the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit.

Mr. Jagjeet Sareen
Principal,
Dalberg Advisors

Jagjeet Sareen recently joined as a Principal at Dalberg Advisors’ Delhi office to lead climate work in the Asia-Pacific regiona and globally. ​He served as the Assistant Director-General at the International Solar Alliance and as a Senior Policy Officer in the Global Climate Practice at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC.​ Over the past 17 years, his focus has been on green infrastructure, investment, and climate finance, working at the Climate Investment Funds, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Green Climate Fund, the Unitedtions Climate Change Secretariat, Ernst & Young, and TERI.​ He has facilitated global climate finance negotiations and supported the design process of international climate funds at the UN and multilateral development banks.​​ 

Mr. Ovais Sarmad
Deputy Executive Secretary,
UNFCCC UN Climate Change secretariat

Mr. Ovais Sarmad joined the United Nations Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) on 1 September 2017. Mr. Sarmad advises the Executive Secretary on a range of issues relating to the intergovernmental affairs and strategic planning of the UNFCCC process. He provides oversight to the overall operations of the UNFCCC covering human and financial resources as well as organizational development.

Previously he served as Chief of Staff/Chef de Cabinet at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva. Mr. Sarmad worked in several management and policy
capacities in IOM over a period of 27 years. Prior to IOM, he worked in the private and public sectors in London, where he qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). He graduated from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India, as a Bachelor of Commerce.
 

Mr. A K Saxena
Senior Fellow and Senior Director,
TERI

Mr. A. K. Saxena currently heads the Electricity and Fuels Division in The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He has over 40 years of experience in the power sector in India.  He has worked with the Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). Post retirement from Government service in 2016, he is with TERI where he leads various projects in the Power Sector.   Key areas of focus of his work at present include Energy Transition, Just Transition, Smart Distribution with Energy Storage, E-mobility, Demand Side Management, Smart Grid, etc., which involve a strong interaction with power utilities in the country as well as leading organisations/institutes in India and other countries.  He was Chair/Member/Convenor of Committees set up by CERC and is currently Chairperson of  Industry Advisory Board of IIT-K & La Trobe University Research Academy.  Mr. Saxena holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and MBA.

Mr. Samir Chandra Saxena
Executive Director,
Grid Controller of India Ltd.

SC Saxena is currently heading the National Load Despatch Center (NLDC). He has over more than 27 years of experience in diverse areas comprising of Power Market Operations, Power System Operations, Power Exchange Operations, Electricity Market Design, Regulatory Affairs, Integration of Renewables, REC markets design & operations, and SCADA-IT systems.     He has been actively involved with the integration of Renewables, implementation of Ancillary Services, Fast Response Ancillary Services, Real Time Market (RTM), Security Constrained Economic Despatch (SCED), National Open Access Registry (NOAR).     He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India), Senior Member IEEE and Distinguished Member CIGRE.  He represents India in the CIGRE Study Committee C5 on Electricity Markets and Regulation.    

Mr. A K Saxena
Senior Fellow and Senior Director,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Mr. A. K. Saxena currently heads the Electricity and Fuels Division in The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He has over 40 years of experience in the power sector in India.  He has worked with the Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). Post retirement from Government service in 2016, he is with TERI where he leads various projects in the Power Sector.   Key areas of focus of his work at present include Energy Transition, Just Transition, Smart Distribution with Energy Storage, E-mobility, Demand Side Management, Smart Grid, etc., which involve a strong interaction with power utilities in the country as well as leading organisations/institutes in India and other countries.  He was Chair/Member/Convenor of Committees set up by CERC and is currently Chairperson of  Industry Advisory Board of IIT-K & La Trobe University Research Academy.  Mr. Saxena holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and MBA.

Dr. Heinz Schandl
Senior Science Leader,
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Dr Heinz Schandl, PhD in Sociology and MA in Social and Economic Sciences, is a senior science leader at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Canberra where he leads a research group for urban and industrial transformations and coordinates circular economy research.  He is an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Nagoya University in Japan, a member of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) International Resource Panel and the immediate past president of the International Society of Industrial Ecology. He is the waste impact management initiative lead for the Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub of the National Environmental Science Program (NESP2). His research focusses on social theory, industrial metabolism, and environmental and sustainability policy to support evidence-based policy for resource efficiency, waste minimization, greenhouse gas abatement and the c

Ms. Cornelia Schenk
Energy Efficiency Policy Analyst,
International Energy Agency (IEA)

Cornelia Schenk is an Energy Efficiency Policy Analyst at the IEA’s Energy Efficiency for Emerging Economies (E4) Programme, with more than 10 years of experience in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia. She is leading the E4 work programme in India, and also focuses on energy efficiency business models and financing, as well as sustainable transport in emerging economies. Prior to joining the IEA, she worked as a Sustainable Energy Specialist at the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, and the Austrian Development Agency. She has a background in environmental technology and international affairs (MSc), as well as in international law (Mag.iur) and clean energy finance.

Mr. Arijit Sengupta
Director,
Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, Government of India

Arijit Sengupta is a Director with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Government of India. In this role, he is responsible for International Cooperation, Demand Side Management, Financing of Energy Efficiency initiatives, Planning & Statistics. Apart from this, he is also responsible for coordinating with other Ministries on technical matters.

By training he is MBA from Delhi University, Certified Energy Auditor and Chemical Engineer having around seventeen years of overall experience. Out of which around twelve years have been in Energy Efficiency.

Mr. Girish Sethi
Senior Director-Energy Program,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Girish Sethi is Senior Director of the Energy Program at TERI, having more than 37 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. 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 de-carbonization in harder-to-abate industrial sectors in the longer term, including options for use of hydrogen. 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 Master’s Degree in Energy Studies from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.  He has also completed a multi-disciplinary Masters course on “Technology in the Tropics” from University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany

Mr. Ajay Shankar
Distinguished Fellow,
TERI

Ajay Shankar is a Distinguished Fellow at TERI.

He has rich and varied experience in public service for over forty years as a member of the Indian Administrative Service.  He has served in the Government of India in key policy making positions in the areas of industry and energy.  He has been Secretary, DIPP (Department of Industrial, Policy and Promotion) in the Government of India as well as Member Secretary, NMCC (National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council).

He had earlier worked in the Ministry of Power for many years and held the posts of Special Secretary, Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary. He played a key role in piloting the reform legislation, the Electricity Act 2003 and the major programme for completing the universalization of electricity access launched in 2005 to electrify 1,25,000 villages. Village electrification has now been completed. He was closely involved in the design of the National Solar Mission at the time of its inception.

He writes on policy issues and his articles have been appearing in the national economic papers.

Mr. Ajay Shankar
Distinguished Fellow,
TERI

Ajay Shankar is a Distinguished Fellow at TERI.

He has rich and varied experience in public service for over forty years as a member of the Indian Administrative Service.  He has served in the Government of India in key policy making positions in the areas of industry and energy.  He has been Secretary, DIPP (Department of Industrial, Policy and Promotion) in the Government of India as well as Member Secretary, NMCC (National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council).

He had earlier worked in the Ministry of Power for many years and held the posts of Special Secretary, Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary. He played a key role in piloting the reform legislation, the Electricity Act 2003 and the major programme for completing the universalization of electricity access launched in 2005 to electrify 1,25,000 villages. Village electrification has now been completed. He was closely involved in the design of the National Solar Mission at the time of its inception.

He writes on policy issues and his articles have been appearing in the national economic papers.

Dr. Kiran Sharma
Senior Director,
TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute)

Kiran Sharma is a Senior Director at the Sustainable Agriculture Programme of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) since June 2022. Prior to this, he served as the Deputy Director General-Research, and the Director of CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (CRP-GLDC) at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). He was also leading The Agribusiness and Innovation Platform @ ICRISAT as its CEO, devising strategies for program planning and management, Agribusiness Entrepreneurships, public-private partnerships, and value-addition for nutritional enhancement to address malnutrition, hunger, and poverty through inclusive market-oriented development.

With a PhD from the University of Delhi in Botany and Post-Doctoral training from the University of Calgary in Canada, Dr Sharma has over 35 years’ experience in Cell, Molecular Biology, and trait engineering for crop improvement. He has over 180 publications with h-index of 47 and citations exceeding 7,500. He has supervised several undergraduate and post-graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows in Cell, Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, besides providing mentorship on Agribusiness and Social Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Jitendra Vir Sharma
Senior Director, Land Resources Division,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Dr. Sharma holds a doctorate degree in economic valuation of forest ecosystems. He has nearly 40 year’ experience in leading, coordinating and managing projects and activities in the forestry sector. 

Dr Sharma started his career with the Indian Forest Services in 1983 and retired as a Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Uttar Pradesh and throughout his career he has worked on multiple policy assignments in relation to sustainable development of forests, biodiversity and wildlife conservation, mitigating climate change and poverty alleviation of forest fringe villages.

At TERI, Dr Sharma has led various projects relating to climate financing models, the economic valuation of the forest ecosystem, changes in forest governance, combating land degradation, carbon financing and the enhancement of the livelihoods of forest communities and has worked for a multitude of clients, including the Government of India, various state governments, national and international agencies, the private sector and not for profit enterprises.

His roles include strategic development, project formulation, raising project funding, project implementation and monitoring, institutional and capacity building, networking and negotiating with government representatives and funding agencies.

He also has an 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.

Dr Sharma is an avid and published author and has had various research papers published in national and international publications. He is also a keen speaker at events for climate change, forestry and other domain specific events and has addressed both domestic audiences and international audiences.

He was a faculty member of the Natural Resource Management Department of TERI School of Advanced Studies and guided various PhD students on Forest governance, Climate Change and Natural Resource Economics.

Prof. Prateek Sharma
Vice Chancellor,
TERI SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDIES

Dr. Prateek Sharma is the Vice Chancellor (Acting) and Professor in the Department of Sustainable Engineering at TERI School of Advanced Studies. He pursued his Ph. D. degree in Environmental Engineering from Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi; M.E. (Hydraulics) and B.E. (Civil) from Civil Engineering Department, Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi. He has more than 22 years of research and teaching experience. His general research interest focusses on environmental systems modelling, statistical applications in environmental and water resources engineering and, environmental risk assessment. He has contributed to several high impact academic journals and authored two books in the area of vehicular pollution modelling and stochastic modelling and one monograph. Dr. Sharma is a member of several professional societies. He has been admitted as a Fellow of Wessex Institute of Great Britain in 2004, in recognit

Mr. R P Sharma
Secretary and Director General,
Recycling and Environment Industries Association of India (REIA)

R P Sharma is the Secretary and Director General of the Recycling and Environment Industry Association of India (REIAI), an association with a Vision to promote recycling & reuse of waste, to encourage circular economy. He was a Member of Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) Industry-1 of MOEFCC for two terms till Feb, 2022. He had been the Chief  in the Energy and Environmental Management Division of TATA Steel for twenty years. He has also worked as Executive Director with Zenith Energy Services Private Limited and as COO with CantorCO2e India (P) Limited managing advisory services in the field of energy efficiency in process industry (copper smelter, Integrated Iron and Steel Plants and Power Plants) and development of projects for energy conservation and carbon trading under UNFCCC. He is also currently the director energy and environment  with General Carbon Advisory Services, Mumbai.

Ms. Prachi Shevagaonkar
Founder & CEO,
Cool The Globe

Prachi Shevgaonkar is a Climate Entrepreneur and the founder of Cool The Globe - An app for climate action with users from 100+ countries. Prachi was awarded by the finance minister of India as the 'Young Change- maker of the year.' Prachi is the first Indian citizen to be appointed on the advisory board of Climate Leadership Coalition, alongside the former Prime Minister of Finland. She was selected by the Ministry of Environment and UNICEF to represent India at COP27 climate summit in Egypt, where she received COP27 Young Scholar Award from Hon. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.  Prachi spent months covering stories of youth, farmers, and waste-picker communities, to understand the impact of climate change in day-to-day lives of people. She has been mobilising citizens to tackle climate change through technology, advocacy and grass-root action. She firmly believes that when ordinary citizens come together, miracles can happen.

Dr. Manish Kumar Shrivastava
Senior Fellow,
The Energy and Resources Institute

Manish is senior fellow at TERI. For over 20 years his research has focused on questions related to interaction between energy, technology, finance, and environmental policy in multi-level governance and fragmented society contexts. His current research focuses on challenges and opportunities faced in pursuit of just energy transition in India from the perspective of finance and gender justice, role of sub-national and non-state actors in scaling up climate action in developing countries, and relevance of frugality in technological choices and governance for sustainability. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Climate Action. He holds Ph.D. and M.Phil. Degrees in Science Policy and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Prof. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda
System Board Chair,
CGIAR

Lindiwe Majele Sibanda is an animal scientist and a practicing farmer with extensive experience, serving as a policy advisor to numerous African governments and global institutions. She is Professor, Director and Chair of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa. She is a Member of the Board of Nestlé S.A. and serves on the Board of the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg). She is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, and member of Champions 12.3, accelerating progress on UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 12.3, halving global per capita food waste.

She previously served as Board Chair for the International Livestock Research Institution (ILRI); Board Member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT); and program advisor to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). She also served on the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems and as a member of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Policy Advisory Council. She has served in senior leadership positions in various organizations, including co-Chair of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA), Vice-President, Country Support, Policy and Partnerships for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and CEO and Head of Mission of the pan-African Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN). She holds a PhD and MSc in Agriculture from the University of Reading, and BSc in Animal Production from the University of Alexandria, Egypt.  

She was appointed to the CGIAR System Board in April 2021, and served as the Chair since 1 January 2023.

Dr. Asha Ram Sihag
Distinguished Fellow,
TERI

Asha Ram Sihag is a public policy professional with close to four decades of experience in policy making, execution, research and teaching. As a career civil servant from the Indian Administrative Service, his experience spans higher echelons of government at the central and state levels in India with stints in non-profit and multilateral institutions. He has held key positions throughout his career in ministries such as Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Department of Heavy Industries and within the Cabinet Secretariat Government of India. In his current capacity he is associated with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) as a Distinguished Fellow. He has also served as a Director on the Boards of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd (1998-99), ONGC-Videsh Ltd (1999-2001) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (2013). 

Ms. Kadri Simson
Commissioner for Energy,
European Commission

Kadri Simson is an Estonian politician from the Centre Party. She is serving as a European Commissioner for Energy in the Von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019.

She was previously the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure in Jüri Ratas' first cabinet from 2016 to 2019. During the Estonian Presidency in the Council of the EU, Simson chaired both energy ministers and transport ministers meetings in TTE Council and ministers of economy format in EU Competitiveness Council.

From 2007–2016 Kadri Simson was a member of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Riigikogu and in 2019 she was also elected to the 14th Riigikogu. She holds a Master's degree in Political Science from University College London.

Mr. Abhinav Singh
Director,
Amazon

Abhinav is a business, technology and operations leader with experience leading technology, product , sales and operations. Abhinav has worked in domains as diverse as oil and gas, shipping, technology and retail in multiple countries. He has led customer facing product development, launched new businesses and led large scale operations. At Shell and now at Amazon, he has held leadership roles in Supply Chain, Transportation and Fulfilment.

A strong advocate of sustainability, Abhinav has played a crucial role in identifying and transforming operational processes to contribute towards Amazon’s decarbonization goals. Under his leadership, Amazon is well on its way to achieve its goal of deploying 10,000 EVs in the delivery fleet in India by 2025. He has played a key role in finding ways to meet customers' demand for sustainable packaging by engaging suppliers to develop packaging alternatives and using less material that maintain carbon benefits in the supply chain while ensuring damage-free delivery.

Dr. Namita Singh
Director - Strategy,
Digital Green

Dr. Namita Singh is an International Development sector professional and research scholar with 15 years of experience in participatory technologies, social development and gender. She currently leads strategy, knowledge management and MEL at Digital Green. She has done her PhD in Participatory Technologies from the Open University, UK and has a Master of Arts in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India. She is a published author with several peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and guides.

Dr. Ruchika Singh
Director, Sustainable Landscapes and Restoration,
World Resources Institute India

Dr. Ruchika Singh leads the Sustainable Landscapes and Restoration programme at World Resources Institute India (WRI India), providing strategic leadership and research guidance, developing institutional partnerships, and mobilising action to transition towards sustainable food and land use systems in India. Bringing twenty years of experience, Ruchika has previously worked with World Bank, University of Massachusetts (UMass), Amherst, TERI School of Advanced Studies, TERI, Development and Research Service, and Foundation for Ecological Security. She holds a PhD in Development Studies (magna cum laude) from the Center for Development Research, University of Bonn and a double Masters in Politics from UMass, Amherst, and another in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague part of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Social Service and Delhi University, Ruchika has received several fellowship awards including NUFFIC Fellowship award; Ph.D. Grant from the Fiat Panis Foundation among others.

Mr. Vikash Kumar Singh
Executive Director,
Carbon Check (India) Private Limited

Vikash is a climate change and sustainability expert working on diversified projects & roles for last 15 years. He has undergone extensive training in the validation and verification of GHG offset projects including the accreditation requirements for the DOEs/VVBs. He has actively been involved in the validation and verification and internal technical review of more than 500 GHG offset projects in under different GHG Programs and under different sectoral scope , more than 500 GHG mitigation activities worldwide, covering a range of sectoral scopes, such as Energy industries (renewable - / non-renewable sources), Energy demand, Manufacturing industries, Chemical industries, Metal production, Fugitive emissions from fuels (solid, oil and gas), waste management, Livestock and Land use & forestry. He was also involved  in assessment of baseline & monitoring methodology and standardized baseline.

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

Mahendra Singhi   MD and CEO, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited   Mr. Mahendra Singhi is an affable and cheerful person. He is designated as Carbon Pricing Champion by the World Bank Group, COP 26 Business Leader by UN COP 26 Presidency and also recognised as one of the five global Climate Defenders by the BBC World. Mr. Singhi is Managing Director and CEO of Dalmia Cement, a prominent cement manufacturing group in India ranked no.1 globally by CDP on Low Carbon Economy Transition and appreciated by the UN Secretary-General on climate innovation. Dalmia Cement has committed to become a carbon-negative cement group by 2040. Mr. Singhi also serves the following organizations and commissions in India and abroad: Carbon Pricing Champion, CPLC, World Bank Group COP 26 Business Leader, United Nations COP-26 Presidency Commissioner, Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), London, U.K., Director, Global Cement and Concrete Association

Mr. Sumant Sinha
Chairman & CEO,
ReNew Power

Sumant Sinha is the Chairman and CEO of ReNew Power – India’s leading clean energy companies with a portfolio of ~14 GW. Sumant is Co-Chair of the  Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders India, at the World Economic Forum. Sumant also serves as the President of the ASSOCHAM. He serves on the Board of USISPF as well as the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). In 2021, Sumant was recognized as a United Nations Global Compact’s SDG Pioneer, as ‘Trailblazer of the Year 2021’ by S&P Global Platts & conferred with ‘Distinguished Alumni Award 2022’ by Columbia SIPA. Sumant has previously worked as an investment banker with Citicorp and ING Barings in the US & UK and as CFO of the Aditya Birla Group and COO at Suzlon. Sumant holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, an MBA from IIM, Calcutta and a B. Tech from IIT, Delhi. 

Mr. Sudhendu J Sinha
Adviser (Infrastructure Connectivity-Transport and Electric Mobility),
Niti Aayog

An alumnus of St. Stephen's College, Delhi did is Major in History. He has experience of over 29 years in operations, infrastructure planning, coordination and management at field and policy making levels in Indian Railways with considerable success and appreciation. His performance has been recognised and awarded twice at the National level (National Award for e-Governance- 2019-20, for ‘Excellence in providing Citizen - Centric Delivery’ by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Govt. of India, ‘National Award for Outstanding Service’ Ministry of Railways Govt. of India -2006) and thrice at the Ministry (of Railways) level. He also served as Dean of the Indian Railway Institute of Transport Management (IRITM), Lucknow, and General Manager Web Applications at the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).

Mr. Ganesh Sivamani
Research Associate,
Centre for Social and Economic Progress

I am a Research Associate at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress. I work on issues relating to the non-fuel mining sector in India, looking at a range of issues including fiscal, environmental, and societal impacts. I also work on climate modelling using the social accounting matrix framework.

Mr. Erik Solheim
6th Executive Director,
UNEP

Erik Solheim is a well-known global leader on environment and development as well as an experienced peace negotiator.

He served as Norwegian minister of Environment and International Development from 2005-2012. During that period, he initiated the global program for conservation of rainforests and brought through game changing National legislation - among them the Biodiversity Act and legislation to protect Oslo city forests. He brought Norwegian development assistance to 1%, the highest in the world.

He led the peace efforts in Sri Lanka from 1999-2009 as the main negotiator of the peace process and played a vital role in peace efforts in Nepal, Myanmar and Sudan.

Erik was the Executive Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (the main body of world donors) from 2012-2016 and Executive Director of UN Environment from 2016 to 2018.

Currently he is Senior Adviser at World Resources Institute.

Erik is Chief Mentor of Global Alliance for Sustainable Planet and Chairman of the Board of Afroz Shah Foundation & Youth of India Foundation. He is adviser to April, the world ́s largest paper and pulp company in Indonesia, to Aker Horizons, Norway’s leading green industry corporation and to Norwegian electric battery company Morrow.

He serves as chairman of the development roundtable in Green Hydrogen Organization and as a board member of International Hydropower Association.

Mr. Bård Vegar Solhjell
Director General,
Norad - Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

Bård Vegar Solhjell has been Director General of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Norad, since January 2020. Before this, he was Secretary General of WWF Norway for 1,5 years. Mr. Solhjell has held senior positions in the Norwegian Socialist Left Party, including Vice-chairman 2007-2015. He was member of Parliament 2013-2017 and prior to that Minister of Education 2007-2009 and Minister of the Environment 2012-2013. Bård Vegar Solhjell has comprehensive leadership experience and years of practice in decision making. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science from University of Oslo and University of Bergen and has written several books.

Mr. Sarbananda Sonowal
Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways,
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways

Sarbananda Sonowal is a politician from Assam and the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Minister of AYUSH in the Government of India. He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha and also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. Sarbananda Sonowal was the 14th Chief Minister of Assam, the first BJP Chief Minister in the state, having served from 2016 to 2021. 

Sarbananda Sonowal was also the Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs and Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Skill Development from 2014 to 2016. He is a former two time MP in the Lok Sabha. Sarbananda Sonowal was the President of Assam's oldest student body, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) from 1992 to 1999 and Chairman of the North East Students Organisation (NESO) from 1996 to 2000. 

Active in sports, culture and social work from a young age, Sarbananda Sonowal was a major public figure in the post Assam Accord period in Indian politics and is well known for his historic role in the removal of the IMDT Act from the Assam.

Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood
Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India,
Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India

Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood

Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India

Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood is the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India (PSA to GoI) from April 2022. He is also the Chairperson of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC). Prof. Sood is also a National Science Chair at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore.  He was a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) from 2018 to March 2022 and from 2009 to 2014, he had also served as a Member of the Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) to the Prime Minister of India.

Prof. Sood has a Doctorate in Physics from IISc Bangalore. His research interests include the Physics of Quantum materials, soft and active matter. He has published more than 450 papers in peer-reviewed journals and holds several patents. 

His work has been recognised by many awards, including the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India. He was President of the Indian National Science Academy (2017-19), President of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2010-12), and Secretary-General, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste, Italy (2013-2018). He was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, UK (FRS) in 2015. 

He has also received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the G. D. Birla Award for Scientific Research, the TWAS Prize in Physics, the Millennium Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress Association, the Sir C. V. Raman Award of the UGC, the Homi Bhabha Medal of the Indian National Science Academy, G. M. Modi Award for Science and Technology, 25th SIES Sri. Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi National Eminence Award in the category of Science & Technology and  Asutosh Mookerjee Memorial Life Time Award by Indian Science Congress, among others. He has been conferred Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) by many universities. He serves as Associate Editor in a reputed International Journal, ACS Nano.

Mr. Achim Steiner
UNDP Administrator,
United Nations Development Programme

Achim Steiner became UNDP Administrator on 19 June 2017 following the confirmation of his nomination by the United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Steiner is the Vice-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, which unites 40 entities of the UN system that work to support sustainable development. 

Over nearly three decades, Mr. Steiner has been a global leader on sustainable development, climate resilience and international cooperation. Prior to joining UNDP, he was Director of the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. Mr. Steiner has served across various international organizations, looking at global challenges from both a humanitarian and a development perspective. He led the United Nations Environment Programme (2006-2016), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (2001 – 2006) and the World Commission on Dams (1998 – 2001).

Mr. Simon Emmanuel Kervin Stiell
Executive Secretary,
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - UNFCCC

Simon Stiell was appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in August 2022. From 2013 to June 2022, he served in a number of ministerial roles in the Government of Grenada, including as Minister for Climate Resilience and the Environment for five years. He also served as member of Grenada’s Upper House of Parliament, the Senate, where he was Leader of Government’s Business throughout this period. Prior to his return to Grenada, Simon had a successful career spanning fourteen years within the technology sector, holding senior executive positions in several industry leading companies.

Mr. Hans Stielstra
-,
European Union

Hans Stielstra works for the European Commission in Brussels, in the Directorate General for Environment. He is deputy head of a unit responsible for the EU's Water Framework Directive. Before that, Mr Stielstra worked in a range of other positions in the same organisation, dealing with industry, science, international environment policy, international biodiversity / wildlife issues, etc.

Mr. Mohamed Sultan
Regional Director, Africa,
The Global Methane Hub

Mohamed is a development professional with 15 years of experience working on economic and social justice and progress. He focuses on the intersection of justice, economic opportunity as well as social and cultural dynamism.   He is currently the Africa Lead at the Global Methane Hub. Prior to this Mohamed was at the African Union Development Agency and in several roles with the Open Society Foundations (OSF). He was the program manager for economic and climate justice, for West Africa, where he oversaw a team and portfolios addressing economic inequality, public and corporate accountability, public mobilization for economic and climate justice. Sultan holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Mcgill University, a Master’s in development and international relations from the University of Bologna and certificates from Oxford’s Said Business school and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan
Chairperson,
M S Swaminathan Research Foundation

Soumya Swaminathan was most recently WHO's Chief Scientist and previously, Deputy Director-General for Programmes. A pediatrician from India and a globally recognised researcher on tuberculosis and HIV, she has 30 years of experience in clinical care and research, working throughout her career to translate research into impactful programmes. Dr Swaminathan was Secretary to the Government of India for Health Research and Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research from 2015 to 2017, and focused on bringing science and evidence into health policy-making, building research capacity in Indian medical schools, also forging south-south partnerships in health sciences. From 2009 to 2011, she served as Coordinator of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva.

Dr. Renu Swarup
Former Secretary,
Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India

Dr Renu Swarup, is the Former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of
India. Having served in Department of Biotechnology for over 30 years, she was also the
Chairperson of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), She also held the
Additional Charge of Secretary Department of Science &Technology for a short period.

A PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding, She did her Post Doctoral Research at The John Innes
Centre, Norwich UK, Dr. Renu Swarup has been instrumental in the planning and implementation
of some major National programmes. As a Science Manager issues related to policy planning and
implementation were a part of her assignment. She was actively engaged in the formulation of
National Biotechnology Vision and Strategy in 2001, 2007 and 2015and 2021. She was also a
member of the Task Force on Women in Science constituted by the Scientific Advisory Committee
to the Prime Minister.

Dr. Medha Tadpatrikar
Co-Founder Director,
Rudra Blue Planet Environmental Solutions India Ltd

#PlasticWarrior, TEDx speaker, Writer and Entrepreneur – Medha had never thought of working in waste management sector. “an accidental environmentalist” is how she describes her journey.

• Co-Innovator and Pioneer of Thermo Catlytic Depolymerization Process in India that converts thin, and traditionally non recyclable end of life plastic in to useable liquid fuel. First machine was built in 2010. And they have been running successfully since then.
• Witnessed a death of deer due to plastic during visit to wildlife sanctuary changed the course of life. This motivated to start the work on plastic and thought of how plastic can be recycled diffently. Can Plastic be used as raw material was a simple idea behind the work
• The process of converting plastic to fuel and the manufacturing was developed in house. Complete Made in India plants
• Director of Rudra Blue Planet Environmental Solution India Ltd. The company received foreign equity funding in 2018.
• Rudra runs Two own plants in Jejuri & Kalyan (both in Maharashtra).
• Many companies, ULB, Indivisuals have bough TCD plants from Rudra.
• Founder Trustee of Keshav Sita Memorial Foundation Trust which was established in 2003
• Has conducted more than 750 awareness programs/seminars/webinars so as to create awareness of plastic / segregation and recycling.
• She started creating awareness some nine and half years ago, asone person with starting collection by herself in her own vehicle. Inculcating the importance of recycling and plastic.
• For last nine and half years the Trust collects segregated end of life plastic from more than 45,000 homes/offices/hotels/schools from Pune/PCMC. And for Four and half years from Kalyan, Dombiwali and Thane. And this has helped collection of 27 lakh KG of Plastic which was otherwise headed for landfill.   
• Connected to more than 200,000 people, who have changed their habits and outlook towards plastic.
• Collection also happens from various forts, tourist places.
• This moment has spread across India, wherein people are motivated to segregate their plastic at home and send it by courier for recycling.
• Her efforts and tireless work has diverted more than 47 lakh kg Plastic waste going to landfill and has been converted to fuel or used in road making (using it with bitumen as filler)
• Donated 50,000 kg of processed plastic waste to make 23KM of plastic roads. Today such kind of plastic waste is supplied to various companies for road making. This saves money and also makes better quality roads.
• Discovery Chanel and DW Chanel (German), The BetterIndia and many more have featured the work on their channels along with many well known publications and newspapers such as Femina, Times of Inda, Indian Express, Sakal, Maharashtra Times, Loksatta, Dainik Bhasker to name few.
• Speaker at Two TedX, In first explained about the journey of plastic to fuel while in the second TedX spoke about waste and climate change
• Chosen as one of the Top 30 “Women transforming India” of Niti Ayog in 2019. Featured on coffee book table .
• Confered many awards and accolades, to name few - TIP 20 in Abu Dhabi, Swachhodaya U.P Award 2019, Long-term Achievement in Environmental Leadership 2021 by JK Yog in USA, Loksatta Durga Award .
• Member of National Plastic Committee of many organizations which helps Government on recycling
• Speaker at many National, Inetnationsl seminars on Plastic waste, Recycling
• Recognized worldwise as an expert in Plastic to fuel technology
• During Covid distributed 20,000 masks and 2500 liter sanitizer during first wave. Also during first shutdown arranged fresh vegetables with help of farmers, local police. More than 2600 citizens were benefited from this. Also fresh vegetables were provided to around 450 elderlys at home
• Highly educated MBA (UK), LLB, PhD, MSc (Pshychology) and has completed many diplomas in subjects ranging from IPR, Journalism, Marketing and Forensic Science.
• Auhor of two published books, namely  Domestic Violence a reality and Impressive Manners.
• Trained Bharatnatyam and Kathak dance

Tedx Talk On Plastic to Fuel- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrjWdz0LEM0 

Tedx Talk On Climate & Plastic Waste  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOkRLQDHrr8

Discovery Chanel  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLrrFo9ykmY

DW chanel  - https://youtu.be/5hQqaBLGJmo

BetterIndia  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtElLUjlswU

For Other work  Check out

Pune Plastic Warriors- KSMF and Rudra Initiative on FB - https://www.facebook.com/keshavsitatrust

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

Kazuhiko Takeuchi is President of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and a Project Professor at the Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), the University of Tokyo. He served as Senior Vice-Rector of the United Nations University (UNU) and currently holds a position as Senior Visiting Professor at UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). He has served, inter alia, as Acting Chair of the Central Environment Council; and Chair of the Nature Conservation Committee of the Central Environment Council, Government of Japan, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Sustainability Science (Springer Nature), and Distinguished Chair, Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies, University of Nairobi.

He specialises in landscape ecology, landscape planning, and sustainability science.

He engages in research and outreach activities on creating eco-friendly environments for a harmonious coexistence of people and nature, especially focusing on Asia and Africa.

Mr. Shalabh Tandon
Regional Head of Operation and South Asia, Head of Climate Business,
International Finance Corporation

Mr Shalabh Tandon is responsible for managing IFC South Asia’s regional operations across investment and advisory. He is also a part of IFC’s Asia Management and heads its South Asia Climate Business. IFC is the private sector investment arm of World Bank Group (WBG) and is the leading multilateral for private sector financing. Shalabh has over 24 years of experience as a development banking professional at IFC and has held several leadership and management positions during his long stint at IFC. He has experience in a range of industries including infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare, education, agri business, financial markets, VC and Private Equity and is involved in shaping IFC’s initiatives to create new markets in several evolving sectors in South Asia.

Prior to joining IFC, Shalabh worked with BNP Paribas, Arthur Andersen and ICRA-Moody’s. He holds a B. Tech in Computer Science from IIT, Delhi; Master’s degree in Computer Science from University of California, Davis; and an MBA from Tulane University, USA.

Mr. Shailesh Tembhurnikar
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (CAMPA),
Maharashtra Forest Department

Mr Shailesh Tembhurnikar is 1987 batch Indian Forest Service officer from Maharashtra Cadre. He is currently serving as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (CAMPA). He is the recipient of Gold Medal of the State Government of Maharashtra for forest protection. He has extensive experience of executing several projects on ground such as World Bank Maharashtra Forestry Project, participatory forest management, integrated watershed management, etc. He has also undergone the Mid Career Training Programme at University of Syracuse, United States. He is the nodal person for carbon finance for Maharashtra Forest Department.

Mr. Rajiv Tikoo
Consulting Editor - Sustainability,
Outlook Group

Rajiv Tikoo is a senior journalist, editor and development communication expert with experience of working with media houses, UN, governments, corporates and NGOs.

He is presently working as Consulting Editor (Sustainability) with Outlook Group. He is a former Deputy Editor of The Financial Express, Asia Editor of United Nations Millennium Campaign and Editor-in-Chief of OneWorld South Asia.

A recipient of fellowships from the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, Panos and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Rajiv specialises in media management, sustainable development, human rights and environmental law.

Apart from reporting for mainstream, alternative and community media, he has edited 10 books and compendiums, including ‘Forest Lanterns’ published by Penguin Random House.

Rajiv has also produced audio programmes for All India Radio and films on behaviour change communication. Besides, he has explored the use of mobile Apps, IVR-based helplines, info-kiosks and Community Radio Stations for hyperlocal communication.

Prof. Geetam Tiwari
Professor & Head, TRIP-Centre,,
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Geetam Tiwari is MoUD Chair Professor for Transport Planning at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi. She obtained Master of Urban Planning and Policy, and Ph.D. in Transport Planning and Policy, from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She has received the degree of Doctor of Technology honoris causa from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden in 2012. She has been Adlerbretska Guest Professor for sustainable urban transport at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden 2007-2010. She has been working in the area of traffic and transport planning and traffic safety focusing on pedestrians, bicycles and bus systems. She has worked with city, state and national government in India on public transport and road safety projects. She has over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals, has co-edited four books on transport planning and safety. She is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion since 2009. She is on the editorial board of Journal of Transport and Health, Journal of Safety Research. She is on the board of  SLoCAT, an international NGO promoting low carbon transport systems, IATSS forum and LEAD India, independent director on the board of Urban Mass Transit Company. 

Dr. Arun K. Tripathi
Advisor/Scientist-G,
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Dr. Tripathi currently working as Dr. Arun K. Tripathi, Advisor/Scientist-G, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Scientist ‘G’/Adviser. His previous assignments are Scientist ‘F’ in MNRE, Principal Scientific Officer/Scientist ‘D’ in Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES), Senior Scientific Officer, Grade-I, Senior Scientific Officer, Grade-II in Department of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (DNES) and Project Officer in Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency, (UPNEDA).  He was Government nominee Director in the Board of Directors of IREDA during 21st July, 2015 to 17.05.2017.  Dr. Tripathi’s involvement in MNRE are Solar Thermal, R&D (including Wind, Solar, Biomass, Hydrogen & Battery).  Akshay Urja Magazine, all matters related to IT, RE in UTs, Study of IT tools like Artificial Intelligence, Data Mining, Block chain and Deep Learning for development of Renewable Energy, Lab Policy & Standards quality control, Greening of Islands, Gir Forest Solarisation etc.

Dr. Tripathi holds B.Sc. Engg. (Agri. Engg.) from University of Allahabad, M.Tech from IIT Kharagpur,  Ph.D (Chem. Engg. Deptt) from IIT Delhi and  MBA with Specialisation in Env. Management.

Lord Adair Turner
Chairman,
Energy Transition Commission

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 to 1.5C by 2040.   In addition, he is Chairman of Chubb Europe and on the Advisory Board of Envision Energy. Lord Turner has held high profile roles in public policy: he was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (1995-2000); chairman of the Pensions Commission (2003-2006); chairman of the Climate Change Committee (2008-2012) an independent body to advise the UK Government on tackling climate change, and chaired the UK’s Financial Services Authority during the financial crisis of 2008, where he played a leading role in the post crisis redesign of global banking and shadow banking regulation.

Ms. Jo Tyndall
Director - Environment Directorate,
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD

Jo Tyndall is Director, Environment Directorate at the OECD where she oversees the implementation of the Directorate’s programme of work, covering a broad range of environmental issues, including: green growth; climate change; biodiversity; quality of ecosystems; eco-innovation; circular economy; and, resource productivity.   She was, most recently, New Zealand High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Singapore from February 2019 to September 2022. Prior to that, Jo served as New Zealand’s Climate Change Ambassador, commencing this role in June 2010. From 2016 to December 2018, she also co-chaired the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA). As Climate Change Ambassador, she was head of delegation to the United Nations climate negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

Mr. Ignacio Urrutia
Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist,
World Bank

Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist at the World Bank currently working in the South Asia Region where he leads lending and technical assistance projects with a focus on coastal and urban resilience, resilient infrastructure, fragility and conflict, emergency preparedness and response, postdisaster reconstruction, and climate change. Prior to South Asia, Ignacio worked in the Water, Urban, and Disaster Risk Management unit in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. He holds an MPA in Development Practice from Columbia University.

Mr. Hitesh Vaidya
Director,
National Institute of Urban Affairs

'Hitesh Vaidya has more than 25 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 with 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. Satyendra Vaidya
Adviser,
The Shakti Plastic Industries

Capt. Vaidya is undertaking holistic Solid Waste Management projects including Waste Characterization and Assessment, Solid Waste Audits, route planning and optimization of transportation, the conduct of waste collection drives including E-Waste, awareness lectures, etc. since Dec 2019.

 He served in the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard (on deputation) as an operations specialist for 27 years. I have successfully planned and executed diverse operations and project assignments, worked with multi-dimensional and multi-cultural teams, in planning and executing maritime security tasks, humanitarian assistance missions, operational and safety audits of aviation units and procurement of capital assets.

 
Key competencies include process analysis and improvement, preparation of SOPs/ check lists, audit of processes, preparation of Qualitative Requirements and Requests for Proposals, perspective planning and management of human assets.

Dr. Atul Vaidya
Director,
CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute

Dr. Atul Vaidya is Director of the CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur. He has a vast research experience in environmental science and engineering, especially in waste management. He has extensively worked on various aspects of waste management including characterization, treatment, recycling and reuse, impacts on the environment, Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and environmentally sound practices such as waste minimization, clean technology, and circular economy. He is also actively working for the Stockholm convention, UNFCCC, and Minimata convention. He has implemented effective technological options for environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes in various industries in the country. Dr. Vaidya has facilitated decision-making across the country through his basic and translational interdisciplinary research on various environmental issues. His contributions to national and international environmental policies have been noteworthy.

Mr. Rasmus Valanko
Managing Director,
We Mean Business Coalition

Rasmus Valanko is the Managing Director for Systems Transformation at We Mean Business (WMB). He works to implement systemic change by working with companies and partner organizations on climate change. Rasmus brings a wealth of knowledge on sustainability from private, public and NGO sectors and believes in the power of collaboration to find innovative solutions to some of the most complex challenges faced by society today.

Prof. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele
Former IPCC Vice-Chair; Professor,
Université catholique de Louvain

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele is full professor of climatology and sustainable development sciences at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium), and member of the Belgian Royal Academy. A physicist and climate modeller, he has published with natural and social scientists about climate change and sustainable development at global and regional scales for forty years, with a strong attention for climate justice and just transition. He has participated to almost all UNFCCC COPs since COP1 in 1995. He was Vice-Chair of the IPCC from 2008 to 2015, and is now the official candidate of Belgium for the IPCC Chair position. "Scientific rigour and quality, relevance and usefulness for decision-making, service, ethics, clarity and pedagogy, gender balance, inclusiveness and respect at all stages of the IPCC's work will be at the heart of my action if I am elected Chair." 

Mr. Amit Verma
Head - Circular Economy,
NITI Aayog

Mr. Amit Verma is an Indian Forest Service officer of 2005 batch borne on Uttarakhand cadre and is currently serving as head of the Circular Economy Cella nd Director at NITI Aayog. During his 17 years as an IFS officer, he has served as Divisional Forest Officer of Nainital Soil Conservation Forest Division, Haldwani Forest Division, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division, Deputy Director of renowned Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), Working plan officer of Haldwani and Tarai East Forest Division, Director/Conservator of Forests Rajaji Tiger Reserve and Conservator of Forests (Yamuna Circle). In his current role in NITI Aayog, he leadsthe Circular Economy Cell in NITI Aayog, which works towards bringing resource efficiency in all applicable aspects and some of the work include Vehicle Scrapping Program, Waste to Wealth Programs, Solid Waste Management, eWaste Management to name a few. 

Ms. Namita Vikas
Founder and Managing Director,
auctusESG

Namita Vikas is currently the Founder and Managing Director of auctusESG LLP, a global firm providing strategic advisory on sustainable finance, climate transition, ESG, and climate risk management. An award-winning senior business leader with over 30 years of diverse global experience in sustainable finance, ESG, and climate strategy across banking and technology. In her previous leadership role with a large Indian private bank, she led the maiden issuance of a green bond, launched many innovative first-of-its-kind sustainable finance products. She was also instrumental in raising over USD 1 billion in green capital from marquee global DFIs.

Since 2020, following her passion to accelerate global sustainable finance and climate transition, she has steered marquee global projects awarded by international governments, UN agencies, and global DFIs at auctusESG.

Namita continues to be a member of several expert committees on Sustainable Finance and ESG, including those by the Government of India, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Currently, she serves on the global advisory board of Climate Bonds Initiative, UK, and Digital Green, USA.

Mr. Arne Walther
Independent Adviser and Former Diplomat,
Norway

Ambassador Arne Walther is currently an independent adviser on government relations, geopolitics and international energy affairs through his company “Walther International Consulting”. He has served as Norway's Ambassador to India, Japan, Austria and the UN Organizations in Vienna. He has been Chairman of the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency (Paris) and the founding Secretary General of the International Energy Forum (Riyadh). He has served as Special Adviser on International Affairs for former Norwegian Prime Minister Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland. Ambassador Walther is a member of the International Steering Committee for TERIs World Sustainable Development Summit

Prof. Mark Williams
School of Geography, Geology and the Environment,
University of Leicester

Mark Williams is a Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Leicester in the UK. He is a long time member of the Anthropocene Working Group since its beginning, and his focus has been on quantifying changes to the biosphere as a result of human actions. He recently published the book 'The Cosmic Oasis' (Oxford University Press), with Jan Zalasiewicz.

Dr. Henning Wuester
Director,
ICAT

Dr. Wuester currently leads the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency, ICAT, and directs its day-to-day work based on the Initiative’s strategic plan. Prior to joining ICAT, he worked in the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) overseeing the Agency’s work on knowledge, policy, and finance. Previously, Dr. Wuester served the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as Senior Manager at the Interim Secretariat. He also worked in several positions within the United Nations system, including as Special Adviser to the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and at the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in several roles in the secretariat of the Convention on Transboundary Air Pollution. Dr. Wuester holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Munich, where he started his career as assistant professor.

Ms. Riddhima Yadav
Non-Resident Fellow, Board Director,
The Aspen Institute, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security

Riddhima is a leader in sustainability and climate strategy with trisector experience in the public, private and NGO sectors. She has most recently been part of the Sustainable Investing Group at Goldman Sachs prior to which she was a founding team member of the Sustainable Finance Group in the Executive Office partnering with Goldman Sachs’ global businesses to deliver sustainability-related solutions for clients and stakeholders and designing group-level strategy including a target to deploy $750 billion in sustainable finance by 2030. Riddhima has advised hundreds of corporations, asset managers and asset owners globally on climate finance, ESG and sustainability. Prior to Goldman Sachs, she was named inaugural climate fellow for Secretary John Kerry and worked for the United Nations on trade and climate policy. She holds a B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics from Yale University and sits on the board of the We Are Family Foundation.

Mr. Amenatave Yauvoli
Ambassador,
Fiji Embassy, Jakarta

Attained a distinguished career both as a Fijian diplomat and civil servant with commencement of work into the civil service in 1988, with more than 30 years of experience at the international, regional and national levels, having worked at the Pacific level in four Pacific regional organizations (SPREP, SPC, PIDF, MSG). Work at the international level, included a stint at the WTO HQ based in Geneva, and work on climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany.

Prof. Jan Zalasiewicz
Geologist, lecturer,
University of Leicester

Jan Zalasiewicz is Emeritus Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Leicester, previously of the British Geological Survey. He chairs the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy of the International Commission on Stratigraphy and is a member of its Anthropocene Working Group. A field geologist, palaeontologist and stratigrapher, interests include Early Palaeozoic fossils and rocks, the Quaternary Ice Ages and the geology made by humans. He is a co-editor of The Anthropocene as a geological time unit: a guide to the scientific evidence and current debate (2019). Books he has written include The Earth After Us (2008), The Planet in a Pebble (2010), and (with Mark Williams) The Goldilocks Planet (2012), Ocean Worlds (2014), Skeletons (2018) and Cosmic Oasis (2022).