Speakers

Dr Satish Kumar serves as the President and Executive Director of the Alliance for an Energy-Efficient Economy (AEEE). Prior to AEEE, he was the Energy Efficiency Ambassador and led the Energy Management business at Schneider Electric India, a Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Chief of Party for a USAID-supported bilateral energy efficiency technical assistance program (ECO-III) project. He has a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon and a B. Arch from IIT Roorkee), was nominated for the executive leadership program at Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina, is a member on the TEAP’s Energy Efficiency Task Force under the Montreal Protocol, is a LEED Fellow (USGBC), Certified Energy Manager and Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (Association of Energy Engineers).

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 Girish Sethi leads and manages the programme on promoting efficiency in the industrial sector, encompassing both large industries and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). He has more than 23 years of experience in the field of energy conservation and environment improvement in the industrial sector and has been with TERI for the past 15 years. 

Apart from providing strategic direction and coordinating the activities related to industrial energy efficiency, he has led multidisciplinary research teams in action research projects involving development/adaptation of energy efficient and environmentally benign technologies. Mr Sethi is presently managing a large program funded by a bilateral organization that focuses on holistic development of some energy intensive small-scale industry sectors in India. He is also involved in matters related to inventorisation of corporate level GHG emissions and aspects related to transfer and promotion of low-carbon energy technologies in the context of climate change.

Mr. Sanjay Dube is the Chief Executive Officer of IIEC. He has over 32 years of experience and has worked on clean energy and climate change related programs supported by international agencies like USAID, ADB, World Bank, UNIDO, UNEP, UNDP, GIZ, and DFID. Prior to joining IIEC, he has worked as Chief of Party for Partnership to Advance Clean Energy – Deployment (PACE-D) Technical Assistance Project of USAID in India, Vice President for Emergent Ventures India Pvt. Ltd. (2010-2012), Senior Program Manager with ICF International (2006-2010) and Senior Project Manager for IIEC (2001-2006).

He has worked extensively in providing energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean energy finance, sustainability and climate change related services to various national and international agencies. Mr. Dube has worked on the design of waste heat recovery program for industries, development of the roadmap for implementation of net zero energy buildings, and provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Power in implementing audit programs for industries and buildings as well as updating the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) for India. 

Nicolas Schenk has been working for Zurich Airport in various positions since 2006. First he joined the master planning department in Zurich. In 2008 he was transferred to the Bangalore International Airport project. After his time in India, he worked on various projects abroad in Brazil, Kazakhstan and Colombia. From 2017 onwards he was employed exclusively for the international business development division of Zurich Airport, participating in various airport privatisation projects.

Since February 2020 he has been the designated chief development officer for Noida International Airport in Jewar, Uttar Pradesh, India

Guruprakash Sastry is a green building professional with over 18 years of experience. As Sustainability Leader, he is responsible for driving environmental sustainability initiatives across Infosys campuses. In the last 14 years at Infosys, he has been instrumental in implementing several innovative technologies in buildings in the areas of building design, energy, water and waste management. Infosys has set new benchmarks for resource efficiency in the buildings sector and is considered a global leader in environmental sustainability. Infosys is among a few corporates in the world to have achieved carbon neutrality across all emissions.

Guruprakash has a Masters Degree in Sustainable Energy Engineering from Stockholm.

Mr Christoph Ospelt is the founder and managing director of Lenum AG in Liechtenstein. He is also co-owner and chairman of the board of directors of the sister company EK Energiekonzepte in Zurich. The focus of the activities of Lenum and EK is on the sustainability of buildings, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies. Both companies have assisted in designing many advanced prize-winning sustainable buildings, including Positive-energy Buildings, Minergie, Passive and Eco-Buildings.

Christoph Ospelt began as a research assistant at the ‘Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory’ of the Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL). Later, his research at MIT focused on Life Cycle Assessment in the context of buildings and on the sustainability of buildings.

Mr Hemant Chaudhary is the founder of Circular Economy Alliance Australia, and is an acclaimed expert in the area of sustainability and the Circular Economy and works extensively on global initiatives with the UN, World Bank and international agencies. In a career spanning 28 years Hemant has worked for large corporations, governments, peak industry bodies, non-government organizations, municipal corporations, community groups, and venture capital investors.

Hemant has covered diverse sectors and specialties that include water, waste, renewable energy, mining, oil & gas, manufacturing, food, major infrastructure and education delivering innovative environmental programs and projects of significant scale, sensitivity and impact.

Dr Sameer Maithel is the Founder Director at Greentech Knowledge Solutions. He is an engineer having primary interest in the development and dissemination of energy-efficient, low-carbon, renewable energy solutions in the building sector, small industries, and rural communities. His work experience covers design & technology development; field measurements and testing; conceptualization, development and implementation of policies, programmes and projects; trainings & capacity building.

Over a career spanning 30 years, he has worked on facilitating adoption of energy-efficient/less polluting brick firing technologies in several thousand brick kilns in South Asia, development of Eco-Niwas Samhita, development of sectoral roadmaps and national and regional projects deal with energy efficiency and resource efficient building materials. He has also designed and conducted training programmes for professionals and practioners in the area of resource-efficient brick production, energy-efficient building design, and decentralized renewable energy applications.

Dr. Soumen Maity is the Chief Technical Officer, TARA & Vice President at Development Alternatives. He is a Material Scientist by profession and currently leads the Technology Management business at TARA. Dr Maity is with TARA for over a decade anchoring the interface between innovation and business. On one hand he guides and mentors the Clean Technology systems at the Development Alternatives Group, on the other, he also leads the incubation of developed technologies at TARA. His expertise lies in the building material sector wherein he has been instrumental in exploring commercial approaches to utilization of industrial waste, improving energy efficiency and reducing environmental emissions.

Sanjay Seth is Senior Director of the Sustainable Habitat Division with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He is also the Chief Executive Officer of GRIHA Council which administers the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment. Prior to joining TERI, he worked with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Government of India and headed the vertical on Building Energy Efficiency.

He was also the interim Secretary of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and responsible for the administration and financial management of the organization. He joined BEE in 2007, with the introduction of the “Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC)”, and was given the responsibility of developing an enabling framework for facilitating its implementation in a consistent manner. Prior to joining the Bureau, he has worked in various capacities in a Central Public Sector Generating company, under the Ministry of Power and was associated with planning, monitoring, co-ordination and construction management of Hydro and Thermal power projects.

Sonia Shukla has more than a decade of experience in renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, air quality management, and sustainable development. She is presently working with IIEC as a senior project manager handling projects on energy efficiency, air pollution, and renewable energy in buildings. She led the first study in India of assessing the technical and economic impact of electric vehicles on the electricity grid and local air quality for the Forum of Regulators. She was also involved in developing unique and innovative DSM programmes under the Standard Offer Program framework and has carried out load research for several distribution utilities. She was involved in developing innovative strategies for the promotion of rooftop solar in the residential consumer segment and worked with financial institutes & end consumers on capacity building and to identify and alleviate challenges in the solar rooftop sector. She also led the development of India’s first Climate Finance Knowledge Portal hosted by NABARD and training of the officials.

Stijn Verbeke holds a Ph.D. degree in applied engineering and can build on 12 years research experience in the field of sustainable building. His work focusses on assessment methods to improve the performance of (near) zero energy buildings and districts. Stijn was the principal investigator developing the EU Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI).

He is research line coordinator 'buildings and districts' at VITO/EnergyVille and coordinates several research projects on sustainable and smart buildings and communities for national and international clients. He is part-time post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at University of Antwerp in the fields of building physics and energy performance of buildings.

As Executive Director of BPIE, Oliver has spearheaded strategic planning, administration, program development, fundraising and outreach since joining BPIE during its infancy in 2011. Through his leadership, Oliver has grown BPIE into a financially independent non-profit organization and trusted thought leader on energy performance of buildings in Europe and globally.

Before joining BPIE, Oliver worked for the global conservation organization WWF in various roles, including as Head of the Climate Business Engagement unit of WWF International, managing strategy and partnership development with the private sector. Leading an international team, he advised multinational companies on climate change and energy issues.

Oliver’s experience in buildings efficiency goes back to the late 90s when he was a project leader for several deep renovation projects on behalf of WWF in cooperation with housing companies across Germany. Oliver participated in UNFCCC negotiation processes, and was the leader of the German NGO coalition at international conferences. Oliver has been active as a jury member of environmental and sustainability awards and serves on various advisory boards. In his early career, he worked on regional sustainability strategies and spatial planning.

Christian works in the Energiesprong German team supporting the construction side and covering the industrial supply chain and innovation team. He also leads on transatlantic market knowledge exchange, supporting Retrofit NY and Rocky Mountain Institute to use the Energiesprong approach.

Pankaj Sharma is working as a Project Engineer in Bureau of Energy Efficiency. He is an Electrical Engineer and BEE certified Energy Manager. In Bureau of Energy Efficiency, he is looking after the Energy Efficiency achieved and aimed in Energy Efficiency in Transport Sector programme, Commercial Buildings under PAT scheme and Star Rating of Buildings programme. Prior to joining BEE, he has worked in a Power Distribution Company. He successfully conceptualized the 11kV Feeders segregation and rearrangement of the to minimize outage & commercial losses. 

In BEE, he has worked in target setting & Monitoring of the Energy consumption for Commercial Buildings/Hotels notified as Designated Consumer under Perform, Achieve & Trade scheme, worked on the development of Fuel Efficiency programme for Passenger Cars, Heavy Duty, and Light & Medium commercial vehicles. Additionally, he is looking after the revision of the Labelling programme for commercial buildings and addition of new typologies including Net-zero buildings under the regime of building labelling.

Daniel Magallón is a sustainable energy financial specialist with over 23 years of experience working with international public and private organizations, experience in developing financing mechanisms and risk mitigation instruments for the ‘Green' sector, including debt and equity finance of projects, as well as a deep understanding of the engineering, construction and operating issues of green energy technologies. He has worked on various projects related to market-driven solutions to accelerate investments and financing in climate change mitigation and adaptation projects.

Since 2007, he directs BASE’s work, a Swiss-based organization focused on developing innovative business models and financing instruments to mobilize investment and financing to sustainable energy and climate change solutions. He has conducted assignments for UNEP, World Bank, GEF, REEEP, IDB, German Government (BMU) among others, mobilizing investments, developing business models, financial mechanisms, risk mitigation instruments, and accessing market opportunities for RE and EE projects in Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, China, and India.

He is a public accountant from the Universidad Central of Bogota and is a specialist in financial management and organizational development. He has worked in sectors such as international commerce, credit analysis and credit risks. He has been the manager of subsidiary risks since 2005. In 2008, he designed and took on the management of Environmental Management and from 2011 to 2015 he worked as the director of sustainability for the strategy of environmental and social impact of BanColombia. Since 2015 he has served as Corporate Director of Sustainability.

Mr. Deo Shankar Tripathi has over 39 years of commercial banking experience. He joined the Union Bank of India as Probationary Officer and held diverse positions, managing varied assignments till his superannuation as General Manager. He holds the distinction of heading premier zones of the bank, namely Mumbai and New Delhi.

On functional expertise, Mr. Tripathi has managed varied roles in bank covering Corporate Finance & Credit Management, Retail Banking, Collection Management, Rural Banking, Transaction Banking, Resource Mobilisation, Customer Relationship Management, Branch Network Expansion and Human Resource Management.

His last over 9 years stint has been in the housing finance industry in leadership roles. As the Managing Director and CEO of Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd, Mr. Tripathi has spearheaded the strategies, policies and processes to make housing loan accessible to low income and informal segments. Under his leadership, Aadhar Housing Finance has grown as the largest low income focussed housing finance company in India.

Mr. Mridul has worked extensively in Finance, Real Estate and Private Equity Industry. He worked with JLL for 16 years, where he was the CEO of JLL Funds and before that Joint MD of Capital Markets. He is currently senior advisor to International Finance Corporation, an start-up investor and visiting faculty at Delhi University and SPA Delhi. He is one of the early adopters and investors into futuristic Tech enabled Solutions. He has made over 18 early-stage tech investments in Indian Start-ups. He founded YSTART to combine his passion of teaching and mentoring young entrepreneurs innovate and navigate the era of digital innovation. He has done B. Planning from SPA, Delhi and MFC (DFS) from Delhi University

Dr. Veena Joshi is an expert in rural energy, renewable energy and environment. She is currently an Expert Member in the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) Taskforce for National LPG Program Assessment and Planning for Health, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises Clusters, and a Director in the Board of the Small Scale Infrastructure Development Fund (S3IDF), India.

Veena spent more than 30 years of her career with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and TERI, where she developed, managed and guided programmes in the energy sector, notable among them were an Indo-Canada project on Women as Managers of Household Energy Systems and Evaluation of National Programme on Improved Cook Stoves. She has been on the technical and research Advisory Groups for the UNDP, Shell Foundation, World Bank and Prayas Energy Group. She edited the Journal of Solar Energy Society of India for five years.

Veena has a Ph.D. in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. S

Siraz Hirani is presently working as Senior Programme Management Specialist at Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust (MHT). He is a senior professional with 20 years of strategic & operational experience with international development organisations including 10 years at leadership positions at Global & National level. He holds M.Sc. in Disaster Mitigation, M.Sc. in Life Science & MBA with specialization in Finance. He is an Alumni of the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School with work experience in multi-cultural & challenging countries like India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Tajikistan & Myanmar.

His sectoral experience includes Habitat Development, Climate Change & Disaster Risk Management. He has proven capability in strategic planning, program management, policy development, resource mobilization, monitoring & evaluation.

Swati Puchalapalli is the founding partner and director of Terra Viridis, an environmental design consultancy that she started ten years ago. During the past decade, Terra Viridis has worked across several sectors ranging from policy research to environmental consultancy for corporates, institutions and government agencies. Swati is a strong proponent of passive design as the first step towards sustainable design, constantly applying learning from local vernacular to new buildings. She works extensively with computer based building analysis to help architects make design decisions.
Swati is a founder member of GRIHA Council (society formed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt of India and Teri to promote sustainable design across India).

Dr. Purushottam has over 20 years of sustainability strategy and environmental consultancy experience in the areas of environmental impact assessment; air pollution modelling and meteorology; GHG emissions inventory and carbon offsets; carbon neutrality strategy; waste management strategy; and water risk, technology solutions for sustainability and CSR. She is a physics postgraduate with Phd in environmental science and engineering. A highly driven, enthusiastic, people and results-orientated, knowledge driven professional, with a demonstrable track record of experience gained in international and national projects in different sectors in response to the challenges of environment and sustainability.

Ms Neetu Jain is the managing director at Panache Greentech Solutions. She has experience in business development, management, and business planning. She has worked with Cool Roof Rating Council and Federation of Gujarat Industries (FGI).
Her expertise in Energy efficient & protective building enveloping products & solutions comprising of cool surfaces (cool roofing & cool wall coatings), thermal comfort, insulation, and waterproofing, as well as other UHI mitigation technologies is exceptional. As a Founder and MD of Panache Greentech Solutions Pvt Ltd her core intention is to provide the best up to the mark, genuine environment friendly innovative products & solutions with sustainable performance which also comply with global standards.

Aarti is the Founder of Climate Trends, and she has over 20 years of experience working on various communication efforts across the environment sector, and FMCGs. She has dedicated the last 12 years to advance the discourse on climate change in India. She holds an MBA in marketing from the Institute of Management Studies and an undergraduate degree in Zoology from Delhi University.

Prof. Rajkiran V Bilolikar is Director, Centre for Energy Studies at Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI). Here he leads the Energy Efficiency, e- Mobility, Renewable Energy and Power Sector Projects. He has worked in Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, one of the largest electricity utilities in India prior to joining ASCI. 

Prof. Bilolikar played an instrumental role in operationalizing mandatory compliance of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in the state of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Currently he is working on strengthening the implementation of Energy Efficiency Code Compliance in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra along with clean mobility promotion in india. He  has  20 years of experience in  Electricity Distribution Management, Energy  Efficiency Policy, Renewable Energy, Strategic management of Power Utilities, Climate change and Sustainability and e – Mobility. 

Gaurav Jain has more than 30 years experience in real estate projects across all function with last 10 years as business head/CEO responsible for P&L and guiding projects from start to finish. He has a keen business insight as well as spots the trends well ahead of their becoming reality. Well versed with Government and policy formulation, he is well connected in the professional and business circles. He specialised in business turnaround and giving a forceful direction as demonstrated in his stints as CEO- Bombay Realty as well as MD & CEO of Jindal Realty. Prior to this, he has held key management positions in key real estate companies as Emaar MGF, M3M, ITC, DLF and Jaypee Group. He holds an MBA from MDI, Gurgaon, a Masters degree in Planning from SPA, New Delhi and Bachelor of Civil Engineering with Honors from Nagpur University. Mr. Jain is a MRICS and a visiting faculty in SPA, New Delhi. 

With a keen insight of the emerging trends and market, he has successfully given shape and directions to many companies and projects across India. He is a team player and believes that every team member plays a pivotal role in success of every venture. He is also VP of NAREDCO at the national level, a real estate body under aegis of Government of India, Housing and Urban development ministry

Specialties: Real Estate Development, Profit centre head, Business strategy and business development Land and Town Planning, Project Management, Development and Construction.

Stefan Kessler is an Associate Partner in INFRAS, a private Swiss company doing research and consulting focused on sustainable development. He has a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology], with a specialization in energy systems and development cooperation. He has a long standing and international experience in conceptualising and implementing energy and climate related policy instruments, impact analysis of voluntary and regulatory activities, energy concepts and programs, implementation, and compliance issues. Lately, an additional focus of his work was on developing concepts and action planning for net-zero-greenhouse gas emission readiness at the National, State and Municipality levels.

Ms Meenal Anand is an Electrical Engineer with Masters in Energy Management. Presently, she handles implementation of Building Energy efficiency schemes in States/UTs, providing technical assistance and guidance to implementation team, capacity building of stakeholders. She has experience in working with different stakeholders: Govt. departments, States/ UTs, bilateral, developers, organisations for development of new schemes and for the enforcement of the existing schemes under building energy efficiency program and NetZero Building.

Ms Meenal has 16+ years of professional experience in the field of designing, testing, Energy efficiency. She has experience of working in United Nation Development program (UNDP), Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited.

Mr. Lall is the principal architect of Ashok B. Lall Architects in New Delhi, India. He studied architecture and fine arts at the University of Cambridge, UK and then undertook further study at the Architectural Association, London, including the Department of Tropical Studies.
Among India’s most respected architects, Ashok B. Lall has been a pioneer in formally integrating sustainability into his architectural works – decades before the term attained significance.

The firm Ashok B Lall Architects was established in 1981. The practice specialises in low-energy sustainable architecture. He has also been a devoted academician and served as Dean of Studies at the TVB School of Habitat Studies. Among several notable accolades, Mr. Lall has been nominated for the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture twice, served on the international Holcim Foundation Jury thrice.

Prof. Rawal is a faculty member at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, and Executive Director of Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy (CARBSE). He teaches energy efficient built habitat, energy modelling, energy policy at post graduate level. His work emphasis is on ‘energy performance of human habitat’ and ‘architectural science   education’.
He leads the Indo-US Joint Clean Energy R & D Centre - Building Energy Efficiency Sector and is a member of various committees. In 2014, he was appointed as a senior expert at the Global Building Performance Network. He spearheaded inclusion of adaptive thermal comfort standard as part of National Building Code of India in 2015. He has served as a member of the Board of Studies at various educational institutes.

Dr. Mathur works in the field of energy planning and modeling, building energy simulation, energy conservation in buildings, and life cycle assessment of renewable energy systems. He has in his credit 55 journal papers and more than 120 talks, several research projects including 3 international collaborative projects. His current activities include studies on adaptive thermal comfort, modeling of passive and low energy cooling systems, long term energy system modeling penetration of renewable energy.

Besides teaching and research, he is presently also working as the Head of the Incubation Centre. He was founder Head of the Centre for Energy and Environment at MNIT Jaipur. He is a mechanical engineer, having done post graduation in energy studies from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi (India) and doctorate in energy systems from University of Essen (Germany).

Dr Vishal Garg is a Building Science professor and works on various aspects of energy efficiency in buildings, such as cool roofs for UHI mitigation, building energy simulation for designing energy-efficient buildings and automation and controls for efficient operations. 

Prior to joining Plaksha University, he was Professor and Head of the Center for IT in Building Science at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. He was the founding president and board member of the International Building Performance Simulation Association’s (IBPSA) Indian affiliate and is a panellist for a chapter on sustainability in the National Building Code of India. He is also a project committee voting member in the ASHRAE’s Standing Standard Project Committee 90.2: Energy Efficient Design of Low-Rise Residential Buildings.

Over the last 35 years, Professor Richard de Dear has focused his research career on defining what occupants want and need from their built environments and assessing the performance of buildings in terms of meeting those requirements. He is currently the most highly cited living researcher in the domain of thermal comfort, with over 250 peer-reviewed papers plus several monographs on the subject. Within that body of research, it is his adaptive model of thermal comfort that’s had the greatest impact, not just on the research community but also on the design and operation of actual buildings. De Dear's adaptive model underpins the American Society of Heating and the Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers’ thermal comfort standard, ASHRAE 55-2004, 2010, 2013, which in turn, informs several national thermal comfort standards around the world.

Abdullah Nisar Siddiqui is currently associated with Climate Smart Buildings Programme of Indo German Energy Programme (IGEN-CSB) at GIZ India. The primary objective of this programme is to support Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to enhance thermal comfort in Affordable Housing through development of Thermal Comfort Standards and National Action Plan for Affordable Housing. He has keen interest in exploring the use of computational techniques and data analysis in the development of building sector policies. From his past positions at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), he has garnered a range of operational knowledge in the development and implementation of building energy codes and standards.

He spearheaded and implemented a number schemes and initiatives under the UNDP project on “Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings”, such as: (a) Capacity development of building sector professionals through education in building physics and energy simulation, (b) Developing State specific Roadmaps for implementation of ECBC, (c) Demonstration projects to showcase ECBC compliance, (d) Establishing ECBC cells in the states/UTs to assist in the notification and operationalization of ECBC, and(e) Market Assessment of Energy Efficient building materials.

Anumita Roy chowdhury is the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, India. She is in charge of research and advocacy on Sustainable Urbanisation that encompasses clean air, sustainable mobility and sustainable habitat. Over the last two decades she has worked extensively to shape policy advocacy on these issues and has catalysed the Right to Clean Air campaign at the Centre. She has helped to guide and build some of the key policy campaigns on air pollution especially vehicular pollution and multi-sector clean air action planning in cities.

She is working with other Indian and African cities to help shape the roadmap for clean air action plans. She has participated and played active role in several national policy forums as well global environmental platforms. She has been participating either as a member or an advisor in various committees and forums. She has widely written and published articles, policy research papers and books. She has been awarded the prestigious Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award by the California Air Resources Board, California, USA.

Dr. Umamaheshwaran Rajasekar is Chair, Urban Resilience Unit and Heading the Climate Centre for Cities (C-Cube) at National Institute of Urban Affairs, India. He has over 17 years of experience in developing risk reduction strategies, climate change analysis, institutional strengthening for governments, INGOs and multi-lateral agencies. His recent efforts have been towards bridging the technology and communication gap to enable informed decision making.

He has been the team leader and project manager for some of the pioneering risk resilience efforts in India including implementation of early warning systems, urban disease surveillance and city resilience strategies. His recent work on development and implementation of Urban Health Services Monitoring System has been recognized as an intervention to watch, by the U.N Secretary General’s global pulse initiative.

Mr Mehul Patwari has more than 20 years of corporate experience covering skills of project appraisal/finance, due diligence and infrastructure project development in sectors like New City Development (Infrastructure & Real Estate), Urban infrastructure, Transport (roads, bridges), Real estate, Tourism, ICT, Oil & Gas. He has a rich experience in Project Conceptualization, Development and Structuring on PPP basis, Fund Raising, Joint Venture / Deal Structuring, Conceptualization of Economic Development Programs at GIFT, Policy Formulation for Private Sector Investment in Infrastructure Development, Project Management. He is an expert of Infrastructure and Real Estate Projects: Techno-Commercial Due Diligence, Deal Making, Investment and Structuring, Financial and Risk Analysis, Documentation

Dr Ajay Mathur is Director General of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Prior to joining ISA, Dr. Mathur was Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).  He was co-chair of  the global Energy Transitions Commission;  and of the Clean Cooling Initiatives of the One Planet Summit. He earlier headed the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, and was responsible for its foundational programmes which mainstreamed energy efficiency through initiatives such as the Star Labeling programme for appliances, the Energy Conservation Building Code, and the Perform, Achieve & Trade programme for energy-intensive industries. He was a leading climate change negotiator, and was the Indian spokesperson at the Paris climate negotiations. He served as the interim Director of the Green Climate Fund during its foundational period.

Ms.Elizabeth Wangeci Chege is the energy efficiency and cooling specialist in SEforAll (Sustainable Energy for All ) Africa. She is also the Chair of the Africa Regional Network of WorldGBC. She was the winner of World Green Building Council Chair's Award 2019-2020. This Award is given to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the global green building movement. She is also the Technical lead for ESG assessment for the 1st developer in East Africa to launch Green Bonds of USD 40 million for Student housing. Previously, she was the Vice Chair of the World Green Building Council in the field of building & construction industry.

Jonathan Duwyn is Head of Cities Unit and Head of the GlobalABC Secretariat at UNEP. He joined the United Nations in 2005 and has worked at country level, regional level and headquarter level. His international project experience ranges from mainstreaming environment into national policies, supporting climate technology transfer, encouraging energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy technologies, and fostering access to climate finance. Prior to joining the United Nations. Jonathan worked with the private sector in France and Morocco, designing, installing and doing maintenance of standalone energy systems (solar PV, wind generators, diesel generators and hybrid systems) as well as conducting on-site wind assessments for wind farm project developers.

Mr Andre Mueller is the Programme Manager in the Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction and Environment Section of the Thematic Cooperation Division at the headquarters of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Bern, Switzerland. He is responsible for programmes in the field of energy efficiency and cooling in the built environment.  He has Master degree in environmental engineering with experiences in working in the private sector, non-governmental organization and with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Melanie Slade has spent thirty years in energy efficiency policy development and implementation in many parts of the world. She started out working in the UK Government on industrial and appliance energy efficiency and has worked with many other governments to establish similar programmes, perhaps most notably, the Government of China since the 1990s. In 2007 Mel became the Chair of Australia and New Zealand’s Equipment Energy Efficiency programme and where she led the phase-out of inefficient lighting. Mel moved to the International Energy Agency in February 2014 to manage the Energy Efficiency in Emerging Economies Programme. Mel and her team work with policy makers in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Thailand to develop more effective energy efficiency policy, track its progress and assess its potential.

Shri Sanjeev Kumar Kassi is presently Chief Engineer (Thermal) in Ministry of Power, Government of India. He was involved in framing policy matters related to power generation in the country and sorting out technical problems of the power utilities at national level. He has formulated policies for adoption of new power generation technologies for improving the Indian power sector with respect to the current operating efficiencies, cost effectiveness and Green House Gas emissions. He has been associated with review of Technical Standards for Construction of Electric Power Stations, Design Standard for Balance of Plant Equipment, Safety Standards and revival of stranded gas based power stations. His experience includes Power Plant Design, Operation & Maintenance, evolution of strategies and technology development for Indian power stations. 

Suhasini is a graduate of Delhi School of Planning and Architectures; living in Auroville since 1985 and one of the co-founders of the Auroville Centre for Scientific Research; an organisation dedicated to research and experimentation in the field of appropriate building materials and technologies, water management, renewable energy and solar passive/ climatic architecture and sustainable urban planning. 

As head of the Auroville Design Consultants, the Planning and Design wing of this organization, she has designed and implemented over 50+ projects in India in the last 25+ years. She was co-recipient of the Hassan Fathy Award for 'Architecture for the Poor' in 1992, co-nominated for the Aga khan in 1992 and recipient of the Design Share Award for educational buildings in 2003 and 2005. 

Ms. Rita Panicker Pinto is the Founder Director of Butterflies, a non-governmental organization in New Delhi, India working to protect & empower street & working children since 1989. In 2019, the Butterflies’ Resilience Centre was completed.

Ms. Panicker has been a faculty member in the Women’s Studies Unit, at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and was also the Founder Member of MASHAL – Maharashtra Association for Social Housing. In 1990, Rita was appointed Consultant to UNICEF New York and Nigeria to assist UNICEF Nigeria office to formulate a national policy and programme for Children Especially in Difficult Circumstances (CEDC). Today this whole area is known as Child Protection. From 1988-1992, Rita also served as the Director of the Board of ChildHope International, an international organization working on issues of street and working children. Rita was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1993 and has authored several books on children’s issues. She was also the Vice Chair of the Board of Family for Every Child, a global alliance of local civil society organisations working together to improve the lives of vulnerable children around the world.

Chitra Vishwanath is a household name in ecological and sustainable architecture. Ms Vishwanath is the Principal Architect and Managing Director of Biome Environmental Solutions, a multi-disciplinary firm based in Bangalore. She holds a diploma in civil engineering from Nigeria and a Bachelor’s degree in architecture from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. She started her practice in 1990 under the name Chitra Vishwanath Architects, which later in 2008 merged with Rainwater club to form Biome Environmental Solutions. Ms Vishwanath and the entire team at Biome has been involved in more than 700 projects to date. Social responsibility, energy efficiency, water management and overall impact on the land are essential components of any project at Biome.

Mr. Bhanware is an energy engineer with core expertise in building energy simulation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. He is a BEE certified Energy Auditor & ECBC Master Trainer. He has a Master’s degree in Energy Systems Engineering from the IIT, Bombay. He has more than twelve years of experience in the energy sector in research and consultancy. He is part of Indo-Swiss BEEP PMTU since its inception.

Monnanda Appaiah is the Managing Director at Wienerberger India. He has over two decades of multidisciplinary experience focused primarily on the manufacturing sector. Since 2010 he has been heading the Indian subsidiary of Wienerberger AG, the world leaders in building material manufacturing.  He strongly believes that technological advances should ultimately lead to protecting the environment from over exploitation. He is passionate about innovations that can help humanity harvest the best of nature while addressing the challenges of mankind.

Apart from spearheading the Indian operations for Wienerberger, he created a market for sustainable, lightweight building materials in India, developed awareness for the Indian consumers in green, sustainable construction processes; introduced alternative, renewable energy concepts & technology in the field of manufacturing building materials.

Ashish Rakheja is a Vice President at ASHRAE and is the Managing Partner at AEON. He has a postgraduate degree in Thermal Engineering with twenty Eight years of work experience.

A seasoned Consulting Engineer, he has designed over 2000 projects including Hotels, Airports, Hospitals, Retail, Residential, Commercial, High rises and Industrial projects. He specializes in high-performance buildings and has been actively involved in leading design activities of electro-mechanical services for ten Net Zero Energy Buildings and over forty Platinum rated green projects in India. He is spearheading the green building movement in India as Chairman, Technical Committee of Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and certified Trainer.

A seasoned speaker, he has delivered over 500 talks on various facets of building design across the world and is the recipient of many awards.  An active member of over 20 Technical societies, he regularly contributes his time on writing standards, codes & position papers for government bodies & technical societies. He is involved in imparting training to budding architects in the field of Building Services and is part of the visiting faculty at leading schools in India.

Iain Campbell is a Senior Fellow at RMI. Prior to joining RMI, Iain held various positions with Johnson Controls; most notably he was responsible for the Global Energy Solutions and the Global Workplace Solutions businesses within the Building Efficiency division. These businesses generated revenues more than $5.5 billion and were amongst the fastest growing businesses within the Building Efficiency division over this time period. In addition to the organic growth achieved, Iain led acquisitions in the areas of building services, lighting, demand response, energy management, and carbon reporting.

Previously Iain served as the President of York International, Americas where he was responsible for the commercial and industrial HVAC and refrigeration businesses covering product development, engineering, manufacturing, sales, and service within the Americas region. This business generated revenues in excess of $1.8 billion. Iain commenced his career in 1983 with York International in the U.K.; Johnson Controls acquired York International in 2005.

Dr. Yashkumar Shukla is Center Head and Principal Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy (CARBSE). He has more than seventeen years of research and consulting experience in high-performance buildings. He has led several ground-breaking research projects including low energy cooling and ventilation system in Indian residences, evaluation of innovative cooling technologies, and benchmarking of Indian buildings. He is also associated with the Master of Technology in Building Energy Performance (MBEP) program at the Faculty of Technology, CEPT University where he offers several courses and guides capstone projects.
Dr. Shukla's current research includes calibration of simulation models, smart grids, low cooling energy systems, performance characterization of the novel envelope and air conditioning systems, and development of the next-generation control algorithms. He is presently the team lead on the technical assistance program by Asian Development Bank on building disease resilient, smart, energy-efficient air conditioning systems in developing member countries.

Mr. Jaboyedoff heads the Swiss PMTU of the Indo-Swiss BEEP and is a senior engineer specialising in energy-efficient buildings and solar energy applications, with over thirty years of experience in the field. He is a partner in Effin'Art Sarl, a Swiss consulting firm founded in 2014, which focuses on the design of low-energy buildings and optimisation of existing buildings. His expertise in the development and application of high-performance, innovative, and climate-responsive solutions ranges from industry to data centres, including university campuses and large office buildings.

Mr. Jaboyedoff also has vast experience in India, where he has been implementing projects related to energy efficiency and renewable energy in various economic sectors (industry, power generation, buildings, etc.) since the early 1980s.

Hal is the CEO of BamCore and its parent Global Bamboo Technologies, Inc. His focus on climate change began after his second retirement (22 years at Goldman Sachs, then 5 years running and selling a global online bond exchange). His initial climate focus began in 2004 when he started a non-profit foundation to focus on climate change education. Following a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation, he returned to his native California to build an organic and climate-conscious vineyard and winery in Sonoma County (SeiQuerce.com), where he was introduced to BamCore for his building projects. Intrigued, he spent nearly a year researching timber bamboo and its ability to quickly capture carbon from the atmosphere, which could then be stored long term in buildings.

Today, his wine label is managed by others but continues as the first dually certified organic and climate-adapted winery in the world. Now, his full commercial focus is on bringing structural fibers from bamboo and select fast-growing trees into the construction and industrial markets. Hal holds a BS degree (Cum Laude) in biochemistry from UC Irvine, an MBA (Beta Gama Sigma) from Columbia Business School, and MS, MPhil, and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia Medical School. He is also a certified University of California Climate Steward.

Dr. Shailesh Kr. Agrawal is heading BMTPC an Apex Inter Ministerial organization under the Ministry of Housing & Urban affairs, Government of India mandated to promote cost effective, environment friendly, energy efficient building materials and construction technologies from lab to land. One of the recent initiatives taken by Dr. Agrawal is to identify, evaluate and certify emerging construction systems for mass housing for faster, quality, safe and sustainable construction. Prior to this, he has served Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, a constituent establishment of CSIR and a premier research institute involved in R&D in the area of building science and technology as a scientist for 20 years.

Mr. Anders Hall started with solar shading back in 1995 as a Sales rep for Hunter Douglas. Later, he joined Somfy Nordic AB as Project Sales Manager and then in Somfy SA (International) as Int Business Developer. In parallel, he became active in ES-SO (the European Solar Shading Organization) in 2006 and since 2012 he is the Board member and Chairman of the Marketing Committee. Shade Academy is a private initiative to, over time, develop a platform online for useful sharing of knowledge and experience.

Tarun Jami is the founder of GreenJams, an award-winning cleantech enterprise creating carbon-negative building materials out of crop residues and industrial by-products to solve for the climate change caused by construction and crop residue burning. At GreenJams he primarily takes care of product development and technical operations. He is an INK Fellow, Forbes 30 Under 30 and Meaningful Business 100 listee. A scientific authority on vegetal concretes, he holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering and environmental sciences.

He is also currently pursuing a PhD in civil engineering from CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee and RMIT University, Melbourne.

Rick Torgerson is Founder and CEO of Humengi, the world’s most highly engineered masonry building system.  Mr. Torgerson spent more than 25 years in marketing, advertising, media and publishing in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA, and more than 10 years in the California real estate industry.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, and is passionate about helping with solutions for affordable housing on a global scale.  One of his favorite quotes is one by Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Ms Meenakshi is a Project Engineer in the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. She has more than eleven year of extensive and multidisciplinary professional experience in the field of Energy Efficiency and Information Technologies. Sbe is currently working in Building Energy Efficiency Program and looking after Energy Efficiency in Residential Building, Net Zero Buildings, Building Materials and Enforcement of Energy Efficiency schemes in the States. She is also working in development of regulatory framework for Energy Efficiency Schemes and amendment of Energy Conservation Act.

Shri Rajnath Ram is Adviser (Power & Energy) at NITI Aayog, Government of India. He has been working on Government policy and program formulation related to Oil and Natural Gas, Renewable Energy, Power, and Coal. He is also leading the initiative of Energy Data Management to create a robust energy data management system of international repute and is in charge of the initiative to set up an Energy Modelling Unit within the NITI Aayog.
Mr. Ram has also worked as Joint Adviser (Infrastructure) in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, heading the technical standard division wherein he was associated with the formulation of technical standards and specification including safety standards pipelines of petroleum and natural gas, city gas distribution networks and of Emergency Response and Disaster Management Plans (ERDMP) of Indian Oil & Gas Sectors and Onsite verification of ERDMP. In addition, he looked after the overseas engagements – India-US Energy Dialogue, India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, NITI Aayog – DRC, PRC Dialogue, and the Twinning program with Australia.

Mr. Rahul Bhalla is the CEO of Zenatix, which is a provider of IoT based automation solutions to commercial buildings, retail chains and B2B OEMs. Previously, he’s been in the Intellectual Property outsourcing space, helping businesses build and grow their Intellectual Property functions. His specialities are business development, strategic account management, new product/solutions development, operations and delivery. Rahul is responsible for overall strategic direction as well as sales & customer relationships at Zenatix.He holds a B.Tech from IIT Delhi.

Samit has an M.Sc. in Physics and Bachelor in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, India (1994). He also holds an M.S.in Electrical Engineering. from the University of Hawai’i, USA (1997). As MD at Pluss, Samit heads the overall strategy, marketing and finance portfolios.

With a belief that Energy access is going to be the key for a sustainable world, he has led the growth of energy storage materials and their applications at Pluss. He led his team to develop and create products – some of which were the first in the world – MiraCradle™, worlds first neonatal cooler can keep a baby cool for 3 days. Pluss went on to receive the CII’s – Most innovative MSME award twice – In 2015 and 2017. Samit also led PLUSS to develop several energy efficient and innovative solutions in the field of temperature control of buildings, HVAC equipment, refrigeration and agricultural solutions.

Extremely passionate about Environment, he engages in Environment conservation through Advit Foundation, a Gurgaon, India based NGO. An avid marathoner, Samit has successfully completed the Los Angeles Marathon, the Delhi Half Marathon and the Mumbai Marathon.

Siddharth has done his masters in Business Strategy majoring in finance from Thames Valley University, London. Have over 10 years of experience in startups in diverse verticals. After having hands on experience in business for 5 years post his education and handling each aspect of business from operations to HR to sales and marketing, decided to start a completely new venture in the field of green air i.e. Indoor Air Quality. Business driven by values & ethics, cohesive teamwork, long term vision, gap identification are hallmark of his leadership skills.

Arjun started Smart Joules in 2014 to drive substantial energy efficiency improvements across India’s businesses and factories, based on the belief that efficiency is the quickest, cheapest and most scalable way to tackle energy inequity and climate change. Under Arjun’s leadership, Smart Joules has executed multiple energy efficiency retrofit projects in Hospitals, and has won national and international recognition and financial support for its work.

Arjun was recognized in 2014 as one of India’s top Young Leaders by the Economic Times newspaper, in 2015 as an Echoing Green Climate Fellow, in 2016 as Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Business Standard and Climate Strategies Accelerator Fellow by the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, and in 2017 as a Champion of Change by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and Niti Aayog. Arjun also contributes to nurturing the efficiency industry as an Executive Council member of the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE). Arjun has a Master’s degree in Engineering Systems from MIT and Bachelor's degrees in Environmental Engineering and Economics from UC Berkeley.

Gaurav Burman is the APAC President of 75F Smart Innovations Ltd. His previous assignment was with Schneider Electric, as Director – Marketing where he was also a part of the Management Team, South Asia. Gaurav has handled diverse portfolios in his career including product management, alliances, channel sales, and enterprise sales.
Prior to Marketing, Gaurav spent 20 years of his life in Sales and worked with companies like PCL, IBM, L&T, APC, and Schneider Electric. He was recently recognised as one of the 50 Most Talented CMOs in India in 2013, and one of the 100 Most Talented CMOs in the World by the US-based CMO Council.
Gaurav obtained his Civil Engineering Degree from The Thapar Institute, Patiala. He pursued his MBA in Marketing from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Saswati is Associate Director at Greentech Knowledge Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a research and advisory firm working on energy efficiency in buildings, resource efficiency in the production of building materials and deployment of decentralized renewable energy systems. She's an architect and environmental planner by training. She has 15 years of experience working as an architect, green building consultant and building energy efficiency expert.

She’s been involved with the Indo-Swiss Building Energy Efficiency Project since 2012.

Ram is a change facilitator primarily in the Social Development sector, focusing on capacity building and change processes in organisations. As the founder of Options & Solutions, over the last 23 years he has worked with numerous clients across sectors like UNDP, WHO, ILO, International Organization for Migration (IOM), NABARD, GiZ (German Government Agency for Technical / International Co-operation), Aga Khan Foundation, International Trade Centre Geneva, DWHH / German Agro Action, Christian Children’s Fund Canada, Misereor Germany, etc., as also a large number of Indian and Asian NGOs. He has been involved as a facilitator and trainer for organizations in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In recent years, Ram has worked with a number of organisations in the Garment Sector, including the Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), Marks & Spencers, H&M, Shahi Exports Ltd., and with the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO).