Jury

He was, for many years, till he was elected as DG of ISA, a member of the Prime Minister of India’s Council on Climate Change, and co-chair of the global Energy Transitions Commission and the Clean Cooling Initiatives of the One Planet Summit. He was a leading Indian and G-77 climate change negotiator (2006-2012) and was the Indian spokesperson at the Paris climate negotiations (2015).
Dr Mathur was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Merite by the President of France in recognition of his outstanding commitment to preserving the environment and coping with energy- related challenges.

Dr Mathur’s experience has led him to be a strong proponent of policy interventions based on convergence of private and public interests, and to consider perseverance and adjustments as keys to policy acceptance and sustainability.

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, of the National Academy of Engineering, and of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. He is a member of the Board of E-Cubed, and a member of the Advisory Boards of Lightrock Energy Acceleration Fund, PowerRoll, and Cenergist. He also chairs the Indian Task Force to Prepare a Roadmap for Energy Sector Education.

With experience in 48 countries, he previously worked at Princeton, Oxford, UNDP (New York), and WTO (Geneva). The Asia Society honoured him recently with the 2022 Asia Game Changer Award, for his and CEEW’s “incredible work, which is making a real difference for India and for the planet”.

Arunabha advises governments, industry, civil society, and international organisations around the world. He currently serves on Government of India’s G20 Finance Track Advisory Group and advises the Sherpa Track for India’s G20 Presidency in 2022-23. In 2022, the UN Secretary-General appointed him to the High-level Expert Group on the Credibility and Accountability of Net-Zero Announcements by Non-State Actors. Since 2018, on the UN Secretary-General’s nomination, Dr Ghosh has served on the UN Committee for Development Policy. Arunabha is also a member of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water. In 2020, the Government of India appointed him Co-Chair of the energy, environment and climate change track for India’s Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP2020). He was also appointed the Co-Chair of the T20 Task Force on climate and energy for Indonesia’s G20 Presidency in 2022.

He is the co- author/editor of four books and dozens of research papers and reports. His 2019 TED Talk on air quality (Mission 80-80-80) has crossed 267,000 views. He is co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Clean Air. He was a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader, and a Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellow (fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network). He was previously an Oxford-Princeton Global Leadership Fellow.

Dr Ghosh led CEEW into a leading think-tank soon after its founding in August 2010. He was actively involved in conceptualising and designing the International Solar Alliance. He conceptualised and was a founder of the Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN), an industry body for hundreds of decentralised energy entrepreneurs. He serves on the Board of Directors of ClimateWorks Foundation, and is a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group.

Dr Ghosh has advised India’s Prime Minister’s Office, several ministries, state governments and international organisations on a range of subjects. He was invited by the Government of France as a Personnalité d’Avenir to advise on the COP21 climate negotiations. He also advised on HFC negotiations under the Montreal Protocol. He served as a member of an international high-level panel of the Environment of Peace initiative. He served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy. He has been a member of Track II dialogues with ten countries/regions; and formulated the Maharashtra-Guangdong Partnership on Sustainability. He served on the Executive Committee of the India-U.S. PACEsetter Fund. He was a member of the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority for the National Capital Region (2018-2020). He has presented to heads of state and legislatures across the world on varied topics including global governance, international relations and human development, climate, energy, natural resources and water, trade and intellectual property, development assistance, conflict and extremism.

Widely published, he was lead author of Stockholm+50: Unlocking a Better Future (SEI-CEEW, 2022), and Jobs, Growth and Sustainability: A New Social Contract for India’s Recovery (CEEW, 2020). Arunabha’s co-authored essay “Rethink India’s energy strategy” in Nature, the world’s most cited scientific journal, was selected as one of 2015’s ten most influential essays.

He is co-author of Energizing India: Towards a Resilient and Equitable Energy System (SAGE, 2017); Human Development and Global Institutions: Evolution, impact, reform (Routledge, 2016); and Climate Change: A Risk Assessment (FCO, 2015). He is the co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy (2016). He has been a co-author of three UNDP Human Development Reports, including the pathbreaking Beyond Scarcity: Power, poverty, and the global water crisis (2006).

His regular columns are widely read and have been published in the Business Standard, Financial Express, Euractiv, Forbes, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Mint, Nikkei Asian Review, The Hindu, The Times of India, among other platforms. He has hosted a documentary on water in Africa, featured in National Geographic and Discovery Channel documentaries on energy and climate change, and delivered a TED Talk on air quality. He has been regularly interviewed on Al Jazeera, BBC, CGTN, CNBC, CNN News 18, Gulf News, India Today TV, NDTV, Voice of America, etc.

He holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford (Clarendon Scholar; Marvin Bower Scholar), an M.A. (First Class) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Balliol College, Oxford, Radhakrishnan Scholar), and topped Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

With over 40 years of experience in clinical care and research, Dr. Swaminathan has dedicated her career to translating research into impactful health programs. As Secretary to the Government of India for Health Research, her efforts were focused on integrating science into health policy-making, enhancing research capabilities in Indian medical institutions, and fostering global partnerships in health sciences.

Dr. Swaminathan received her academic training in India, the UK, and the USA, and has authored over 480 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. She is a Fellow of the US National Academy of Medicine, the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK), and all major science academies in India. She holds honorary doctorates from prestigious institutions including Karolinska Institute, EPFL Lausanne, and the McGill University, Canada. She currently co-chairs a global commission “Our Common Air” and serves on the Kofi Annan Commission on Food Security.  She holds adjunct professorships at Karolinska University (Sweden) and Tufts University (USA).

Currently, Dr. Swaminathan serves on the boards of Alliance Bioversity, Population Foundation of India, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and Women Lift Health, among others. She is a member of the Governing Council of the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission, member of One Health and Climate Change Strategic Committee, Government of Tamil Nadu and Chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

During her tenure as WHO’s first Chief Scientist, Dr. Swaminathan established the Science Division focusing on research, quality assurance of norms and standards, and digital health. She played a pivotal role in coordinating global scientific efforts and was instrumental in setting up Covax to ensure equitable vaccine distribution to Low and Middle-Income Countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her current focus is on addressing the health impacts of climate change, especially on women and children and food system transformations to strengthen nutrition security in India and regionally.

He has lived on three continents and served clients in 15 countries, including China, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Rajat is passionate about Sustainability and helping companies take effective measures to remove carbon from across their business processes. He helped set up India’s National Solar Mission, often considered to be one of the country’s biggest contributions to the decarbonisation movement.

Rajat has worked with leading companies in the metals, chemical, infrastructure, mining, power, oil, and telecommunications sectors. He brings expertise in operational transformations and change programs with a special focus on digital enablement. Recently, he led the build-out of McKinsey Digital globally, for our Energy and Materials sector, and in the process, directly helped three of them become World Economic Forum digital industry 4.0 lighthouses.

Rajat has also served clients on business building (including digital businesses), marketing, organisation, and strategy. He leads McKinsey’s relationships with three of India’s top five conglomerates, serving them across the globe. He has led several projects with the Indian government, working across multiple ministries such as those for aviation, railways, roads, and shipping, and has also worked with NITI Aayog.

Rajat is committed to building long-term relationships with Indian companies based in emerging markets and helping them transform into global leaders. For example, his involvement with a leading Indian metal company spans 25 years of building better operations, creating a stronger performance culture, and driving marketing excellence across Asia, Europe, and India. Today, the company is a global leader in its industry.

He has also published work on poverty, carbon abatement, and water in India; been a jury member for several awards; and served on industry and government committees on sustainability. He is on the board of the Indian think tank CSTEP and the governing board of the Childline India Foundation.

Rajat leads McKinsey’s social-responsibility efforts as the chair of the board of Generation, the world’s largest demand-driven skilling initiative, and is a member of the McKinsey Global Institute advisory council.

Rajat was awarded gold medals for securing first place in both his engineering and MBA degrees at two of India’s top schools (BITS Pilani; IIM, Calcutta).

Prior to this, she led the Sustainability and Policy & Advocacy portfolios at the Tata Trusts, one of India’s leading philanthropic foundations. She also co-founded and was the Managing Partner of Sankhya Women Impact Funds, a gender lens fund with a focus on sustainability. She started her career as a journalist, with a decade of experience at the BBC in London, as a news anchor with NDTV and a Principal Correspondent with Forbes in Mumbai. She is currently a Trustee at the CSMVS, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum of India, the Vice President of the Bombay Natural History Society, a board member of IIT Madras’ Energy Consortium, and Climate Catalyst, Alliance magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, and a member of the Advisory Board to IUCN’s Nature-based Recovery initiative, among numerous other positions.

Shloka received an MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a BSc in Government from The London School of Economics and Political Science. She is also the author of the book, “Hidden India: Journey to Where the Wild Things Are” (April 2018), a compendium of photographs and writing about Indian wildlife and landscapes.

She is actively involved as a mentor, advisor, and thought leader with several think tanks, university labs, accelerator programs, and foundations on climate tech innovation, a Board Member on the University of Cambridge’s Alumni Advisory Council, and an advisor to Brown University’s Young India Leadership Council and Women’s Launchpad program.

Before Theia Ventures, she built the Indian Fund arm of Yunus Social Business (YSB), a global impact venture debt fund founded by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, where she led investments into companies such as S4S Technologies (Earthshot Prize Winner 2023), Rangsutra, Virohan, SMV Green, Just Organik and Hasiru Dala. Prior to YSB, Priya spearheaded strategy, capital raising, and special projects at a clean-tech, venture-backed, growth-stage company, Simpa Networks.  She began her career at Bloomberg LP in New York and later at Asia House in London. She has led independent consulting projects at impact start-ups and investment firms, such as Acumen and British International Investment. 

She holds an MBA from Cambridge Judge Business School and a BA in History from Brown University, where she is closely affiliated with alumni initiatives on gender diversity, international scholarships, and climate-focused entrepreneurship.