Jury

He was previously the Director General of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) (2021-2025), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) (2016-2021), and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) (2006-2012 and 2013-2016). He served as the interim Director of the Green Climate Fund during its foundational period (2012-2013). He was, 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. 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.

Dr Mathur’s is a strong proponent of policy interventions based on convergence of private and public interests, and considers political and stakeholder consensus as keys to policy acceptance, and flexibility, institutional anchoring, and budgets as keys to policy sustainability.

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. He is Chair of the Jury for the JSW-ToI Earthcare Awards, a member of the Board of Tata Power Renewables (and of the Audit Committee of the Board), of Crux Alliance, of ECube India, and of Cenergist Energy, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Lightrock Energy Acceleration Fund.. He also chairs the Indian Task Force to Prepare a Roadmap for Energy Sector Education and the Niti Aayog Committee to Reduce Land-Intensity of Solar Power through Innovation & Technologies.

Dr Mathur received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the (then) University of Roorkee and Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois.

He has also received the Distinguished Alumnus Awards from both his alma maters.

With over 40 years of experience in clinical care and research, Dr. Swaminathan has focused on translating science into impactful public health programmes. As Secretary to the Government of India for Health Research, she strengthened research capacity in Indian institutions, promoted evidence-based policymaking, and fostered global partnerships. As Chief Scientist WHO, she focused on strengthening the normative and research functions of WHO and played a major role in coordinating scientific efforts during the COVID pandemic.

Dr. Swaminathan trained in India, the UK, and the USA, and has authored 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 leading Indian science academies. She holds honorary doctorates from the Karolinska Institute, EPFL Lausanne, McGill and Guelph Universities, Canada. She is an adjunct professor at Karolinska University and Tufts University.

She currently co-chairs the global commission “Our Common Air” and serves on the ACCRA Reset High-Level Panel, along with several international boards and advisory bodies. Her current work focuses on the health impacts of climate change, particularly on women and children, and on food system transformation to improve nutrition security.

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).

At the Tata Trusts, she founded the Sustainability portfolio, leading its grant-making on climate and the environment across India. She also co-founded Sankhya Women Impact Funds and was an award-nominated journalist with the BBC, NDTV and Forbes India. She serves on the boards of NRDC India and Living Landscapes, on the steering committee of Mumbai Climate Week, and on the Earthshot Prize India Advisory Council, and is a former Vice President of the Bombay Natural History Society. She studied at the LSE and Harvard Kennedy School, and is the author of Hidden India, a book of photographs and writing on India’s wildlife and wild places.

Today, she and her husband are rewilding a stretch of coffee country in Coorg, in the Western Ghats, restoring native forest to land long given over to plantation.