Lakshmi is a Senior Advisor on Energy and Climate at UNEP-CCC. With over 8 years’ experience, she has worked at the intersection of research, policy advisory, and consultancy, in the areas of energy transition, sustainable development, technology transfer, private sector engagement, and impact assessment.
Her technical areas of focus include renewable energy policy, uptake of climate technologies, private sector engagement, co-benefits and impacts of energy projects, just energy transitions, carbon markets (from a SD point of view), and socio-political dimensions of climate change, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (including in-country experience in India, Indonesia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia etc.). This has entailed building cross-country collaborations and partnerships across international organizations, local partners, private sector actors, and government stakeholders.
Beyond the technical work, she also supports the Centre in strategic areas, and on monitoring & evaluation, and facilitating cross-thematic synergies.
Previously, she was a Sustainability Consultant at ERM India. She worked with development banks, and private equity funds on improving sustainability performance of businesses/companies through social impact assessment (ESIAs), environmental and social management systems (ESMS), land/labor due diligence (ESDDs), stakeholder engagement, human rights risk assessment, CSR strategy support, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and community development. She is familiar with World Bank Safeguards, IFC Performance Standards, Equator Principles, and UN Guiding Principles.
Lakshmi holds a PhD in Sustainable Energy Transitions from Technical University of Denmark (with a focus on solar PV transitions in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda), research Masters’ in Environment and Development from Ambedkar University Delhi (with a focus on socio-ecological systems), and a Bachelors’ in Economics (Hons) from the University of Delhi.
Select Projects (ongoing):
- MFA/Danida Advisory Project on ‘Socially Inclusive Sustainable Energy Transition’ in Indonesia, focused on the sub-national level (2023-2026)
- EU-H2020 Project on ‘Accelerating the green transition and energy access partnership with Africa’ (2021-24) in Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Morocco, and Ghana
- IKI SPAR6C Program ‘Supporting Preparedness for Article 6 Cooperation’ in Pakistan, Zambia, Thailand, and Colombia (2022-2027)
- MFA/Danida Advisory Project on Strengthening Markets and Supporting Technology Transfer and Locally-owned Private Sector Businesses for the Uptake of Climate Technologies in Kenya and Uganda (2019-22)
