Our Team
The India Energy & Climate Center (IECC) team has a strong track record of successful scientific & policy work globally and in India, and comes from a diverse set of backgrounds, fields, and affiliations:
The India Energy & Climate Center (IECC) team has a strong track record of successful scientific & policy work globally and in India, and comes from a diverse set of backgrounds, fields, and affiliations:
Dr. Amol Phadke is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, and the Faculty Director of the Energy and Climate Center at GSPP. He is also a Staff Scientist in the Electricity Markets and Policy Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
His expertise spans the electricity sector, with a focus on storage, transmission, and renewables in regions including the U.S., India, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. He is particularly interested in how recent cost declines in battery storage, solar, and wind can enable an affordable energy supply and how existing grid infrastructure can be optimized for their deployment. His work also focuses on the feasibility of electrifying trains and ships, given advancements in battery technology, and explores innovative policies and business models to support this transition.
Phadke has led several influential studies on these topics and routinely advises senior policymakers worldwide. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and reports. His research and insights have been widely recognized and featured in prominent publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Times of India. His work has also been discussed in radio and television broadcasts.
Before his current roles, Phadke worked with TATA Motors and the Prayas Energy Group. He holds a B.E. from the College of Engineering, Pune, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley.
Dr. Nikit Abhyankar is the Co-Faculty Director of the India Energy and Climate Center at GSPP and a scientist at the Energy Markets and Policy Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Abhyankar specializes in renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, electricity markets & policy, and industrial energy, with a focus on the United States and India as well as major emerging economies, including China and Indonesia.
He has led several high-impact and comprehensive energy studies such as the 2035 Reports (U.S.), Flexible Resources Initiative (India), China Clean Power, India Energy Independence, etc.
He regularly advises national / state governments, regulators, and utilities in multiple countries on designing clean energy policies and programs.
Dr. Abhyankar has over 80 journal articles, research reports, and conference papers, with his work frequently.
Abhyankar holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from Stanford University.
Ashok Gadgil is a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Safe Water and Sanitation in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley, and was a Faculty Senior Scientist and Division Director in the Energy Technologies Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
His research has led to several patents and inventions, and more than 150 scientific peer-reviewed journal publications. A substantial amount of his research aims for technology-based scalable solutions to problems of clean-energy and safe drinking water in resource-poor communities and countries. He is the co-editor in chief of the top ranked open-access Annual Review of Environment and Resources.
Since early 2024, he has worked in IECC at UC Berkeley on new approaches to better understand and combat extreme heat exposures for communities in India.
Neelima Jain is a senior energy professional with over two decades of experience at the intersection of clean energy, industrial strategy, and public policy across India, the UK, and internationally. At UC Berkeley’s India Energy & Climate Center, she works on green steel, clean tech trade, and power sector policy research, with a focus on turning technically viable solutions into competitive, scalable strategies.
Her perspective is grounded in hands-on delivery. She helped design and implement some of the world’s largest energy efficiency programs, including India’s UJALA initiative, which replaced conventional bulbs with LEDs in over 200 million households. She later established and led the UK subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), serving on its board after the Ministry of Power’s first-ever overseas acquisition, where she built partnerships with governments, investors, and industry.
Her work has also spanned climate finance, smart meter deployments, and demand-side management regulations. She has served on IEA’s Energy Efficiency Industry Advisory Board and represented India at COP21 in Paris. She has been quoted by the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and other leading outlets, and was recognized among the 100 Most Influential in UK–India relations.
Mohit Bhargava, former CEO of NTPC Green Energy Limited (NGEL) and Executive Director of RE at NTPC Ltd, spearheaded NTPC’s renewable energy initiatives across India. Under his 55-month leadership of the RE vertical, NTPC’s RE pipeline surged from 1 GW to over 25 GW, including operational, under-construction, and planned projects with firm off-take agreements. He also initiated pilot projects in Green Hydrogen. His tenure set NGEL on course to achieve 60 GW+ capacity by 2032, with the subsidiary now holding the highest credit rating (matching NTPC’s).
With over 35 years of experience, Mohit’s expertise spans power plant commissioning, maintenance, procurement, and planning. He played a crucial role in developing NTPC’s long-term Corporate Plans, setting annual targets, and implementing strategic growth initiatives.
An Electrical Engineer by training, Mohit has undergone leadership programs at Harvard Business School and S.P. Jain Institute, Singapore. He served as a nominee Director for various NTPC joint ventures and subsidiaries.
Currently, Mohit serves as IECC’s Country Director, leveraging his extensive experience in India’s largest power generating company (75+ GW installed capacity). He brings a practitioner’s perspective and a deep understanding of the political economy of the power sector in India, helping translate research insights into practical applications and policies.
Paritosh Jaiswal is the Associate Director (Power) at the India Energy & Climate Center (IECC) at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley. With over 14 years of experience, he is a seasoned expert in driving the strategic, regulatory, and financial transformations necessary to modernize India’s energy landscape and accelerate energy transition.
His functional expertise spans across the power value chain, with a specialized focus on policy and regulatory reforms and utility strategy to support grid modernization and clean energy adoption. Paritosh has a proven track record of navigating complex stakeholder ecosystems, having served as a trusted advisor to senior policymakers at both Central and State government levels. Throughout his career, he has led a diverse range of high-stakes engagements for a global clientele, including multilateral and bilateral financing institutions, regulatory bodies and major public sector companies in the power sector of India.
By combining deep operational experience with consulting expertise, Paritosh bridges the gap between technical research and pragmatic policy design. Looking ahead, his work at IECC focuses on the integration of large-scale renewable energy into the national grid and the development of robust utility strategies and regulatory pathways to support a decarbonized power sector. He holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIML) and a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Surat.
Ashdeep is an engineer, educator, strategist, and designer working at the intersection of technology innovation and climate action. Her experience spans developing products and programs globally, across agriculture, clean energy, healthcare, education, housing, water, and environmental restoration, with an emphasis on climate resilience, grassroots engagement, and systems-level impact.
Ashdeep is a Lecturer in the Development Engineering program at the University of California, Berkeley. At the India Energy and Climate Center, her work focuses on advancing industrial decarbonization and first-of-a-kind clean energy deployments in India.
She is an instructor for Skill Up for the Earth’s Climate Solutions and Strategies course, in partnership with University of Oxford – Environmental Change Institute. She provides strategic advisory support to entities such as American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Engineering for Change, and The Lemelson Foundation. She serves as an engineering consultant to Kheyti, an Indian ag-tech social enterprise building climate-resilient solutions for smallholder farmers. Ash was the Head of Product at Riffle Ventures, a venture studio supporting climate innovation ecosystems in emerging regions, and a Jr. Board Member of Terreform ONE, and ecological-design architecture nonprofit out of MIT Media Lab.
Ashdeep holds a B.S. in Engineering: Product Design from Stanford University and a Master’s in Development Engineering from UC Berkeley. She is an avid potter, surfer, and tree climber.
Piyush Narang is a Senior Research Associate at the India Energy and Climate Center at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, where he works on extreme heat adaptation in India.
He develops heat risk analytics for national, state, and municipal agencies, including CHAITRA, a ward-level urban heat intelligence platform covering 14 Indian cities.
He holds a Master of Development Practice from UC Berkeley and a B.Tech. in Computer Engineering. Piyush works at the intersection of climate science and policy, with technical skills in climate modeling, remote sensing, GIS, and statistical analysis, and applied experience in multi-stakeholder program management, government engagement, and research-to-policy translation.
Elif Kılıç is a Research Associate at the India Energy and Climate Center at UC Berkeley, where she develops heat stress metrics for outdoor workers.
She holds an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley, a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Georgia Tech, and a B.A. from Emory University.
Working with Dr. Ashok Gadgil, she developed EHI-N*, a modified Extended Heat Index incorporating variable metabolic rates, solar radiation, and physiological limits on sweating and vasodilation, and compared it against the NOAA Heat Index, WBGT, and UTCI across Indian climate zones.
She leads SHRAM, a public dashboard delivering real-time heat stress assessments for India’s 380+ million outdoor workers, and has produced district-level vulnerability maps and policy briefs.
Rashmi Sapra is the Senior Executive Assistant & Operations Lead at the India Energy & Climate Center (IECC), at the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. With over 15 years of experience across diplomatic missions, international organizations, and public sector institutions, she specializes in executive operations, core and operational frameworks of diplomatic protocol, stakeholder engagement, and government relations across India and South-Asia regions.
At IECC, her work focuses on driving operational excellence through executive coordination, stakeholder engagement and efficient delivery of strategic programs and partnerships. Prior to IECC, she held executive support and operations roles at Invest India, CGIAR, and the Embassies of Spain and Israel, where she worked extensively with senior government officials, development partners, and international stakeholders. She holds an MBA from Sikkim Manipal University and a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Delhi.
