Elif Kılıç
India Energy & Climate Center
Elif Kılıç is formally trained as a linguist and environmental engineer. She earned her Master of Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley, where she was a GEM Fellow (2023) and a Digital Transformation of Development Fellow (2024) focused on extreme humid heat adaptation for vulnerable workers.
During her master’s, she advanced the conventional heat index by integrating realistic thermophysiological limits, solar radiative load, and task-specific metabolic heat—yielding a field-relevant metric for high humidity, direct sun, and heavy-work conditions.
Elif’s foundations include work at MIT Lincoln Laboratory evaluating mycelium composites for sustainable packaging, and research at the Georgia Institute of Technology on plastic-waste biodegradation and its implications for materials lifecycles.
At the India Energy & Climate Center, she develops applied tools that translate weather and climate data into district-level, decision-ready indicators. These products support planners and public-health agencies with clearer guidance on work–rest cycles, shade and hydration needs, early-warning thresholds, and infrastructure priorities for outdoor laborers, informal workers, and heat-vulnerable neighborhoods.
Bridging rigorous modeling and clear communication, Elif aims to align climate analytics with on-the-ground adaptation choices that prevent heat illness and protect livelihoods.
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.