Shirish Sinha is new Executive Director of Programmes at Clean Air Fund

Shirish Sinha is the new Executive Director of Programmes at Clean Air Fund, the world’s largest philanthropically-funded organisation dedicated to tackling air pollution. Overseeing our expanding national and regional programmes, Shirish’s new role is pivotal to accelerating our ambitious strategy to catalyse change from grassroots to governments.

Shirish has over 28 years of experience in the development of policy making and programme implementation in the field of energy, climate change and sustainable development policy. Prior to joining Clean Air Fund, he served as Director Climate at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the world’s largest philanthropy focused on improving children’s lives. As a member of CIFF’s global climate and India leadership team, he led the organisation’s India climate portfolio of investments, managed the South, South-East and East Asia climate portfolio. He also managed multi-country global climate initiatives with sovereign governments and the global food and land use portfolio.

Previously, Shirish also worked with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in India as Deputy Head of Cooperation, where he led on the delivery of bilateral cooperation programmes on climate science,  climate resilient development and clean energy. Prior to this, he worked for the World Wide Fund for Nature India, PwC India, International Water Management Institute and The Energy and Resources Institute on climate and energy policy research and programme implementation.

Air pollution and its impacts are transboundary. The solutions are multi-disciplinary that must be localised, inclusive and equitable to have positive results for society and environment. I am delighted to be part of Clean Air Fund and work with the team across geographies to implement transformative solutions.

Shirish Sinha

Shirish holds a PhD in Energy Policy from the University of Twente, the Netherlands and a Masters in Rural Management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) in India. He has authored five books on energy and development, including In Pursuit of a Light Bulb and a Smokeless Kitchen, a longitudinal analysis on the role of energy sector policies in alleviating energy poverty in India.

I’m excited to welcome Shirish to Clean Air Fund as we step up our ambition to create a future where everyone breathes clean air. His global leadership and commitment to sustainable development will be invaluable in expanding our portfolios to further support national and regional clean air movements. Shirish’s extensive experience and cross-sector expertise will be a huge asset to our mission, people and partners.

Jane Burston, CEO of Clean Air Fund