Akhil is a senior associate at RMI India Foundation, focusing on advancing sustainable cooling, urban heat mitigation, and energy efficiency in India’s built environment. His work centres on driving the adoption of scalable, cost-effective solutions that improve thermal comfort while reducing emissions, with a strong emphasis on passive design strategies, efficient technologies, and policy-driven market transformation.

He works across the ecosystem to translate analysis into practical implementation — supporting government agencies, industry stakeholders, and development partners in embedding cooling and heat resilience into urban planning, housing, and infrastructure systems. His recent work includes advancing impact-based heat governance frameworks, supporting heat action planning, and mainstreaming solutions through demonstration and evidence-building approaches.

Background
Akhil brings over a decade of experience working at the intersection of energy policy, cooling technologies, and sustainable buildings. His work spans technical advisory, policy design, and on-the-ground implementation, including contributions to national initiatives such as the India Cooling Action Plan, super-efficient cooling programmes, and standards and labelling frameworks.

He has worked extensively with central and state government agencies, multilateral organisations, and private sector stakeholders to scale the adoption of cooling solutions across residential, institutional, and urban contexts. His experience includes techno-economic assessments, market transformation strategies, and capacity-building initiatives, as well as leading pilot projects to validate cooling interventions in real-world settings.

Before joining RMI, Akhil held roles at the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), Maastricht University, and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), where he led work on cooling technologies, building energy performance, and policy research. He is an active contributor to national and international platforms on energy efficiency, cooling, and urban heat resilience.

Education
Master of Science in Sustainability Science, Policy and Society, Maastricht University
Bachelor of Technology in Instrumentation and Control Engineering, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.