Erik Solheim is a well-known global leader on
environment and development as well as an experienced
peace negotiator.
He served as Norwegian minister of Environment and
International Development from 2005-2012. During that
period, he initiated the global program for conservation
of rainforests and brought through game changing
national legislation - among them the Biodiversity Act
and legislation to protect Oslo city forests. He brought
Norwegian development assistance to 1%, the highest in
the world. Before joining government, he was leader of
the Socialist Left Party 1987-97 as well as member of
Norwegian Parliament 1989-2001.
He led the peace efforts in Sri Lanka from 1999-2009 as the main negotiator of the peace process
between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers and played a vital role in peace processes in
Nepal, Myanmar, Sudan and Burundi.
Erik was the Executive Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (the main body of world
donors) from 2012-2016 and Undersecretary General of the UN and Executive Director of UN
Environment from 2016 to 2018.
Currently he is President of Europe - Asia Center in Brussels.
He is International Vice President of the Belt and Road Green Development Coalition in Beijing and
member of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.
Erik served as the International Environment Adviser to Ranil Wickremesinghe, the former President of
Sri Lanka, and is also a member of the Climate Council established by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in Tamil
Nadu, India.
Erik is the Chairman of the Development Roundtable at the Green Hydrogen Organization, President of
the International Advisory Board – GH2 India, Adviser to the Global Wind Energy Council, and a Board
Member of the International Hydropower Association.
In business Erik is adviser to the RGE of Indonesia, the world largest paper and pulp company. He is also
adviser to Key Carbon, a London based carbon credit provider. Erik works closely, on a non-profit basis,
with ProClime, a climate company in Chennai, India.
Erik is Ambassador for the Center of Oneness in Omkareshwar India, celebrating the Hindu reformer and
Saint Adi Shankaracharya
He is Chief Mentor of Global Alliance for Sustainable Planet, Chairman of the Board of Afroz Shah
Foundation in Mumbai, mentor for the Zero Plastic Movement in Sri Lanka and mentor to the Smart
Campuis Cloud Network in Pune, India.
He is Honorary President of the China - Norway International cooperation Center in Yantai, chair of
Kubuqi Desert Forum in Inner Mongolia and member of the board of Guiyang Eco Forum, all in China.
He is vice chair of International Finance Forum in Nansha, China. Erik is vicechair of Peking University
Institute of Carbon Neutrality.
Erik is fellow at the International Centre for Sustainability in London, UK which specialize in Indian -
European relations. He is on the advisory board of Global Carbon Council in Doha, Qatar.
Erik is honorary professor at Tsinghua University (Beijing), Jiaotong University (Shanghai), Fudan
University (Shanghai), Chengdu University, Southeast University (Nanjing) and Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology, Guangzhou. He is also honorary professor at the Kalinga Institute in
Bhubuneswar, India and environment adviser to Sri Sri University in Bhubuneswar. He received an
honorary professor appointment from Teri University, Delhi.
Awards:
• Chinese Government Friendship Award, 2024
• Appreciation letter from Prime Minister Modi on the occasion of 75 years of India
independence, 2022
• Champion of the World, United Nations,
• Lifelong member of Friends of the Earth, Norway
• European of the Year, Norway
• Hero of the Environment, Time magazine

Shloka is the CEO of the India Climate Collaborative, a non-profit focused on mobilising philanthropic capital to accelerate climate action in India. Prior to this, she led the Sustainability and Policy & Advocacy portfolios at the Tata Trusts. She also co-founded and was the Managing Partner of Sankhya Women Impact Funds, a gender lens fund with a focus on sustainability. She started her career as a journalist, with a decade of experience at the BBC in London, as a news anchor with NDTV and a Principal Correspondent with Forbes in Mumbai. She is also the author of the book, “Hidden India: Journey to Where the Wild Things Are” (April 2018), a compendium of photographs and writing about Indian wildlife and landscapes.

Madhav is a respected thinker-practitioner who has been working on issues of urbanization, climate change, transportation and environment in various countries over the past few decades.

Madhav joined WRI India in 2008 to become part of the Institute’s founding team. He has played a definitive leadership role at WRI India that has helped it reach its present position. He has conciously invested his energies in nurturing talent to build large, high-performance teams at WRI India that can support the design, implementation and scaling up of pioneering solutions to India’s complex challenges.

Madhav graduated from the University of Mumbai as a civil engineer and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Transport Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. His own research and programmatic work has evolved to prefer systems thinking as an approach to negotiate with the myriad complexities of the contemporary city.

Under his leadership as Executive Director of WRI India Ross Center and prior to that as Director of EMBARQ India, the team has supported implementation of several pioneering projects. Notable successes include the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), the Raahgiri campaign for democratizing public streets, and the National Electric Bus Program (NEBP). The team has also informed multiple national, state, and city level policy discussions on urban and regional planning, road safety, urban transport, transit-oriented development, electric mobility and clean air.

Madhav is a published author and has written several research papers for renowned journals as well as various articles and books on urban transport, urban planning, resilience and clean air.

Mr. Mehta has a career spanning 16 years in Asset Management, with 12 years of direct investing experiences in impact and climate investments with a large Switzerland based asset manager with and AUM of US$4.5 billion, and more recently with a Venture Capital fund focused on early-stage climate technology investments in India.

Mr. Mehta has led deals across energy, water, smart agriculture, alternative proteins and broader climate technologies.

M.Sc. (in Financial Economics) - University of Wales, Cardiff, Bachelors of Business Management (BBM) - Bangalore University