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Himanshu Gupta

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Himanshu Gupta
NationalityIndian
Alma materStanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University School of Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Known forForbes 30 Under 30 India (2016)
Energy policy of India
Websiteclimate.ai (CEO/Co-founder)

Himanshu Gupta is an Indian American energy policy expert, engineer and entrepreneur in climate change. He is the co-founder and CEO of ClimateAI, which was recognized in 2022 by TIME magazine as one of the greatest innovations of that year.

Gupta held roles from 2011 onwards for the Government of India in the energy sector, specializing in renewable and low carbon energy. In 2012, he drafted and created India's Renewable Energy Chapter in its National Five Year Plan, probably the youngest person to do so.[1] [2] In 2016, Himanshu was included in the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 India list for his work in energy and climate change space in India.[3] He then went onto work with Al Gore as an expert on India's climate policy and co-authored a paper with Nicholas Stern and Montek Singh Ahluwalia on India's low carbon future. He then co-founded ClimateAI in 2017, which has currently raised $12 million and models the risk of climate change on supply chains.[citation needed]

In 2022, Gupta he was interviewed at the Davos World Economic Forum on the subject of food security.[4] He also introduced the concept of adaptation credits - a mechanism to fund climate adaptation in vulnerable countries.[5]

Early life and education

Gupta had a humble start to life, he was born and raised in Vrindavan, India. In interviews, he recalled the effects of droughts and monsoons had on his town while he was growing up. It played a major role in him becoming involved in climate action.[6]

He studied in India and completed his undergraduate education in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2009. He was a resident in Azad Hall and was actively involved in Dramatics and Technology societies.[citation needed]

Career

Early career

Following on from his educational focus on electrical engineering, Gupta secured a role with AREVA T&D,[7] which later became Alstom. It was a company in India that specialized in the manufacturing and installation of electrical substations and smart grids. In May 2011, Gupta took a sizeable pay cut to begin working for the Indian government, as the country increased its focus on clean energy. This began with India's creation of a National Clean Energy Fund in 2011,[8] with him remaining in that role until 2013.[9] His main role during this period was with the Indian Planning Commission, to oversee certain projects.[7]

India's increased focus on clean energy and Gupta's role for the Planning Commission's renewable energy division meant his level of responsibility increased quickly. In 2012, he was tasked with drafting and creating the countries Renewable Energy Chapter in its twelfth National Five Year Plan. He also authored a second section of the five-year plan on research & development for India's energy sector.[7] This work on the National Five Year Plan made him the youngest lead.[10] His work with the Government of India continued into 2014, where he was the project leader for the India Energy Security Scenarios 2047 report, under the guidance of Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The year 2047 is seen as symbolic for India, as it is the year it will celebrate 100 years of independence.[11] As part of the work on India's policy on energy security, Gupta organised both multilateral and bilateral dialogues with US Department of Energy and the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.[9]

ClimateAI

In 2015, Gupta joined the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment to work with Lord Nicholas Stern on a research paper for India's transition to low carbon energy.[9] A number of conclusions were drawn from the paper, including that India needed to reduce its energy intensity in order to meet global targets to keep the Earth below a 2% temperature rise. Gupta also studied the importance of energy pricing and how it could impact on the speed of adoption of greener technology and fuels.[12] Around the same period, Gupta co-founded the NGO, Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI), to help businesses and governments reduce their carbon footprints and increase energy security.[13] His work with SGI and his business partner Shrey Goyal led to him featuring in Forbes India's 30 Under 30 list in 2016.[14]

Gupta then moved to Stanford University in 2015 to study his MBA. Gupta worked with Al Gore for a short period during the same year as an expert on India's energy and climate policy.[15] While at Stanford, he met Max Evans and together they co-founded ClimateAI in July 2017.[15] ClimateAI's seed funding was partly provided by Stanford University, along with other backers including professors at Stanford.[16][17]

ClimateAI secured $12 million in its Series A funding round in July 2021.[18] In 2022, Gupta's ClimateAI was recognized as one of TIME magazine's best inventions of 2022. The forecasting tool generates climate predictions for specific local areas up to two decades into the future.[19] At the time of the award, the predictor focused on food and agriculture supply chains, predicting average temperatures, extreme weather and water availability.[20] TIME predicted that future uses for the predictor could include flooding risk for developers.[19] The company is now working with many known brands such as Driscoll's, Oceanspray, Nuveen Natural Capital, UPL among other market leaders.[21]

At Davos World Economic Forum in 2022, Gupta spoke about the difficulty of getting new seeds to market for farmers. He stated that often new seeds that had a higher tolerance to drought for example, could take upto 15 years to enter local markets. With the speed of the change in climate, often seeds would prove to be less effective than initially planned, purely due to the lead time of the process. The artificial intelligence deployed by ClimateAI allows for specific seeds to be chosen based on weather and soil data within hours, instead of lengthy trials often taking years.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Himanshu Gupta | Climate and Energy College". www.climatecollege.unimelb.edu.au.
  2. ^ Pioneer, The. "Sustainable lifestyle to save the planet". The Pioneer.
  3. ^ "30 Under 30: Himanshu Gupta & Shrey Goyal - Kicking The Carbon Habit". Forbes India.
  4. ^ a b "Problem solving food insecurity". Hub Culture.
  5. ^ "A radical idea to fund climate adaptation globally". The Hill. 9 December 2022.
  6. ^ Aziz, Afdhel (19 July 2022). "How ClimateAi Is Working With Companies To Accelerate Climate Resilience In Mission-Critical Supply Chains". Forbes.
  7. ^ a b c Mukul, Jyoti (7 May 2013). "Despite low pay, govt internship high on young Turks' wish list". Business Standard.
  8. ^ "Creation of National Clean Energy Fund". Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (India). 6 April 2011.
  9. ^ a b c "Himanshu Gupta". Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment.
  10. ^ "Australia Broadcasting Corporation asks Himanshu Gupta on India's Energy Security". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  11. ^ Singh, Sudheer Pal (8 April 2015). "Can India halve oil import dependence by 2030?". Business Standard.
  12. ^ Ahluwalia, Montek; Gupta, Himanshu; Stern, Nicholas (July 2016). "A more sustainable energy strategy for India". London School of Economics.
  13. ^ "Sustainable energy policy needed". The Pioneer (India). 5 May 2014.
  14. ^ Panchal, Salil (17 February 2016). "30 Under 30: Himanshu Gupta & Shrey Goyal - Kicking the carbon habit". Forbes India.
  15. ^ a b Jai, Shreya (24 July 2021). "When Iron Man backed agri start-up ClimateAi to fight climate change". Business Standard.
  16. ^ Jack, Andrew (1 June 2021). "MBA graduates take on a green hue as fewer choose fossil fuel careers". Financial Times.
  17. ^ "$1.2 million for two new Stanford research projects on energy/climate AI and environmental justice". Stanford University. 10 June 2021.
  18. ^ Ramasway, Anita. "The Pitch Deck This Climate Tech Startup Used to Raise $12 million". BusinessInsider.
  19. ^ a b Baker, Aryn (10 November 2022). "The Best 200 inventions of 2022 - Long-Term Climate-Proofing, ClimateAi Forecasting Tool". TIME magazine.
  20. ^ McCormick, John (6 August 2021). "Climate AI Startups Offer Businesses Shelter From Inclement Weather Risk". Wall Street Journal.
  21. ^ Gordon, Julie. "Drought, high costs bring U.S. berry giants to Canada's maple syrup land". Reuters.
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