Director, Climate program, WRI India
She is an economist with two decades of experience in climate change research, capacity building and outreach. She leads WRI India’s work on climate policy which aims to support India’s pathway to a climate-resilient low-carbon economy through judicious national policies, carbon market mechanisms, and effective implementation in states and cities.
Before joining WRI India, Ulka worked as a consultant climate assessment specialist for the Asian Development Bank, and as a research fellow with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). She conducted field research in seven Indian states to assess how rural communities can adapt to climate change. She collaborated with architects and financial analysts to devise business models for low-cost climate-resilient housing in disaster-prone regions of Bangladesh and Nepal. She used behavioural economics to understand what might motivate urban households to switch to renewable energy technologies. She has worked with the corporate sector on measuring greenhouse gas emissions and developing clean development mechanism (CDM) projects. Her policy contributions include the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) roadmap for regional cooperation on climate change, National Strategy Study on CDM in India, Maharashtra State Action Plan on Climate Change, and the first national communications of India and Bhutan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Her research has been published in journals like Annual Review of Environment & Resources, Global Environmental Change, Climate Policy, and Mitigation & Adaptation Strategies for Global Change.
She has a master’s degree in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.She lives in Bangalore with her husband and daughter.