Mahua Acharya - South Asia Women in Energy (Sawie)

Mahua Acharya is Asia Director at CPI. She is responsible for leading CPI in Delhi and Jakarta, while also supporting high-level strategic planning and further build-up of the organization.

She joined CPI in 2018, bringing extensive experience in green finance, renewables, and carbon markets. She joined CPI from the Global Green Growth Institute; a 28-member intergovernmental agency headquartered in Seoul with operations in 31 countries. At GGGI, she introduced green finance into the organization’s corporate agenda and established a team that worked across 16 countries. In less than three years, this practice mobilized US$ 500 million of financing commitments for 10 sustainable investment projects and funds in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Prior to joining GGGI, she was Managing Director at C-Quest Capital LLC, an impact investment enterprise headquartered in Washington DC with operations in India and Africa. For CQuest Capital India, she built and managed $40 million in investment capital and a large operating team in a business that became the prototype for large scale energy efficiency deployment. She liaised extensively with the Bureau for Energy Efficiency, Indian Railways, UNFCCC, international investors, and carbon credit buyers to ensure that the projects were implemented to their satisfaction. She has also held positions at the World Bank as well as in the private sector with ArcelorMittal, London.

She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale University. She frequently contributes to the Mint, a leading business daily newspaper and Environmental Finance. She is also frequently invited to speak at international conferences. She is a guest lecturer at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and is listed under 100 most mindful women in India.