Sandeep Pai

Senior Research Lead, Energy Security & Climate Change
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Biography: 
Sandeep is a journalist, researcher, and author. He started his career as an investigative journalist, working with leading Indian newspapers such as the Hindustan Times, and Daily News and Analysis in Delhi and Mumbai. Over the years, he extensively researched and reported on energy, environment, and political corruption. He has gained first-hand experience by interacting with technicians and experts in several coal mines and coal bed methane projects, wind and solar farms, power plants and transmission grids, and oil and gas projects.

Recently, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia in Canada focusing on just transitions away from fossil fuels. Prior to his Ph.D., he graduated from the Erasmus Mundus Masters program in Environmental Science, Policy and Management, which is jointly taught at the Central European University, Hungary, Lund University, Sweden, the University of Manchester, UK, and the University of Aegean, Greece. He has also co-authored a book titled “Total Transition: The Human Side of the Renewable Energy Revolution”

He is passionate about researching energy transitions, coal, energy access, and renewable energy, and is building a career in this area. He is a big ideas​ person, and he is able to quickly understand and engage with new and abstract concepts. His skills include conducting field gathering data, research, writing, editing, and communications. He also has a good understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methods. He is proficient with spatial analysis software such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS).