Dr. Anilla Cherian is a climate change and clean energy expert who has worked with a diverse range of globally relevant institutions over the course of two decades. She currently represents New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) Codes, Products and Standards team in advancing building decarbonization, climate resilience and energy equity efforts. She has worked extensively with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) on sustainable development issues including sustainable energy for all, climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, food and water security.
Anilla is the author of two books. Her 2022 book entitled “Air Pollution, Clean Energy and Climate Change” (Wiley: UK) focused on the need for non-nation state actors to address the nexus between reducing air pollution caused by short -lived climate pollutants such as black carbon and improving access to sustainable energy for all. It specifically examines the role of cities and innovative partnerships in curbing particulate matter pollution which has been destroying lives and resulting in severe disease burdens amongst the most marginalized households and
communities. She is also the author of “Energy and Global Climate Change: Bridging the Sustainable Development Divide” (Wiley UK, 2015).
Anilla has a dual undergraduate degree from Cornell University, and a Masters and a PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has also worked as adjunct Professor at Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has received fellowships/grant funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute for the Study of World Politics. She also served as an active volunteer in community-led sustainability efforts in the Westchester
Rivertowns.
