Varun is Program Research Lead with the Climate, Economics & Finance Program at WRI India, where he oversees programmatic research and supports authors in the publication process. 

He has over ten years of experience in climate change mitigation, with his research spanning low-carbon development pathways for India using modelling and quantitative economics frameworks, carbon pricing, industrial decarbonization, and a just transition focused on equity and decent livelihoods. 

He previously worked at the Confederation of Indian Industry in the areas of greenhouse gas inventory and reporting, corporate sustainability standards, and environmental policy. He also has experience in the software industry, where he worked on programming applications for feasibility analysis of renewable energy projects. 

Varun holds a master’s degree in Environment and Natural Resource Management from the University of Freiberg, Germany, and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Pune, India.

He resides in Delhi and enjoys cooking, tennis, travelling, and blues music.