Summary
Ajay Gambhir is a Senior Research Fellow at the Imperial College London Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. His research addresses how society can transition to a low-carbon economy, considering the technologies and measures required to do so. He uses energy systems models at sub-national, national, regional and global scales to map out potential low-carbon transition pathways, with a particular focus on the processes that drive down low-carbon technology costs, thereby making their deployment more cost-effective.
Ajay has been at Imperial College since 2010, during which time he has been the scientific lead on a number of low-carbon pathways studies for the UK government as part of its AVOIDing dangerous climate change programme. He has also led and participated in ESRC and EPSRC studies on manufacturing innovation for the production of low-cost solar PV modules, energy storage innovation, and rural electrification using solar PV and batteries. Currently he is focusing on the political economy of low-carbon pathways and how to design policies to support an equitable transition.
Before joining Imperial College, Ajay was the Team Leader for EU and International Climate Change Economics at the UK Government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change. He has also worked in the UK’s Office for Climate Change, as part of the civil service team that prepared the initial draft of the Climate Change Act 2008, the world’s first climate legislation. He has also worked in the UK Committee on Climate Change, which he helped design and set up as part of his work on the Climate Change Act.
Ajay holds a first degree and MEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Development Economics from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, and a PhD in Energy Economics from the Imperial College Centre for Environmental Policy.
Publications
Journals
Moreno J, Campagnolo L, Boitier B, et al., 2024, The impacts of decarbonization pathways on Sustainable Development Goals in the European Union, Communications Earth and Environment, Vol:5
Nikas A, Frilingou N, Heussaff C, et al., 2024, Three different directions in which the European Union could replace Russian natural gas, Energy, Vol:290, ISSN:0360-5442
Boitier B, Nikas A, Gambhir A, et al., 2023, A multi-model analysis of the EU's path to net zero, Joule, Vol:7, Pages:2760-2782
Gambhir A, Mittal S, Lamboll R, et al., 2023, Adjusting 1.5 degree C climate change mitigation pathways in light of adverse new information, Nature Communications, Vol:14, ISSN:2041-1723, Pages:1-13
Gambhir A, Nikas A, 2023, Seven key principles for assessing emerging low-carbon technological opportunities for climate change mitigation action, Plos Climate, Vol:2, Pages:e0000235-e0000235