Shagun Mehrotra is a Senior Adviser for Policy and Research at the Coalition for Urban Transitions. He is responsible for ensuring the high quality of knowledge products and leading engagements with governments and key partners, in particular for the Coalition’s COP26 global flagship report. Shagun provides technical leadership and guidance on the portfolio of country and global policy programmes and supports the Coalition’s overall implementation of a new and expanded suite of country engagements.

Over the last two decades, his work has focused on climate change, cities, infrastructure, transport, water, and energy. Prior to joining WRI, Shagun was a Senior Urban Specialist at the World Bank where he worked on sustainable cities. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Development at The New School, New York and a faculty fellow at Columbia University. Through his policy work, research, and teaching he has engaged and partnered with governments, the private sector, and community organisations in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He served on the IPCC as a Lead Author for the special report on impacts of 1.5 degree warming and has published books on climate change and cities with Cambridge University Press and on infrastructure economics with Oxford University Press. His work has been featured in Nature and Scientific American.

Shagun holds a PhD in Urban Planning and a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University. He has a Master of Science in Urban Environmental Management from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India.

Shagun enjoys walking in cities in search of old and rare books. He lives with his wife and two sons in Bethesda, Maryland and they collectively enjoy biking and ritually visit eagle nesting grounds in the Chesapeake Bay region.