Dr. Ashok Sarkar

The World Bank
Task Team Leader & Senior Energy Specialist

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Ashok Sarkar is a Senior Energy Specialist in the World Bank’s Infrastructure Department and Energy and Extractives Global Practice, based in Washington, DC, with over two decades of institutional experience leading and contributing to clean energy projects worth over $3 billion across 45+ countries. His technical focus spans electricity generation and transmission, energy efficiency, demand-side management, demand response, solar energy, sustainable cooling, electric mobility, and clean energy and green jobs. He currently task manages energy transition projects in Grenada, Saint Lucia, Guyana, Dominica, Mexico, and Yemen, and from 2022 to 2025 also served as Program Leader for Infrastructure — covering Energy, Urban, Digital, and Transport — while being based in the World Bank’s Palestine country office in Jerusalem. A founder of the World Bank’s Energy Efficiency Community of Practice, Ashok has held influential global roles including Expert Member of the UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Methodologies Panel and Chair of UNEP’s Global LED Efficient Lighting Taskforce. Prior to the World Bank, he gained broad sectoral experience at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), USAID, and private sector firms including Resource Management Associates (RMA, USA) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL, India). A power engineer by training from India, he holds a Master's degree in Energy Planning and Policy from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, and a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was conferred a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022. A recognized educator and thought leader, Ashok has published and presented widely and served as visiting faculty for sustainable energy at the University of Oslo’s summer program for over 15 years.