Narasimha Rao
Senior Research Scholar
Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group
Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Biography
Narasimha Rao is a senior research scholar in the IIASA Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group of the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program and an Associate Professor of Energy Systems at the Yale School of the Environment, in the US. His research examines the relationship between energy systems, human development, and climate change. He is a contributing author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s Sixth Assessment Report.He is the recipient of the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (2015-2018) for a project entitled Decent Living Energy, which explores energy and emissions thresholds for providing decent living standards for all. His research interests also include income inequality, infrastructure, and climate policy. For his current research, Rao was awarded the 2011 Amulya K. Reddy Prize for the Best Paper in the journal Energy for Sustainable Development for his paper entitled 'Kerosene Subsidies in India: When Energy Policy Fails as Social Policy'.
Rao obtained his PhD in Environment and Resources from Stanford University, California, and two Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Technology Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Last update: 16 JUN 2021
Publications
Rao, N. , Min, J. , Mastrucci, A. , & Pachauri, S. (2017). Decent Living Energy: How much energy do we ‘need’
to provide minimum living standards to all? In: IIASA Institutional Evaluation 2017, 27 February-1 March 2017, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.
K.C., S., Kiesewetter, G. , Pachauri, S. , Rao, N. , & Valin, H. (2017). SCHEMA, a crosscutting project: Accounting for Socioeconomic Heterogeneity in IIASA Models. In: IIASA Institutional Evaluation 2017, 27 February-1 March 2017, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.
Cameron, C., Pachauri, S. , Rao, N. , McCollum, D., Rogelj, J. , & Riahi, K. (2017). Synergies and Trade-offs between Climate Mitigation and Universal Access to Clean Cooking Goals. In: IIASA Institutional Evaluation 2017, 27 February-1 March 2017, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.
Rao, N. & Pachauri, S. (2017). Energy access and living standards: some observations on recent trends. Environmental Research Letters 12 (2) e025011. 10.1088/1748-9326/aa5b0d.
Fuß, S., Chen, C., Jakob, M., Marxen, A., Rao, N.D. , & Edenhofer, O. (2016). Could resource rents finance universal access to infrastructure? A first exploration of needs and rents. Environment and Development Economics 21 (6) 691-712. 10.1017/S1355770X16000139.