Anita Arjundas

Eastern Session

Executive Director, ATREE

Panel:  State Of Climate Philanthropy in India

An entrepreneurial leader with multi-sector experience in the corporate world and the development sector, Anita is currently Executive Director at ATREE - Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment - an environmental not-for-profit with a focus on interdisciplinary knowledge generation to shape policy, influence practice, and build capacity in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Anita also serves on the India Advisory Board of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), since its establishment in India.

Anita was associated with the establishment, management and governance of Krea University from 2019-2022, in its formative phase. Previously, Anita was a member of the Group Executive Board at the Mahindra group and Managing Director & CEO of Mahindra Lifespaces from 2009-2018.

Anita is passionate about the environment and believes that transformative approaches to the way we live are critical to the health of the planet and the wellbeing of humans and non-humans.

Anita has served on the Steering Board of the World Economic Forum’s “Future of Urban Development & Services” from 2016-18.

She catalysed the establishment of the Mahindra TERI Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Habitats in 2018. The Centre is an open source research hub for energy and water efficiency in the built environment.

Fun Fact: As much as 20 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are due to deforestation exceeding the emissions from all of the passenger vehicles on the planet; but fighting climate change with forests isn’t as simple as planting a bunch of trees.