Aakansha
Jain, PhD

Tracing my path into clean transport

My journey into clean transport policy began through a broader interest in environmental and development issues. After completing my M.Sc. in Environmental Economics from the Madras School of Economics, I started my career at Cognizant Technology Solutions, where I worked as a data scientist on machine learning models across sectors such as supply chains, healthcare, and telecommunications. The role gave me strong analytical training, but over time I found myself drawn toward work that was more closely connected to public systems and people's lived realities.

Over time, I became increasingly interested in how transport shapes everyday life in cities. Having lived in metropolitan cities of India made me more aware of the practical challenges people face, from long commutes and congestion to pollution and unequal access to mobility. The more I reflected on these connections, the more I became interested in transport as a sector where policy choices can have wide-ranging and long-term impacts.

Building a foundation in India

I was able to explore these questions more directly when I joined The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in Delhi. There, I worked on a range of transport policy issues that gave me both technical grounding and practical exposure. My work included socio-economic assessments of non-motorised and mass transit systems, analysis of the long-term effects of decarbonisation policies on greenhouse gas emissions across passenger and freight transport, development of a national MRV framework for India's road transport sector, and research on pathways for last-mile freight electrification.

Those years were important in shaping how I think about transport policy. They showed me that in countries like India, transport is not only a mobility issue or a climate issue. It is also closely tied to energy security and economic resilience. India's growing dependence on oil imports, combined with rapid motorisation and uneven access to mobility, makes transport a particularly important policy area. Working on these issues helped me understand both the scale of the challenge and the importance of designing solutions that are rooted in local conditions.

Moving from analysis to policy design

Alongside this policy work, I became increasingly interested in how transportation affects people beyond travel itself. Having lived and worked in cities like Delhi and Bengaluru, I had seen how transport conditions can shape stress, time use, and overall quality of life. That curiosity pushed me to look more closely at the relationship between mobility and well-being, and it eventually led me to pursue a PhD in Transportation Technology and Policy at the University of California, Davis.

My doctoral work expanded my perspective significantly. My research examined how transportation barriers disproportionately affect the well-being of marginalised communities, which pushed me to think beyond infrastructure and emissions alone. It reinforced for me that transport systems must be evaluated not only by efficiency or technical performance, but also by how they affect people's daily lives and opportunities.

Good policy is not only about technical soundness. It also depends on institutional capacity, political timing, and stakeholder trust.

At UC Davis, I also had the opportunity to work on international policy projects. I supported government officials across South and East Asia in strengthening their transport commitments under national climate plans and aligning those strategies with longer-term net-zero goals. I also led analysis of India's EV financing ecosystem, identifying gaps in climate finance mechanisms that continue to slow progress even when policy ambition exists. These experiences strengthened my interest in the policy and institutional conditions needed to make clean transport transitions viable at scale.

Over time, my work became more focused on supply-side regulations that support the shift toward clean and zero-emission vehicles, particularly fuel economy standards, zero-emission vehicle mandates, and the governance systems required to implement them effectively. Through the World Bank's E-Mobility Academy, I supported technical training and capacity-building for government stakeholders from emerging economies, helping them identify regulatory gaps, think through implementation strategies, and design practical approaches to increase EV adoption in targeted segments. I also led a major regional assessment across Southeast Asia that examined these policies at the intersection of industrial strategy and regional market integration. That work strengthened my understanding of how regulatory design can shape not only environmental outcomes, but also investment signals, market development, and domestic industrial competitiveness.

Working across new contexts

In 2025, my work took an important new direction when I joined the California–Africa Climate and Economic Partnership to lead clean transportation work across Kenya and Nigeria. Through this engagement, ITS-Davis was appointed as the technical lead to Kenya's Vehicle Efficiency Working Group, and I now oversee a technical research team supporting the design of Kenya's first fuel economy regulation for light-duty vehicles.

This experience has been particularly valuable because it has moved my work closer to the practical challenges of policy implementation. Working in a new national context required developing a strong understanding of the regulatory environment, institutional landscape, market dynamics, and political economy at a foundational level. It also meant working closely with government and industry stakeholders, facilitating consultations, and translating technical evidence into inputs that could support decision-making. This process has reinforced an important lesson for me: good policy is not only about technical soundness. It also depends on institutional capacity, political timing, stakeholder trust, and the extent to which reforms are aligned with a country's development priorities.

At the transport–energy nexus

What makes this work especially compelling to me is that sustainable transportation is no longer only about mobility and accessibility; it is increasingly shaped by, and contributing to, the broader energy transition. As countries move towards green mobility transitions, decisions related to EV policies are also shaping electricity demand, grid planning, renewable energy integration, industrial development, and energy security. This is particularly important in emerging economies, where transport and energy systems are evolving at the same time and where policy choices made now can have long-term consequences.

This connection feels especially significant in the African context. Many countries across the continent have abundant renewable energy resources which create a real opportunity to build cleaner transport systems without following the high-emission pathways taken in the Global North. At the same time, realising that opportunity requires policies and institutions that can align transport goals with power sector planning, market development, and economic priorities. This is one of the reasons I value being part of the Energy Dozen cohort. I hope to deepen my understanding of the transport–energy nexus, learn from others working across different parts of the energy transition, and engage more seriously with the leadership challenges involved in moving from technical analysis to real-world change.

Looking ahead

Growing up in a small town in India, I could not have imagined that my work would one day involve supporting governments across different regions on clean transport policy. What has remained constant, however, is my interest in applying evidence-based analysis to real policy challenges and in helping shape transitions that are both credible and grounded in local realities.

I am especially glad to be part of this year's Energy Dozen cohort because it is not only a space for learning, but also one that recognises the importance of women's leadership in the energy transition and the responsibility of supporting the next generation of professionals entering this field. I look forward to learning from other women leaders in the cohort, sharing insights from my own experience, and continuing to contribute to the training and mentoring of young professionals who will help shape cleaner and more inclusive energy futures.