Isha Sharma
Research Lead, Climate Policy
Dr Isha is a Research Lead in the Climate Policy team at SFC. Her work focuses on green industrial policy, international and domestic approaches to climate change governance and low-carbon development strategies. She holds a PhD in international politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. In her doctoral research she studied how global political economy shapes the climate priorities of the Indian state, civil society and industry. Dr Isha was previously a foreign policy consultant at the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. She was also a climate change consultant at the World Bank in New Delhi where she worked on subnational climate mainstreaming policies.
Publications
Opinions
Climate Policy
Trade liberalisation meets carbon tariffs as India eyes EU market
Soutrik Goswami and Isha Sharma
Mongabay | 30 June 2026
While the FTA opens export opportunities for India, exporters will also face pressure to cut emission intensity to comply with CBAM, a tension that's especially sharp for India's iron and steel sector. How will the FTA-CBAM interaction shape India's export opportunities against its competitors? Is India's export competitiveness increasingly tied to its industrial emissions?
Opinions
Climate Policy
Bonn Deadlock Puts Pressure on COP31—and on Climate Multilateralism
Isha Sharma and Aman Srivastava
The Quint | 23 June 2026
Small gains at the Bonn Climate Summit mask deeper rifts over finance, trade, and climate policy implementation.
Blogs
Climate Policy
30 Years of Climate Talks: How Have the COPs Fared and What Next?
Isha Sharma, Aman Srivastava and Nikita Shukla
4 November 2025
Global discourse on climate change has been moulded by multilateral negotiations through the annual Conferences of the Parties (COPs). This commentary traces the evolution of climate multilateralism, examines where it falls short of expectations, and discusses how it can address its shortcomings to build a more effective ambition and implementation agenda.