Ritu Bharadwaj

Director, climate resilience, finance and loss and damage

Telephone: +44 (0)20 3463 7399

Languages: English, Hindi, Bengali (basic), French (basic)

Ritu is a climate finance and resilience expert with over 20 years of experience in policy development, programme management and research across climate resilience, debt sustainability, social protection and migration.

She has led global initiatives that address the interconnected challenges of climate change, financial instability and social vulnerability, focusing on creating financial and policy solutions that strengthen resilience in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), least developed countries (LDCs) and Fragile and Conflict Affected States (FCAS).

Her work spans climate finance, loss and damage, anticipatory risk response and policy advocacy, influencing major global processes, including UNFCCC negotiations, Finance for Development (FFD) and the G20 agenda.

Expertise

Climate resilience; loss and damage; social protection; debt sustainability; resilience investment; migration; gender; food security.

Before IIED

Ritu has held leadership roles across governments, multilateral institutions and international NGOs, designing and managing large-scale programmes in climate finance and resilience:

Government of India: developed and coordinated national programmes on watershed management, social protection (MGNREGS), rural livelihoods and food securit
UK DFID (now FCDO): Managed a US$250 million climate adaptation programme in South Asia, supporting policy and investment strategies
G20 Secretariat: led climate and resilience policy actions, shaping key policy communiqués and stakeholder engagements
ClimateWorks Foundation: designed and funded initiatives on resource conservation, circular economy and sustainable value chains across South Asia
Winrock International: led major climate adaptation and renewable energy projects, providing advisory support to the World Bank, UNDP, USAID, GIZ and JICA.

Education

Masters (forest and environmental management), Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, India
Bachelor in science (chemistry honours), Science College, Patna University, India

Current work

Leads high-impact research and advocacy on climate finance, loss and damage and social protection. She directs the Global Debt Sustainability Support Service (DSSS) to tackle debt and resilience in SIDS and manages the Alliance for Locally Led Transformative Action on Loss and Damage (ALL ACT) across eight LDCs and 39 SIDS.

Her work on anticipatory risk response has led to the development of the Anticipatory Social Protection Index for Resilience (ASPIRE), a diagnostic tool that assesses social protection systems' capacity to address climate risks. She is also engaged in research on the link between climate change, migration and modern slavery, shaping policy recommendations for governments and international organisations.

She continues to influence global climate finance and adaptation agendas, working closely with governments, multilateral development banks and international stakeholders to drive systemic financial and policy reforms for climate-vulnerable communities.