Ashok Sinha (born 8 November 1964) is a British

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

campaigner.

Scientific and policy background

Sinha studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

and completed his PhD in renewable energy at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. Following this he spent a number of years pursuing research into

climate change science Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more ...

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

and

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, producing a variety of publications on climate feedback process. He then moved into policy analysis with

Forum for the Future Forum for the Future is a registered charity and non-profit organisation that works in partnership with business, government and civil society to accelerate the shift toward a sustainable future. It works by catalysing change in key global systems ...

, working on climate change-renewable energy policy proposals, and then briefly for Solar Century.

Campaigning

Ashok Sinha was one of the group of UK NGO activists who founded the UK Make Poverty History campaign, serving on its governing body, which he did whilst he was leading the

Jubilee Debt Campaign Debt Justice (formerly Jubilee Debt Campaign, Jubilee Debt Coalition and Drop The Debt) is a UK-based campaigning organisation that exists to end unjust developing countries' debt and the poverty and inequality it perpetuates. The organisation’s ...

. In 2005 he became Director of the newly founded

Stop Climate Chaos Stop Climate Chaos is a climate change coalition of environmental and international development nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that was formed in September 2005. The coalition ran the "I Count" campaign in 2006–07 and organized 'The Wav ...

coalition (SCC), now called the Climate Coalition. SCC gained a high-profile with its I Count campaign (winner of two International Green Awards, 2007), which was the UK's campaign partner with the UK

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, ''Live Earth'' was built upon the beli ...

event. SCC was also instrumental in helping to secure the UK's

Climate Change Act 2008 The Climate Change Act 2008 (c 27) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act makes it the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that the net UK carbon account for all six Kyoto greenhouse gases for the year 2050 is at l ...

, helping to put a brake on the building of new unabated coal-fired power stations, and for delivering The Wave (ahead of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen) which was at the time the biggest single climate change campaign event ever held globally. Sinha is currently chief executive of th
London Cycling Campaign
creating the sustainable transport charity's Love London, Go Dutch, Space for Cycling and Climate Safe Streets campaigns. He was listed as one of the UK's top 100 Ethical Heroes by ''New Consumer'' magazine in 2007, one of the UK's top 100 environmentalists by the ''Independent on Sunday'' in 2008, and was listed annually as one of London's 1000 most influential people by the ''Evening Standard'' between 2012 and 2019.

Other activities

Sinha is currently the chair of th
London Sustainable Development Commission
ref name="ES-30Oct2018"> and a trustee of th
Creekside Education Trust
Sinha has also been a board member (and vice chair) of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

UK and of the

London Cycling Campaign The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is an independent membership charity lobbying for better conditions for cycling in London. Its vision is to make London "a world-class cycling city". It is one of the largest urban cycling organisations in th ...

References

British environmentalists Living people 1964 births {{environmentalist-stub