# Varun Pande > Climate Strategist & Innovator | DER’s + Carbon Data Implementation | EDF MBA Fellow ’24 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/varunpande Driving greater integration, facilitation and effective leadership in the climate innovation space. ## Work Experience ### Electrification Program Manager @ City of Sunnyvale Jan 2025 – Present Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) grant-funded position at City of Sunnyvale supporting commercial and large multi-family property developers and managers on reaching electrification (building envelope + electric vehicle infrastructure) projects for SVCE city users. ### Development Lead @ Silowatt LLC Jan 2026 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Seed-stage startup specializing in DR storage capacity building ### Founding Product & GTM Lead @ Genvision Jan 2025 – Jan 2025 ### Climate Corps Fellow @ Grocery Outlet - Renewable Energy & ESG @ Environmental Defense Fund Jan 2024 – Jan 2024 Selected from over 1,200 top-tier Master's candidates (less than 10% acceptance rate) to participate in the renewables and energy efficiency cohort to partner with large enterprises working on achieving their climate and energy goals. As a Fellow, I was paired with Grocery Outlet, a high growth (opening about 100 new stores/year) retail grocer to help achieve greater efficiency in energy, natural refrigeration, cost savings, ESG reporting. ### Investment Product Manager – Institutional Funds @ Triodos Bank Jan 2023 – Jan 2024 | Utrecht, Netherlands Proposed new financial product offerings for 4 European pension funds from a sample of over 500, looking to partner with one of Europe's largest and most pioneering impact banks founded in 1968. Focused in the area of sustainable agriculture and developed 20 KPI's to measure commitments. ### Energy Transition Program Specialist – Data & Logistics Optimization @ SHV Energy Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | London, United Kingdom Devised ESG and SBTi-informed action plan, reporting and data governance, as well as peak demand management for major UK utility company with 4 million customers to improve and update natural gas delivery system and address present and future climate risks. Project management and strategy for implementing better logistics, resulting in up to 40% shavings of route distance, time and emissions. Submitted data and evidentiary diligence for preliminary CSRD reporting. ### Strategic Advisor, Energy & Built Environment Global Initiatives @ New Energy Nexus Jan 2018 – Jan 2022 Facilitated growth of programs and funds through effective public-private partnerships for climate and energy startups to catalyze blended finance, providing field validation and due diligence. Received funding from European Institute of Innovation and Technology, and Erasmus Center for Entrepreneurship to accelerate greenhouse tech startup out of incubator at Wageningen University, the world's #1 university for Agriculture and Forestry, in collaboration with NGO agencies and VCs. Coordinated with leading wind energy engineers and VC's in Copenhagen and the SF Bay Area to catalyze growth of LiDAR-for-wind startup aimed at improving 'wake effect' and turbine placement. Recruited a team of 18 individuals ranging from planners to marketers over Berlin-Shanghai metros to help draft project proposals for investors of Ofo bikes-sustainable mobility at scale. Planned and researched as a liaison for high net and ultra high net worth businessmen and their family funds seeking to make impact investments in sustainability and transportation. Used data analysis, GIS mapping, and urban geography research to augment sales and decision-making around strategy and target markets to drive customer growth. ### Regenerative Systems (Permaculture) Designer & Organizer @ Permaculture Design Jan 2014 – Jan 2018 | Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands Organized events and conferences around permaculture and ecology/restoration such as the Northern California Permaculture Convergence and the leading environmental conference for decades, Bioneers. ### Account Executive, Renewable Energy @ Sungevity Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Oakland, CA Advised and closed prospective accounts on the merits and costs of individualized solar proposals to meet their energy needs in an increasingly distributed energy grid. Built a portfolio of over 100 high-value accounts with 3-100 kWh systems through effective use of Salesforce, walking commercial and residential clients through aspects of project technology, finance, design, etc. Generated sales at 110-150% of quota month over month, mainly focusing on PPAs and outright purchases, in 14 states across the United States. ### Program Manager, Shared Savings Program @ San Francisco Department of the Environment ( SF Environment ) Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco, CA Conservation manager developing and updating the Shared Savings Program, designed to award schools who save over 5% of their utility costs (electricity and water) by giving them half the savings back as money for other school programs, with the goal of reducing energy and water waste by 10-15%. ### Sustainability Consultant @ Ecology Center, Berkeley Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 Organized community members including people from churches and restaurants in groups to conduct behavioral analysis and implement changes to wasteful practices with the help of a UC-Berkeley grant and the Ecology Center's guidance. ### Climate Science Research @ Environmental Defense Fund Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | San Francisco, California, United States Research, collaboration, compilation of report on telecommuting/telecommunication technology in alleviated carbon footprint for businesses in tandem with climate scientist Jeffrey Greenblatt. Discovered emission reduction possiblities ranging from 10-40% in 10 SF Bay Area companies. Youngest intern in EDF history. ### Intern, Climate Organizer @ U.S. House of Representatives Jan 2008 – Jan 2008 Student representative, helped organize thousands of youth towards climate change awareness through a conference in San Jose bringing together scientists, media and advocates. ## Education ### International MBA in Sustainability Concentration, Sustainability Concentration Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University ### B.S. Environmental Sciences in Regenerative Agriculture Honors Thesis University of California, Berkeley ### Energy Innovation and Emerging Technologies Program Stanford University ### Post Graduate Program: Visual and Media Anthropology in Focus: Sustainable Urban Design Freie Universität Berlin ### Fellow in Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture, Oakland National Wildlife Federation ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/v-ecozoic --- Source: https://flows.cv/varunpande JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/varunpande/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-08