About Me
Sakshi Pawar is a lawyer and policy professional working across energy, finance, and governance. She studies how regulation and capital shape sustainable growth and institutional design.
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Through Under Currents Lab, she offers research, consulting, and strategy that bridge law, policy, and markets. The Lab highlights projects, analysis, and writing that make complex systems clear and actionable.
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​​​My Story
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I trained as a lawyer and began my career studying how systems of law and power determine who gains and who loses. Early on, I worked on litigation and project finance for energy and infrastructure clients, but I was drawn to the larger frameworks that shape how economies and institutions function. That curiosity led me to policy research, where I began examining how governance, finance, and law interact to shape public outcomes.
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At the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, I advised state governments on sustainable finance, maritime regulation, education, and welfare reform. My work on public service delivery placed me on national panels and media discussions on governance design. I have also judged national essay and mediation competitions, consulted on gambling and sports regulation, and contributed to public debates on complex policy questions where law, markets, and ethics intersect.
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Education
2023-2025
Master of Public Administration
Columbia University
School of International and Public Affairs
At Columbia, Sakshi focused on energy systems, finance, and environmental governance through coursework in Renewable Energy Project Finance Modelling, Financing the Clean Energy Economy, Sustainability Reporting, Energy Law, and Quantitative Analysis.
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She received a fully funded fellowship in French Polynesia, where she advised the government on deep-sea mining regulation and critical minerals policy. She later led a Climate School–funded project in Puerto Rico, developing participatory governance strategies for municipal and national climate action plans.
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Her work as a consultant to the Global Reporting Initiative and Brineworks centered on ESG reporting, sustainable investment, and carbon removal markets. She was also a Finalist in the 2025 ESG Case Design Challenge Competition organized by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the Alliance for Responsible Capitalism, where she collaborated with a team from diverse professional and regional backgrounds to develop frameworks for corporate ESG decision-making.
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For her capstone with NYSERDA, she managed policy and financial modeling for neighborhood-scale decarbonization across New York State. These experiences strengthened her ability to link regulation, capital, and governance in advancing practical energy and climate solutions.
2014-2019
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws
Gujarat National Law University
At GNLU, Sakshi built the foundation of her work in law, policy, and governance through research, writing, and leadership. She was awarded Student of the Year in Intellectual Property Law and won multiple Best Research Paper Awards for her work on intellectual property, gambling regulation, and international humanitarian law.
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She co-founded and served as managing editor of KhelAdhikar, a sports law and policy blog that became a national platform for legal analysis and commentary. Her academic publications, available on databases such as HeinOnline, have been cited in later research and continue to inform debates on regulation and public policy.
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As Convenor of the Alternate Dispute Resolution Cell, she organized training workshops and competitions and subsequently served as a judge for national essay; mediation and negotiation contests. This experience grounded her approach to evidence-based reasoning and public communication, shaping the analytical framework she brings to her current work in energy, finance, and governance.
At Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, I deepened this interdisciplinary approach through research on decarbonization finance, regulatory design, and investment risk with the Center on Global Energy Policy and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
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These experiences led to Under Currents Lab, a space to study the hidden systems that shape the energy and environmental economy. The Lab focuses on how regulation, finance, and governance connect or conflict, and how evidence-based policy can close the gap between ambition and implementation.