Narasimha Rao

Narasimha Rao is a senior research scholar in the IIASA Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group of the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program and an Associate Professor of Energy Systems at the Yale School of the Environment, in the US. His research examines the relationship between energy systems, human development, and climate change. He is a contributing author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s Sixth Assessment Report.

He is the recipient of the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (2015-2018) for a project entitled Decent Living Energy, which explores energy and emissions thresholds for providing decent living standards for all. His research interests also include income inequality, infrastructure, and climate policy. For his current research, Rao was awarded the 2011 Amulya K. Reddy Prize for the Best Paper in the journal Energy for Sustainable Development for his paper entitled 'Kerosene Subsidies in India: When Energy Policy Fails as Social Policy'.

Rao obtained his PhD in Environment and Resources from Stanford University, California, and two Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Technology Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Last update: 16 JUN 2021

Nutkiewicz, A., Mastrucci, A. , Rao, N. , & Jain, R.K. (2022). Cool roofs can mitigate cooling energy demand for informal settlement dwellers. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 159, e112183. 10.1016/j.rser.2022.112183.

Wang, T., Berrill, P., Zimmerman, J.B., Rao, N. , Min, J. , & Hertwich, E.G. (2022). Improved Copper Circularity as a Result of Increased Material Efficiency in the U.S. Housing Stock. Environmental Science & Technology 10.1021/acs.est.1c06474. (In Press)

Bhar, S., Lele, S., & Rao, N. (2022). Beyond income: correlates of conspicuous and luxury consumption in India. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy 18 (1), 142-157. 10.1080/15487733.2022.2029041.

Rao, N.D. & Wilson, C. (2021). Advancing energy and well-being research. Nature Sustainability 5, 98-103. 10.1038/s41893-021-00775-7.

Kikstra, J. , Mastrucci, A. , Min, J. , Riahi, K. , & Rao, N.D. (2021). Decent living gaps and energy needs around the world. Environmental Research Letters 16 (9), 095006. 10.1088/1748-9326/ac1c27.

Pelz, S., Pachauri, Shonali , & Rao, N. (2021). Application of an alternative framework for measuring progress towards SDG 7.1. Environmental Research Letters 16 (8), e084048. 10.1088/1748-9326/ac16a1.

Rao, N. , Kiesewetter, G. , Min, J. , Pachauri, S. , & Wagner, F. (2021). Household contributions to and impacts from air pollution in India. Nature Sustainability 10.1038/s41893-021-00744-0.

Rao, N. , Kiesewetter, G. , Min, J. , Pachauri, S. , & Wagner, F. (2021). Dataset for "Household contributions to and impacts from air pollution in India”.

Vita, G., Rao, N. , Usubiaga-Liaño, A., Min, J. , & Wood, R. (2021). Durable Goods Drive Two-Thirds of Global Households’ Final Energy Footprints. Environmental Science & Technology 55 (5), 3175-3187. 10.1021/acs.est.0c03890.

SDG7 Technical Advisory Group, (2021). Leveraging Energy Action for Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals: Policy Briefs in Support of the High-Level Political Forum. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)

Gibson, M., Rao, N. , Slade, R.B., Pereira, J.P., & Rogelj, J. (2020). The role of energy in mitigating grain storage losses in India and the impact for nutrition. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 163, e105100. 10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105100.

Millward-Hopkins, J., Steinberger, J.K., Rao, N. , & Oswald, Y. (2020). Providing decent living with minimum energy: A global scenario. Global Environmental Change 65, e102168. 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102168.

Pachauri, S. & Rao, N. (2020). Advancing energy poverty measurement for SDG7. Progress in Energy 2, e043001. 10.1088/2516-1083/aba890.

TWI2050 - The World in 2050, (2020). Innovations for Sustainability. Pathways to an efficient and post-pandemic future. Report prepared by The World in 2050 initiative. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Sauer, P., Rao, N. , & Pachauri, S. (2020). Explaining income inequality trends: An integrated approach. UNU-WIDER

Mastrucci, A. , Min, J. , Usubiaga-Liaño, A., & Rao, N. (2020). A Framework for Modelling Consumption-Based Energy Demand and Emission Pathways. Environmental Science & Technology 54 (3), 1799-1807. 10.1021/acs.est.9b05968.

Lanzi, E., Agrawala, S., Dellink, R., Lutz, W., Zimm, C. , Nakicenovic, N. , Fritz, S., & Rao, N. (2020). Developing Pathways to Sustainability: Fulfilling Human Needs and Aspirations while Maintaining Human Life Support Systems. In: Systemic Thinking for Policy Making: The Potential of Systems Analysis for Addressing Global Policy Challenges in the 21st Century. pp. 39-48 Paris, France: New Approaches to Economic Challenges, OECD Publishing. ISBN 978-92-64-49456-510.1787/879c4f7a-en.

Davis, K.F., Chhatre, A., Rao, N. , Singh, D., Ghosh-Jerath, S., Mridul, A., Poblete-Cazenave, M., Pradhan, N., & DeFries, R. (2019). Assessing the sustainability of post-Green Revolution cereals in India. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (50), 25034-25041. 10.1073/pnas.1910935116.

Rao, N. , Min, J. , & Mastrucci, A. (2019). Energy requirements for decent living in India, Brazil and South Africa. Nature Energy 4 (12), 1025-1032. 10.1038/s41560-019-0497-9.

Vinca, A. , Parkinson, S. , Byers, E. , Burek, P. , Khan, Z., Krey, V. , Diuana, F., Wang, Y., Ilyas, A., Köberle, A.C., Staffel, I., Pfenninger, S., Muhammad, A., Rowe, A., Schaeffer, R., Rao, N. , Wada, Y. , Dhilali, N., & Riahi, K. (2019). The Nexus Solutions Tool (NEST): An open platform for optimizing multi-scale energy-water-land system transformations. Geoscientific Model Development Discussions 13 (3), 1095-1121. 10.5194/gmd-2019-134.

Davis, K.F., Chhatre, A., Rao, N. , Singh, D., & DeFries, R. (2019). Sensitivity of grain yields to historical climate variability in India. Environmental Research Letters 14 (6), e064013. 10.1088/1748-9326/ab22db.

Mastrucci, A. , Byers, E. , Rao, N. , Pachauri, S. , & Riahi, K. (2019). Lack of thermal comfort as a dimension of energy poverty: Towards an SDG for space cooling? In: Global Sustainable Development Goals in a Mediatized World, 4-5 April 2019, Vienna, Austria.

Mastrucci, A. , Byers, E. , Pachauri, S. , & Rao, N. (2019). Improving the SDG energy poverty targets: residential cooling needs in the Global South. Energy and Buildings 186, 405-415. 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.01.015.

Rao, N , Poblete Cazenave, M., Bhalerao, R., Davis, K.F., & Parkinson, S. (2019). Spatial analysis of energy use and GHG emissions from cereal production in India. Science of the Total Environment 654, 841-849. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.073.

Parkinson, S. , Krey, V. , Huppmann, D. , Kahil, T. , McCollum, D., Fricko, O. , Byers, E. , Gidden, M. , Mayor, B., Khan, Z., Raptis, C., Rao, N. , Johnson, N., Wada, Y. , Djilali, N., & Riahi, K. (2019). Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation tradeoffs. Environmental Research Letters 14 (1), e014009. 10.1088/1748-9326/aaf2a3.

Rao, N. , Sauer, P., Gidden, M. , & Riahi, K. (2019). Income inequality projections for the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). Futures 105, 27-39. 10.1016/j.futures.2018.07.001.

Mastrucci, A. & Rao, N. (2019). Bridging India’s housing gap: lowering costs and CO2 emissions. Building Research & Information 47 (1), 8-23. 10.1080/09613218.2018.1483634.

Min, J. & Rao, N. (2018). Estimating Uncertainty in Household Energy Footprints. Journal of Industrial Ecology 22 (6), 1307-1317. 10.1111/jiec.12670.

DeFries, R., Chhatre, A., Davis, K.F., Dutta, A., Fanzo, J., Ghosh-Jerath, S., Myers, S., Rao, N. , & Smith, M.R. (2018). Impact of Historical Changes in Coarse Cereals Consumption in India on Micronutrient Intake and Anemia Prevalence. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 39 (3), e037957211878349. 10.1177/0379572118783492.

Byers, E. , Parkinson, S. , Balkovic, J. , Burek, P. , Ebi, K., Gidden, M. , Grey, D., Greve, P., Havlik, P. , Hillers, A., Johnson, N., Kahil, T. , Krey, V. , Langan, S. , Leclere, D., Nakicenovic, N. , Novak, R., Obersteiner, M. , Pachauri, S. , Palazzo, A. , Rao, N. , Rogelj, J. , Satoh, Y., Wada, Y. , Willaarts, B. , & Riahi, K. (2018). Global climate and development hotspots assessment: Asia under pressure. In: 5th Asian Energy Modelling Workshop, 10-12 September 2018, Singapore.

Dubash, N.K., Khosla, R., Rao, N. , & Bhardwaj, A. (2018). India’s energy and emissions future: an interpretive analysis of model scenarios. Environmental Research Letters 13 (7), e074018. 10.1088/1748-9326/aacc74.

McCollum, D., Zhou, W., Bertram, C., de Boer, H.-S., Bosetti, V., Busch, S., Despres, J., Drouet, L., Emmerling, J., Fay, M., Fricko, O. , Fujimori, S. , Gidden, M. , Harmsen, M., Huppmann, D. , Iyer, G., Krey, V. , Kriegler, E., Nicolas, C., Pachauri, S. , Parkinson, S. , Poblete Cazenave, M., Rafaj, P. , Rao, N. , Rozenberg, J., Schmitz, A., Schöpp, W. , van Vuuren, D., & Riahi, K. (2018). Energy investment needs for fulfilling the Paris Agreement and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Energy 3 (7), 589-599. 10.1038/s41560-018-0179-z.

Pachauri, S. , Rao, N. , & Cameron, C. (2018). Outlook for modern cooking energy access in Central America. PLoS ONE 13 (6), e0197974. 10.1371/journal.pone.0197974.

Grubler, A. , Wilson, C. , Bento, N., Boza-Kiss, B. , Krey, V. , McCollum, D., Rao, N. , Riahi, K. , Rogelj, J. , De Stercke, S., Cullen, J., Frank, S. , Fricko, O. , Guo, F. , Gidden, M. , Havlik, P. , Huppmann, D. , Kiesewetter, G. , Rafaj, P. , Schöpp, W. , & Valin, H. (2018). A low energy demand scenario for meeting the 1.5 °C target and sustainable development goals without negative emission technologies. Nature Energy 3 (6), 517-525. 10.1038/s41560-018-0172-6.

Byers, E. , Gidden, M. , Leclere, D., Balkovic, J. , Burek, P. , Ebi, K., Grey, D., Greve, P., Havlik, P. , Hillers, A., Johnson, N., Kahil, T. , Krey, V. , Langan, S. , Nakicenovic, N. , Novak, R., Obersteiner, M. , Pachauri, S. , Palazzo, A. , Parkinson, S. , Rao, N. , Rogelj, J. , Satoh, Y., Wada, Y. , Willaarts, B. , & Riahi, K. (2018). Global exposure and vulnerability to multi-sector development and climate change hotspots. In: International Energy Workshop, 19-21 June 2018, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Parkinson, S. , Krey, V. , Huppmann, D. , Kahil, T. , McCollum, D., Fricko, O. , Byers, E. , Gidden, M. , Mayor, B., Khan, Z., Raptis, C., Rao, N. , Johnson, N., Wada, Y. , Djilali, N., & Riahi, K. (2018). Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation tradeoffs. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-18-005

Byers, E. , Gidden, M., Leclere, D., Burek, P. , Ebi, K.L., Greve, P., Grey, D., Havlik, P. , Hillers, A., Johnson, N., Kahil, T. , Krey, V. , Langan, S. , Nakicenovic, N., Novak, R., Obersteiner, M. , Pachauri, S. , Palazzo, A. , Parkinson, S. , Rao, N. , Rogelj, J. , Riahi, K. , Satoh, Y., Wada, Y. , & Willaarts, B. (2018). Global exposure and vulnerability to multi-sector development and climate change hotspots. Environmental Research Letters 13, e055012. 10.1088/1748-9326/aabf45.

Creutzig, F., Roy, J., Lamb, J.W.F., Azevedo, I.M.L., Bruine de Bruin, W., Dalkmann, H., Edelenbosch, O., Geels, F.W., Grubler, A. , Hepburn, C., Hertwich, E., Khosla, R., Mattauch, L., Minx, J.C., Ramakrishnam, A., Rao, N. , Steinberger, J., Tavoni, M., Urge-Vorsatz, D., & Weber, E.U. (2018). Towards demand-side solutions for mitigating climate change. Nature Climate Change 8 (4), 260-263. 10.1038/s41558-018-0121-1.

Rao, N. , Min, J. , DeFries, R., Ghosh-Jerath, S., Valin, H. , & Fanzo, J. (2018). Healthy, affordable and climate-friendly diets in India. Global Environmental Change 49, 154-165. 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.02.013.

Rao, N. & Min, J. (2018). Less global inequality can improve climate outcomes. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs). Climate Change, 1-6. 10.1002/wcc.513.

Rao, N. , Mastrucci, A. , & Min, J. (2018). Applying LCA to Estimate Development Energy Needs: The Cases of India and Brazil. In: Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies. Eds. Benetto, E., Gericke, K., & Guiton, M., pp. 397-406 Cham, Switzerland: Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-66981-610.1007/978-3-319-66981-6_44.

Gidden, M. , Byers, E. , Burek, P. , Ebi, K., Greve, P., Havlik, P. , Hillers, A., Johnson, N., Kahil, T. , Krey, V. , Langan, S. , Leclere, D., Nakicenovic, N. , Novak, R., Obersteiner, M. , Palazzo, A. , Pachauri, S. , Parkinson, S. , Rao, N. , Rogelj, J. , Satoh, Y., Wada, Y. , Willaarts, B. , & Riahi, K. (2017). Exposure and Vulnerability to Energy, Water, and Land Hotspots under Different Climate Futures. In: 10th Integrated Assessment Modelling Consortium Meeting, December 2017.

Rao, N. , van Ruijven, B.J., Riahi, K. , & Bosetti, V. (2017). Improving poverty and inequality modelling in climate research. Nature Climate Change 7 (12), 857-862. 10.1038/s41558-017-0004-x.

Mastrucci, A. & Rao, N. (2017). Decent housing in the developing world: Reducing life-cycle energy requirements. Energy and Buildings 152, 629-642. 10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.07.072.

Longe, O.M., Rao, N. , Omowole, F., Oluwalami, A.S., & Oni, O.T. (2017). A Case Study on Off-grid Microgrid for Universal Electricity Access in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. International Journal of Energy Engineering 7 (2), 55-63. 10.5923/j.ijee.20170702.03.

Rao, N. & Min, J. (2017). Decent Living Standards: material prerequisites for human wellbeing. Social Indicators Research, 1-20. 10.1007/s11205-017-1650-0.

Rao, N.D. & Ummel, K. (2017). White goods for white people? Drivers of electric appliance growth in emerging economies. Energy Research & Social Science 27, 106-116. 10.1016/j.erss.2017.03.005.

Dobrotkova, Z., Dorner, D., Daly, D., Gielen, D., Saygin, D., Winkler, S., Neil, S., Riahi, K. , Pachauri, S. , Rao, N. , Alers, M., Lins, C., Adib, R., Murdock, H.E., & Messent, F. (2017). Future Prospects. In: Global Tracking Framework 2017: Progress Towards Sustainable Energy. pp. 93-102 Washington DC: World Bank. ISBN 978-1-4648-1084-810.1596/978-1-4648-1084-8.

Rao, N. & Min, J. (2017). Decent Living Standards: material prerequisites for human wellbeing. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-17-005

Steckel, J.C., Rao, N.D. , & Jakob, M. (2017). Access to infrastructure services: Global trends and drivers. Utilities Policy 45, 109-117. 10.1016/j.jup.2017.03.001.

Cameron, C., Pachauri, S. , Rao, N. , McCollum, D., Rogelj, J. , & Riahi, K. (2017). Synergies and Trade-offs between Climate Mitigation and Universal Access to Clean Cooking Goals. In: IIASA Institutional Evaluation 2017, 27 February-1 March 2017, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.

K.C., S., Kiesewetter, G. , Pachauri, S. , Rao, N. , & Valin, H. (2017). SCHEMA, a crosscutting project: Accounting for Socioeconomic Heterogeneity in IIASA Models. In: IIASA Institutional Evaluation 2017, 27 February-1 March 2017, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.

Rao, N. , Min, J. , Mastrucci, A. , & Pachauri, S. (2017). Decent Living Energy: How much energy do we ‘need’ to provide minimum living standards to all? In: IIASA Institutional Evaluation 2017, 27 February-1 March 2017, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.

Rao, N. & Pachauri, S. (2017). Energy access and living standards: some observations on recent trends. Environmental Research Letters 12 (2), e025011. 10.1088/1748-9326/aa5b0d.

Fuß, S., Chen, C., Jakob, M., Marxen, A., Rao, N.D. , & Edenhofer, O. (2016). Could resource rents finance universal access to infrastructure? A first exploration of needs and rents. Environment and Development Economics 21 (6), 691-712. 10.1017/S1355770X16000139.

Parkinson, S. , Johnson, N., Rao, N. , Jones, B., van Vliet, M., Fricko, O. , Djilali, N., Riahi, K. , & Flörke, M. (2016). Climate and human development impacts on municipal water demand: A spatially-explicit global modeling framework. Environmental Modelling & Software 85, 266-278. 10.1016/j.envsoft.2016.08.002.

Jakob, M., Chen, C., Fuss, S., Marxen, A., Rao, N.D. , & Edenhofer, O. (2016). Carbon Pricing Revenues Could Close Infrastructure Access Gaps. World Development 84, 254-265. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.03.001.

Rao, N. , Sauer, P., & Pachauri, S. (2016). Explaining Income Inequality Trends in Countries: An Integrated Approach. WU Vienna University of Economics and Business

Groh, S., Pachauri, S. , & Rao, N. (2016). What are we measuring? An empirical analysis of household electricity access metrics in rural Bangladesh. Energy for Sustainable Development 30, 21-31. 10.1016/j.esd.2015.10.007.

Cameron, C., Pachauri, S. , Rao, N. , McCollum, D., Rogelj, J. , & Riahi, K. (2016). Policy trade-offs between climate mitigation and clean cook-stove access in South Asia. Nature Energy 1, e15010. 10.1038/nenergy.2015.10.

Rao, N.D. , Agarwal, A., & Wood, D. (2016). Impacts of small-scale electricity systems: A study of rural communities in India and Nepal. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. ISBN 978-1-56973-885-6

Cameron, C., Pachauri, S. , Rao, N. , Riahi, K. , & Ummel, K. (2015). Synergies and Trade-offs between Climate Mitigation and Universal Access to Clean Cooking Goals. In: Systems Analysis 2015 - A Conference in Celebration of Howard Raiffa, 11 -13 November, 2015, Laxenburg, Austria.

Lamb, W.F. & Rao, N.D. (2015). Human development in a climate-constrained world: What the past says about the future. Global Environmental Change 33, 14-22. 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.03.010.

Rao, N.D. , McCollum, D., Dubash, N.K., & Khosla, R. (2015). Development and climate policy synergies: insights from global modelling studies. Center for Policy Research (CPR)

Dubash, N.K., Khosla, R., Rao, N.D. , & Sharma, K.R. (2015). Informing India's energy and climate debate: policy lessons from modelling studies. Research Report, Climate Initiative, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, India

Groh, S., Pachauri, S. , & Rao, N. (2015). You are what you measure! But are we measuring it right? An empiric analysis of energy access metrics based on a multi-tier approach in Bangladesh. In: Micro Perspectives for Decentralized Energy Supply Proceedings of the International Conference. Eds. Schafer, M., pp. 129-136 Berlin, Germany: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin. ISBN 978-3-7983-2744-3

Rao, N.D. (2014). Book review: Electrifying India: Regional Political Economies of Development, by Sunita S. Kale (2014). Journal of Development Studies 50 (10), 1464-1465. 10.1080/00220388.2014.955681.

Rao, N.D. , Riahi, K. , & Grubler, A. (2014). Climate impacts of poverty eradication. Nature Climate Change 4 (9), 749-751. 10.1038/nclimate2340.

Tavoni, M., Riahi, K. , Jewell, J. , Rao, N. , & McCollum, D. (2014). Limiting global warming to 2 degrees C. Policy findings from Durban Platform scenario analysis. LIMITS Publications

Rao, N.D. (2014). International and intranational equity in sharing climate change mitigation burdens. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics 14 (2), 129-146. 10.1007/s10784-013-9212-7.

Mainali, B., Pachauri, S. , Rao, N.D. , & Silveira, S. (2014). Assessing rural energy sustainability in developing countries. Energy for Sustainable Development 19, 15-28. 10.1016/j.esd.2014.01.008.

Rao, N.D. (2013). Distributional impacts of climate change mitigation in Indian electricity: The influence of governance. Energy Policy 61, 1344-1356. 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.05.103.

Pachauri, S. & Rao, N.D. (2013). Gender impacts and determinants of energy poverty: Are we asking the right questions? Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5 (2), 205-215. 10.1016/j.cosust.2013.04.006.

Rao, N.D. (2013). Does (better) electricity supply increase household enterprise income in India? Energy Policy 57, 532-541. 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.02.025.

Rao, N.D. & Baer, P. (2012). "Decent Living" emissions: A conceptual framework. Sustainability 4 (4), 656-681. 10.3390/su4040656.

Rao, N.D. (2012). Kerosene subsidies in India: When energy policy fails as social policy. Energy for Sustainable Development 16 (1), 35-43. 10.1016/j.esd.2011.12.007.

Pachauri, S. , Rao, N.D. , Nagai, Y., & Riahi, K. (2012). Access to Modern Energy: Assessment and Outlook for Developing and Emerging Regions. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria

Rao, N. (2012). Minimum Energy Thresholds for Providing Decent Living Standards for All. In: Worlds Within Reach: From Science To Policy - IIASA 40th Anniversary Conference, 24-26 October 2012, Hofburg Congress Center, Vienna and IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.

Rao, N. (2012). Sustainable Development Pathways: Foundations and Frontiers. In: Worlds Within Reach: From Science To Policy - IIASA 40th Anniversary Conference, 24-26 October 2012, Hofburg Congress Center, Vienna and IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.