Akanksha Sharma

Akanksha Sharma is Vice President – Sustainability at DP World for India Subcontinent, Central Asia, the Levant, and Egypt. She is responsible for shaping regional sustainability strategy, accelerating climate transition, mobilising strategic partnerships and capital, and embedding sustainability into business strategy to create long-term value for customers, communities, and the business.

With over two decades of experience, Akanksha has led sustainability and ESG transformation across technology, telecommunications, consumer brands, manufacturing, logistics, and global supply chains. She has built and scaled sustainability functions across complex, multi-country organisations, helping integrate sustainability into core business strategy, operational excellence, and commercial decision-making.

Akanksha has extensive experience at the intersection of business, sustainability, policy, and capital. She has successfully led enterprise-wide sustainability programmes, climate transition initiatives, strategic partnerships, and impact investment portfolios, translating complex sustainability challenges into practical business solutions that drive growth, resilience, and long-term value creation.

With a distinctive career spanning the private sector, government, and multilateral institutions including UNICEF, Akanksha brings a unique ability to navigate complex stakeholder ecosystems and build alignment across boards, investors, governments, businesses, and communities. Recognised for her systems-thinking, she translates complex sustainability, policy, and capital frameworks into scalable business solutions. Across her career, she has established and scaled sustainability functions and impact initiatives from the ground up, leading multi-million-dollar sustainability portfolios encompassing grant funding, impact investment mechanisms, and strategic partnerships.

Akanksha is the recipient of multiple leadership recognitions, including being named among the Most Impactful Sustainability Leaders Globally (2020). She also played a foundational role in shaping India’s sustainability landscape by serving as an industry representative in drafting the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2013. In 2018, she represented India on the International Climate Expedition to Antarctica, contributing to global dialogue on climate leadership and sustainable development. She is also the author of For the Greater Common Good (Bloomsbury, 2021).

Akanksha holds a Master’s degree from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom, and has completed an Executive Leadership Program at Harvard University, USA.