Urban sustainability expert Rajneesh Sareen joins the jury panel of the Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards 2026

Times Internet Ecopreneur award have emerged as a platform that celebrates people, businesses, and institutions working for a Sustainable future. As environment consciousness become important in today’s world, it works as a platform that brings together distinguished jury members from different industries to recognise, judge and award the changemakers.

In the jury panel we have Rajneesh Sareen, who is the Programme Director for the Sustainable Buildings and Habitat Programme at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), he works on a question that is extremely important today - how do we keep our rapidly expanding cities livable on a warming planet? Rajneesh work is about finding practical solutions for energy-efficient buildings and smart water management.

A Critical Voice at the Ecopreneur Awards 2026

The understanding of urban environments is the reason why Sareen is stepping in as a jury member for the Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards 2026. The awards are designed to spotlight the startups, organizations, and individuals who are actually moving the needle on environmental impact across multiple sectors. Having someone like Sareen on the panel ensures that the ideas being celebrated aren't just ambitious, but measurable, highly scalable, and capable of driving real-world change.

Sareen isn't just speaking from the sidelines. Trained at the prestigious School of Planning and Architecture, he has experience of working at the British High Commission, the US Embassy, WWF-India, and IRG Systems South Asia before he eventually anchored himself at CSE. He is also described as an IEMA-certified advanced environmental systems auditor.He is involved in decoding carbon footprints, pushing for green construction, and figuring out what to do with massive amounts of construction waste.

When you look at the sheer scale of urbanization happening right now, these aren't just niche environmental concerns; they are absolute necessities for urban survival.

Other Jury Members

Alongside Rajneesh Sareen, the distinguished jury panel for the TOI Ecopreneur Awards 2026 includes Blossom Kochhar, Clean beauty expert; Bhupinder Bhalla, IAS, former Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; Peepal Baba, Founder and Managing Trustee of Give Me Trees Trust; and renowned designer and sustainability advocate Ritu Beri.

Bringing together expertise from environmental policy, renewable energy, grassroots conservation, sustainable design, and green entrepreneurship, the jury represents a diverse cross-section of leaders driving India's sustainability agenda.

Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards 2026

The awards encourage a new generation of entrepreneurs who believe profitability and sustainability together are not far-fetched concepts. From startups experimenting with clean technologies to established firms redesigning operations with environmental goals in mind, the initiative highlights businesses that are creating measurable impact rather than merely promoting green branding. The Ecopreneur Awards is nominating in 25 different categories of sustainable innovation across different verticals. Among the categories featured this year are EcoTech & Climate Innovation, Sustainable Mobility & EV Ecosystem, Circular Economy & Recycling, Water Conservation & Management, Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, Women-Led Green Enterprises, and Youth-Led Climate Action. The awards also include recognition for large organisations implementing enterprise-wide sustainability transformations as well as individuals with long-standing contributions to environmental leadership.Getting through the Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards takes a lot more than just throwing around eco-friendly buzzwords. Our expert jury puts every single entry through a serious reality check, evaluating your business from every possible angle from the uniqueness of your innovation and the strength of your business model to its scalability and the actual, measurable impact it has on the planet and society.To nominate yourself for the Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards, Click Here