Education
Shah holds a Bachelor of Surgery in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and an Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland.
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Jigar Shah
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Shah has recognized this as “Creating Climate Wealth.” Shah maintains that Climate Wealth is created when mainstream investors team up with entrepreneurs, corporations, mainstream capital, and governments at scale to solve the big problems of our time while generating compelling financial returns – not concessionary returns. Shah is author of Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy, 2013 Icosa Publishing. The book talks about the prominent role of business model innovation, more than new technology, in attracting mainstream capital and unlocking transformational change.
In the book, the author pictures reaching our 2020 climate change goals as means to create the next economy with the equivalent of 100,000 companies worldwide, each generating $100 million in sales.
Shah argues that, while new technical innovation is valuable, deployment of existing technologies are the key to reaching our near-term climate targets. In addition, Shah is President of Generate Capital.
Shah has also become an outspoken advocate to end all energy subsidies, including those for renewable energy, to "create a level playing field" In 2013, Jigar served as a mentor for Unreasonable at Sea, a technology business accelerator for social entrepreneurs seeking to scale their ventures in international markets. Founded by Unreasonable Group, Semester at Sea, and Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design.
Shah writes for Unreasonable Group’s venture UNREASONABLE.is, a hub for social entrepreneurs.
From 2009 to March 2012, Shah served as the first Chief Executive Officer of the Carbon War Room, the global organization founded by Richard Branson and Virgin United that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship to deploy solution technologies at scale. Prior to his tenure as Carbon War Room Chief Executive Officer, Shah"s founded SunEdison in 2003. The company simplified solar as a service through the implementation of the power purchase agreement (PPA) business model.
That model changed the status quo, allowing organizations to purchase solar energy services under long-term predictably priced contracts and avoid the significant capital costs of ownership and operation of solar energy systems
The SunEdison business model is a recognized catalyst that helped turn solar Photovoltaics into a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide. Shah previously worked in strategy for Boite Postale Solar and as a contractor for the Department of Energy on alternative vehicles and fuel cell programs.
Born in India, Shah moved to the United States with his family when he was one year old. Shah moved to Sterling, Illinois when he was eight years old.
Membership
Lastly, Shah serves as a board member of the Carbon War Room, a global organization he previously served as Chief Executive Officer.
