Gautam Barua Bio

Aclaria Partners founder Gautam Barua has distinctive expertise in originating and profitably investing in ESG opportunities, with a consistently successful and pioneering career in climate and sustainability spanning more than two decades. He has led $80M of profitable clean water and energy deals, founded a market-leading clean energy firm, and advised major corporations on sustainability. Gautam first engaged on ESG in the 1990s, contributing to Nobel Prize-winning work on climate change and carbon sequestration while also working for Yale’s Investments Office. He has served in advisory, new business, and M&A roles at McKinsey and Morgan Stanley; held an appointment as California Deputy State Controller, helping spark creation of a $1.5B cleantech investment program at CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the United States; served on boards of sustainability and conservation NGOs; and been a Silicon Valley exec. In addition to a BA cum laude in Economics and Mathematics from Yale, Gautam earned an MBA with Distinction from Harvard, where he also completed Executive Education in Entrepreneurship.