How can we make Oil and Gas Part of the Climate Solution?

My Sustainable Encounter with Sujay Sarkar

by Albert Schiller

Inside the System, Pushing for Change

We don’t often associate sustainability with oil and gas.

But Sujay Sarkar does.

And not just in theory. He’s working from the inside—where legacy meets urgency.

Sujay is a PhD scholar specializing in climate change, trained in Business Sustainability Management at Cambridge. His academic depth is matched by field experience in both national and international oil and gas companies. Today, he serves as Senior Assistant Director (Gas) at the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), where policy meets practice.

Portrait of a person on yellow background beside text: "The need for a sustainable oil and gas industry is clear," in a purple and yellow theme.

That honesty caught me. Because Sujay isn’t trying to greenwash the sector. He’s asking it to evolve.

Leading the Transition from Within

At FIPI, he works on cleaner fuels—natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, biofuels—and strategizes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the sector’s value chain. His days are filled with policy briefs, technical papers, and stakeholder meetings. The goal? Foster alignment where interests often collide.

“To harmonize the goals of all stakeholders,” he explained, “we try to function as a unified team—rather than operating in silos.”

It’s hard work. He has to translate science into business language. He has to speak about climate urgency in boardrooms still focused on quarterly reports. And he has to push for innovation in a space built for stability. But he’s not discouraged. Sujay believes that the industry can’t just react to the energy transition, it must lead it.

Yellow text on a dark blue background reads: “Companies that fail to adapt are at risk of becoming obsolete.” Sujay Sarkar.

That statement doesn’t come from an outsider. It comes from someone who knows the pressure points and still chooses to stay.

What struck me most wasn’t his expertise. It was his clarity. Sujay isn’t positioning himself as the face of clean energy. He’s making space inside fossil systems for conscience, strategy, and change.