Govind Patel is a seasoned green building leader with more than three decades of innovative contributions in energy management and emissions reduction. An expert in decarbonization and net zero, emission mitigation, waste management, life cycle assessments, indoor air quality management, and environmental health and safety, Patel is known for empowering companies around the world to lower their carbon, energy, water, and waste footprints with unparalleled efficacy and efficiency.
With a longtime focus on energy management systems and water efficiency management, Patel has performed energy or water audits for more than 450 companies across a wide variety of industrial sectors — ensuring these multinational brands are fully equipped to calculate and improve their operational performance, adopt cutting edge technology, and implement sustainable practices for maintaining emissions reduction and elimination in perpetuity. He has also trained more than 10,000 personnel on sustainability-related topics (including relevant ISO standards), helping them to incorporate more sustainable practices in their business operations.
At the heart of his thirty years in climate mitigation strategies is an extensive background in green building and other related certifications. Having worked with LEED, WELL, BSI and more, Patel has led the implementation efforts and certifications of some of the most iconic and high-performing green buildings and benchmark industries. Under his guidance, Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. (SRK)’s two diamond crafting facilities in Surat, India achieved LEED Platinum certification and continue to rank among the top five LEED buildings in the world in terms of operational performance. Through investments in continuous improvement, SRK is now positioned to go beyond and is on track to achieve GNFZ’s net zero certification in 2024.
Affectionately dubbed the ‘acceleration whisperer’ for CEOs and brands intent on transitioning their operations with unprecedented speed and success, Patel is also widely recognized for his ESG and sustainability leadership and his vast institutional knowledge when it comes to compliance standards and regulatory requirements (including ASHRAE, Energy Star Benchmarking, GRI, GHG Protocol, SBTi, UN SDG, CDP, BEE-PAT, CGWA, NBC, IBC, IFC, ECBC, IESNA, and various ISO standards). And his related experience developing comprehensive net zero roadmaps for organizations seeking to transition serve as templatized case studies for best practices in scaling net zero transformation across sectors.
An engineer at his core, Patel attributes his passion for comprehensively tackling both direct and indirect emissions (Scope 1-3), often referred to as the Achilles’ Heel of net zero journeys, to his nimble, investigative nature and his desire to, in his own words, “solve the biggest existential challenges with the swiftness, urgency, and humanity.” And beyond his tenacity for tackling the most pressing obstacles to a zero emissions future, it’s Patel’s unique capacity to guide companies in concurrently pursuing compliance and acceleration that has solidified him as GNFZ’s not-so-secret weapon for — at long last — democratizing and driving decarbonization at scale.
Patel holds a Bachelor of Engineering – Chemical and an MBA in TQM. He is a member and chartered engineer of the Institute of Engineers in India, a Certified Energy Auditor, a LEED AP, a NEBOSH IGC, a ISO certified Lead Assessor, and an IRCA-approved Trainer for ISO 50001:2018 and other standards. He is also the only trainer in India for ISO 50002:2014 (Energy Audit).