Innovations for pollution’s unique challenges

Harinath Appalarajugari Sesha is a Senior Environmental Engineer at the World Bank, focused on the East Asia and Pacific region. In a GEF Voices interview, he shared lessons from his career path bridging environmental engineering and pollution management, including his current efforts to control and eliminate toxic chemicals in electricity systems.

What does your work entail, and what do you enjoy about it? 

My work involves supporting countries in pollution management issues such as air pollution, chemicals and waste, soil contamination, water, and wastewater treatment across various regions of the World Bank. Each of these issues pose unique challenges and the opportunity my job provides in finding customized solutions to specific country context is what I enjoy the most.

How did you get into this field?

Environmental engineering or science was an emerging topic during my graduation days in the 90s. I chose the subject as an elective to understand a bit of this new subject. As I learned more about environmental issues, I got excited about the unique opportunity it provides in combining scientific research with engineering skills, to address issues that people and cities face on a day-to-day basis. I then focused on building my career in environmental engineering and contributing to the pollution management agenda.

Could you describe a GEF-funded initiative that you are currently working on?

I am currently co-leading the GEF-funded Global Elimination Program for Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) which is a $44 million program with $163 million co-financing from six countries. With an objective to accelerate PCB elimination, the program brings together a coalition of development partners – the Secretariats of the GEF and the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, African Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Bank.

Unlike the standalone PCB projects, this program adopts an innovative approach by integrating PCB components into the ongoing energy sector operations of the countries, so that the PCB elimination can be scaled up. The program is implemented in six countries (Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Uganda) and aims to eliminate 8,000 tons of PCBs, the largest amount targeted in any single PCB operation. The unique design of the program and collaboration of six development partners is a great opportunity to learn and help countries accelerate PCB elimination. I am very much looking forward to supporting the implementation of this program and contributing to its success.

Is there a GEF-funded project or program that is close to your heart? 

GEF-funded projects provide an excellent opportunity for innovation and find solutions to complex environmental challenges. I have been lucky to be a part of seven GEF projects, on energy efficiency and chemicals and waste issues. The one closest to my heart and successful among them is the Egypt Sustainable Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Management project implemented from 2014 to 2021. It could demonstrate innovation and ensure sustainability true to its objective.

It deployed innovative on-line treatment technology for the treatment of PCB oils in transformers without using sodium and lithium. This helped in quick and effective treatment of PCBs without disruption of electrical supply to the consumers. The project procured equipment for this process (rather than hiring agencies/contractors), and trained the engineers from the Ministry of Electricity, so that the infrastructure and capacity for the management of PCBs was developed locally.

The other innovation was to collaborate with local cement industries to dispose over 378 tons of obsolete pesticides (OPs) through co-processing in cement kilns. In addition to savings costs of OP disposal by exporting them abroad, this approach has helped establish a model for future disposal of OPs and other hazardous chemicals locally. The fact that the project could dispose a total of 1,582 tons of POPs during the COVID-19 pandemic period makes it more special. In recognition of its achievements, the project received the World Bank’s Regional Vice President award in 2022.

Has anyone you have met through your work made a lasting impact on you? 

Working on international development provides you with incredible opportunities to contribute to positive outcomes, but also learn from colleagues and counterparts you work with. In that sense, I learned a lot every time I worked in a new country and/or a new culture. But if I must pick one, it has to be my first boss Mr. K. Mukundan with whom I had the privilege of working for about five years from 1996-2001 at a leading consulting firm in India. He also worked at the World Bank for a few years before he chose to retire early. He is not a person of too many words, but someone who places professional ethics at the top of everything with a focus on delivering results. He treated his team like a family and with a lot of empathy. I try to emulate these attributes at work – especially while managing teams.

What life lessons has working on environmental issues taught you?

I have been working on environmental issues at various levels for about 30 years now. The most important lesson I learned over these years is ‘patience’ and ‘perseverance.’ Many times, you do know what it takes to address a particular environmental issue, but it requires you to collaborate with the stakeholders to understand their perspective and jointly identify a solution. A prescriptive approach will not help to achieve true progress. Working on pollution management also requires you to be adaptive to unexpected situations that may arise at various stages of work.

The state of the global environment is concerning. What gives you hope?

Young generation is the one who give me hope to address global environment. They are much more sensitive to environmental issues and committed to sustainability. As you can see, the young generation is very prominent in influencing the global community on climate agenda and many other global challenges. Together with emerging innovative technologies and the younger generation’s passion for innovation, I am hopeful that the global environment will see positive change.

What advice would you give a young person today who is interested in a career related to the environment?

My advice to young people is to focus on building strong field and/ grassroot level experience in the initial stages of the career. This is the most important building block for a successful career and more importantly to achieve results. In addition to technical expertise, it is also important to develop policy and communication skills, because addressing environmental issues requires a multi-sectoral approach. Finally, keep an open mind to the evolving science and technology, and stay persistent.

What changes do you hope to see in the world by the time you retire?

By the time I retire, I envision a world where pollution is no longer an existential threat to people and ecosystems. While we have made progress through international frameworks like the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, we need more global awareness and action. I’d want to see these frameworks bring various stakeholders like governments and the private sector together to work on tangible solutions. And we need expanded support from financial mechanisms like the GEF – so developing countries can meaningfully participate in tackling pollution and achieving their development outcomes.

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