Avinash is UK Head of Climate & Environmental Sustainability at Sopra Steria and the organisation’s senior lead and principal point of contact for all environmental matters. A sustainability professional with over 20 years’ experience (since 2001), he has advised organisations across multiple sectors on strengthening corporate and operational environmental performance, translating complex regulatory and technical requirements into clear commercial strategy, risk management and value creation.
Avinash has led the design and delivery of environmental programmes at both strategic and operational levels, supporting multi-billion-pound infrastructure and asset management portfolios as well as major capital projects. His experience includes environmental oversight of £2–3bn asset management programmes in the waste and wastewater sector and the commissioning of on-site renewable energy technologies within a £20m transport infrastructure development. He combines technical depth with programme leadership expertise, ensuring environmental commitments are embedded into governance, procurement, design and operational delivery.
Avinash has been responsible, at a PLC level, for implementing climate change strategies, leading corporate ESG programmes, and managing external disclosures and ratings submissions including CDP, DJSI and FTSE4Good. He has served as technical lead for global greenhouse gas accounting and has overseen ISO 14001-certified environmental management systems across multiple divisions, providing assurance on compliance, performance and continual improvement.
At Sopra Steria, Avinash leads the UK Environment function, directing a specialist team responsible for delivering the organisation’s net zero transition programme and centralised environmental strategy. His team partners cross-business to strengthen environmental governance, enhance sustainable procurement practices, and embed measurable sustainability outcomes into client contracts and service delivery.
Externally, Avinash is an active contributor to industry thought leadership and cross-sector collaboration. He has worked with the Institute of Sustainability & Environmental Professionals (formerly Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment) Fellows Working Group on Disruptive Technologies & the Digital Economy, contributing to the development of the paper “The role of smart solutions in the transition to sustainability.” In 2024, he led Sopra Steria’s successful admission to the Government Digital Sustainability Alliance (GDSA). As Sopra Steria’s lead representative to the Defra-led
GDSA, Avinash plays an active role in the AI & Sustainability and Planetary Impact Working Groups, co-authoring the AI & Water blog and the GDSA Planetary Impact Public Sector Procurement Guide, and contributing to sector webinars including “Using technology to deliver sustainable outcomes.”