Sameer Akbar is Senior Environmental Specialist with the World Bank's Environment, Natural Resources, and Blue Economy (ENB) Global Practice in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and Coordinator of ECA Air Quality Thematic Group. Based in Vienna, he coordinates the activities of the ENB team in the Western Balkans. Since joining the Bank in 1998, he has worked on issues of corporate priority as well as in operations in South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In the ECA region since 2019, Sameer has worked on projects and policy reforms in the areas of clean air, land remediation, circular economy, green growth, and climate mitigation and adaptation. Over the years, he has also contributed extensively to analytical work at the World Bank and provided advisory services to a number of client countries.
Sameer is an engineer by training and holds a PhD in environmental health and public policy from Imperial College in the UK.