Who we are
SD Strategies is a policy and communications consultancy. We focus on issues at the intersection of economic and social development, energy, and the environment. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, SD Strategies often works as a collaborative work-desk partnering with leading individuals and institutions from all over the world. Our partners and clients are governments, international organizations, civil society actors and representatives of the private sector. Still in its first year, SD Strategies was named Best Energy & Economic Development Consultancy and received the 2018 Clean Energy Award from Global Energy Review.
People. Planet. Purpose. At SD Strategies, we believe that smart and successful decision-making on the most pressing 21st century challenges needs to address all dimensions of sustainability: Social development, economics, and the environment. Modern problems and crises open the door for new opportunities. Challenges and solutions have impacts on every geographic level from the local to the global; they affect multiple economic sectors and players, and ultimately, all groups and individuals. Climate-compatible development includes lowering emissions and adapting to more extreme weather patterns. Energy solutions need to be affordable, reliable, and sustainable.
Ultimately, we aim to create circular economies in which value is created while resources, waste, and emissions are kept in closed loops. We are convinced that to be effective, strategies on the most complex matters must have clear and convincing, ambitious and achievable goals. Progress must be measurable, reportable and verifiable. Solutions must simultaneously improve people’s lives, protect our habitats, and save our ecosystems.We implement projects large and small, but we always strive to find comprehensive solutions that really work. The assessment of technological potentials and challenges; the analysis of the social, economic and environmental impacts of alternate pathways; the investigation of financing and investment risks and enablers; as well as in-depth experience with the design of concrete policies and the creation of institutional effectiveness – all these are important building blocks that need to be integrated in one comprehensive approach to create successful sustainable development strategies.
SD Strategies was founded by Alexander Ochs, an internationally renowned policy advisor with more than 20 years of experience in the areas of climate, energy and the environment. Alexander currently also serves as Chair of the Energy Working Group of the Low Emissions Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS-GP), President of the Forum for Atlantic Climate and Energy Talks (FACET), and senior expert for the Clean Energy Solutions Center. He is a current Senior Fellow at both the Worldwatch Institute in Washington DC, where he was Director of Climate and Energy from 2009 to 2017, and at the American Institute for Contemporary Studies (AICGS).
Alexander has held research and/or teaching positions in the United States at Center for Clean Air Policy, Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, Princeton University, and CUNY, as well as, in Germany, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Freie Universität, Humboldt Universität, LMU Munich, Albertus-Magnus University in Cologne, and CIEE Global Institute. Alexander has served on several international advisory boards including the German Government’s International Climate Initiative (ICI). In 2011, Alexander received the Sustainable Future Award of the Austrian Academic Forum for Foreign Affairs. In 2012, he served on a High-level Commission evaluating the French national research system. In 2015, he was appointed Senior Advisor to UNEP’s One Gigaton Coalition.
News
- Renewable energy (RE), energy efficiency (EE) and sustainable transport policies and markets across Africa, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean
- Sustainable energy finance; policies and measures to "de-risk" investments
- Energy access, mini-grids and SDS business models
- Productive use of decentralised power systems
- Community outreach for energy
Projects
Publications
2030 Agenda: Review process of SDG7 on energy
In 2018, SDG7 will be up for its first thematic review at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) of the United Nations. This will serve as a critical milestone to take stock of progress to-date in achieving SDG7 and to reflect on the way forward. This Policy Brief summarises the current state of efforts towards SDG7 and describes major stepping…
Taking the pulse: Understanding energy access market needs in five high-impact countries
SD Strategies contributed research, writing and analysis to this report by Practical Action and E3Analytics for SEforAll. We present evidence on how enterprises delivering electricity access and clean cooking are being financed, based on analysis of five high-impact countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Myanmar and Nigeria. While many studies…
Commentary
Working from your home?
Just the other day I happened to wake up early. That is unusual for an engineering student. After a long time I could witness the sunrise. I could feel the sun rays falling…
Sounds from the streets
Last year I wrote about why booking too far in advance can be dangerous for your business, and this concept of margin so eloquently captures what I had recognized had been my…
Commentary
January 14, 2017
Working from your home?
Just the other day I happened to wake up early. That is unusual for an engineering student. After a long time I could witness the sunrise. I could feel the sun rays falling on my…
3 Comments5 Minutes
January 28, 2017
Sounds from the streets
Last year I wrote about why booking too far in advance can be dangerous for your business, and this concept of margin so eloquently captures what I had recognized had been my…
3 Comments4 Minutes
March 2, 2017
Time is passing by
Every selector has the potential to have unintended side effects by targeting unwanted elements or clashing with other selectors. More surprisingly, our selectors may even lose…
3 Comments5 Minutes
Tweets
[-arrow_twitter_feed id=’66046′]
Contact
Contact us for support, media, or general inquiries.