Akaraseth Puranasamriddhi

The Fiscal Implications of Climate and Compound Risks to Infrastructure

Akaraseth is an EPSRC-funded DPhil student in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. Under the supervision of Professor Jim Hall and Dr Nicola Ranger, Akaraseth’s research focuses on the relationships between the impacts of physical risks to infrastructure and public finance. This involves quantifying the fiscal implications of multiple types of physical risks to infrastructure on sovereign debt and creditworthiness, demonstrating the role of public policy responses in driving economic recovery and the benefits of resilient infrastructure investment, as well as assessing the fiscal consequences emerged from compound risks.

Alongside his research, Akaraseth is a Trustee at Engineers Without Borders and a member of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Environment Programme (UNEP), Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Human Rights (UN OHCHR) Youth Advisory Group on Climate Justice in the Asia-Pacific. Prior to his DPhil studies, Akaraseth was a Research Affiliate at the University of Cambridge and University of College London (UCL) in climate risks & sustainable finance and energy access, respectively.

Akaraseth holds an MSc (Distinction) in Engineering for International Development from UCL and a BEng in Electrical Engineering with minors in Economics and Anthropology from McGill University.

Selected Awards and Scholarships

• 2023 - Emden Doctorow Graduate Scholarship, St Edmund Hall.
• 2022 - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) DPhil Studentship.
• 2019 - Burma Star MSc Graduate Scholarship, University College London.

• Ranger N., Weidinger M., Bernhofen M., Burke M., Lambin R., Puranasamriddhi A., Sabuco J. and Spacey Martín, R. (2025) Enabling Adaptation: Sustainable Fiscal Policies for Climate Resilient Development and Infrastructure. Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford and Green Fiscal Policy Network.
• Puranasamriddhi, A., Trotter, P., Parikh, P., Batidzirai B. and Haney, A. (2025) Which context matters for capturing energy needs? A multi-level analysis. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 207: 114946.
• Bernhofen, M.V., Burke, M., Puranasamriddhi, A., Ranger, N. and Shrimali, G. (2024) Integrating Physical Climate Risks and Adaptation into Sovereign Credit Ratings: Implications for financial stability and fiscal policy at the sovereign-bank nexus. Oxford: Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford.