A Civil Engineer and Environmental Planner by training, Emani Kumar is responsible for the establishment of ICLEI South Asia in India in 2005, after successfully running ICLEI's flagship progeamme Cities for Climate Protection since 2000 in India. He is in-charge of programme development and fund raising for programme execution in consultation and partnership with various local, state and federal governments, bi-lateral and multi-lateral agencies; national and international NGOs on various ICLEI agencies including urban resilience, climate change mitigation and adaption, renewable energy & energy efficiency, governance & policy, urban/regional planning, urban green-growth, urban-nexus, municipal financing and others. He is also responsible for developing and executing various state and national government supported projects on sustainability issues and governance. He has setup a network of more than 60 cities in the South Asian region and has secured funding for several multi-year and multi-country projects the years from various donor agencies including DFID, BHCUSAID, GIZ, European Commission, Rockfeller, UNEP, UNHABITAT and others. Size of each project developed and executed varies up to 1 Million Euro. Currently he is leading a team of 29 full time technical professionals including urban planners, architects, engineers and researchers at the head office and other regional/project offices.

As the Deputy Secretary General (DSG) - ICLEI Global, Emani is responsible for the coordination of project development globally. In close cooperation with ICLEI SG, he ensures regional cooperation with all multinational/international institutions and represents ICLEIin international fora. He supports and enables the roll out of ICLEI's agencies through fund raising and programme development.