Zubair Fattahi

Zubair Fattahi is a development economist focused on strengthening urban resilience with expertise in ocean plastics, solid waste management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and sustainability. In his current role at RTI International, he supports business development, research and thought leadership, and project implementation.

Prior to joining RTI, Mr. Fattahi spent over 12 years working on climate change related assignments for public and private organizations. As a senior manager on the USAID Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessment (ATLAS) project, Mr. Fattahi led thought leadership research for USAID Missions focusing on topics such as the impact of climate change on maternal and child health and quantifying the impact of climate change on long-term economic growth.

While working as a Principal for the Economist, he designed a benchmarking tool for DuPont Water Solutions to measure the readiness of cities to address water security. The benchmarking tool was applied in 51 cities to produce the City Water Index. Also at the Economist, Mr. Fattahi played a key technical role in developing the Plastic Management Index that assesses the management of plastic lifecycle in 25 countries.