He was a member of the Expert Panel of the National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA), UK (2008-11) and associated with the 2007 Nobel peace prize winning IPCC where he served as the Lead Author for the Fourth Assessment of the IPCC (Mitigation). He was co-coordinating lead author of the « Responses Working Group » of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2000-05). Pushpam also co-chaired Policy and the Technical Committee of the Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) program led by the World Bank (2011-16). He has a Ph.D.

Previously, he has been Head of the Euro-Mediterranean Policies field at the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), Coordinator of the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the EU, and Advisor on External Action at the European Parliament. His numerous published research papers and Opeds cover the dynamics of European integration, the institutional developments of EU external action, the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU’s security strategies and Euro-Mediterranean relations, among other subjects. His latest book is Strategy-Making in the EU.

As Commissioner, he was in charge of the application of the Stability and Growth Pact, as well as ensuring the economic soundness of Commission proposals and deepening the Economic and Monetary Union to create the conditions for jobs, growth and investment, and encouraging further structural reforms. He represented the EU in G20 and G7 meetings for finance ministers. He participated to Eurogroup and ECOFIN Councils. He was in charge of the negotiations for the conclusion of the Greek adjustment program.

From 2008-17, he was Vice President of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) and was founding Editor-in Chief of its quarterly Journal of the Middle East and Africa. In 2015, he was elected to the Board of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, of which he is presently Vice-Chair.