Cristina Baily, SNØCAP Fellow

Cristina is in her second year of a Masters of Environmental Management program at the Yale School of the Environment. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley and has a background in engineering consulting within the built environment sector. During her time at Berkeley, she worked with Engineers Without Borders on a sanitation project in Nicaragua, and co-founded a local housing project to serve the unhoused community in the Bay Area. She furthered her engineering experience at a design-build subcontractor working on HVAC and plumbing systems in large scale buildings including offices, hospitals, university campuses. Pivoting into transportation, she joined HNTB as an aviation engineering consultant, where she contributed to airport development and planning.

Growing up as a beach volleyball player in Southern California, Cristina has always had a love for the natural environment. Her experiences as an engineer across various sectors revealed the need for a more concerted effort to address the pressing climate crisis. This realization inspired her to pursue further studies in sustainability at Yale.

Since joining Yale, she has directed her studies to understanding the role of the private sector in addressing the climate crisis. She has provided corporate sustainability consulting for a diverse range of companies in consumer goods, energy, and industry sectors. Her work has involved advising on a circular economy strategy for Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, and Lo & Sons, a luxury bag company. Cristina believes adopting circularity in business operations can reduce environmental impact by promoting waste reduction and minimizing the need for virgin inputs, which often come with high carbon and environmental costs. When discussing circularity, Cristina also highlights the potential for companies to integrate eco-design principles and optimize their reverse supply chains to further reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Cristina has gained valuable experience in energy efficiency while working with CLEAResult, an energy consulting firm, focusing on initiatives for residential homes. She recognizes that while clean energy sources are crucial for achieving carbon neutrality, energy efficiency is a powerful and rapid means of reducing emissions. Her coursework has further equipped her with expertise in conducting life cycle assessments, greenhouse gas accounting, and project finance, especially in the context of renewable energy projects. These experiences have reinforced her belief in the need for innovative technological solutions and the funding required to implement them.

Cristina sees the private sector as a pivotal actor in driving positive change because of its' industry-specific knowledge and access to capital. She believes it has the most responsibility, and possibility for positive impact. She hopes to encourage and support the private sector's role in leading climate solutions.

As a fellow, Cristina is looking forward to exploring and analyzing new technologies while catalyzing impactful climate solutions. She will focus on supply chain technologies, aligning with SNØCAP's interest in supporting innovations related to decarbonizing supply chain inputs. Cristina views this as a vital component of corporate sustainability, recognizing that supply chains represent the most complex and challenging aspect of corporate decarbonization. She identifies a gap in innovation and technology necessary in supply chains to reach a net zero future.
She is most excited about CO-utilization technologies enabling low-carbon fuels, as well as innovations related to industrial ecology for decarbonizing the supply chains of building and consumer goods materials. Cristina thinks venture capital plays a critical role in driving development, study, and experimentation of such technologies. As an engineer, she is excited to work on more technical climate solutions, while drawing on her recent experiences in the private sector and the need for capital investments to enable successful technical solutions. She is excited to join the SNOCAP team who share her passion for working at the intersection of business, engineering technology, and sustainability to further positive change.

Welcome Cristina, we're so thrilled to have you on the team