Meet the OnePointFive 2026 International Summer Team!
Every summer, we welcome emerging sustainability professionals from around the world to work alongside our OPF team, applying their skills to real client projects while learning what it takes to turn climate ambition into implementation.
This year's Summer Team supported our core OPF team across a wide range of disciplines, including climate finance, industrial decarbonization, Life Cycle Assessment, Responsible AI, climate adaptation, and sustainable business. We asked each of them to share what brought them into sustainability, how climate change is shaping the places they call home, and what they've learned from putting their skills into practice at OnePointFive.
Lucie Paumier
France, United States
Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Environment & Sustainability at Cornell University, Lucie's passion for sustainability began with a childhood experience that has stayed with her ever since: a family trip to Costa Rica. “That’s when I remember first observing just how vibrant and complex the natural world was. Captivated by the loud calls of the coqui frogs that filled the dense rainforest, I stood in awe.”
"I can't imagine future generations stepping into silent forests, oblivious to the species richness and diversity they once fostered. My goal is to guarantee that 200 years from now, some seven-year-old exploring Costa Rica's rainforests can have the privilege of seeing the very same landscapes that opened my eyes to the beauty of the planet and our sacred duty to protect it."
Growing up between France and the United States, Lucie has also witnessed two very different approaches to climate action. She points to Europe's stronger regulatory landscape, with frameworks such as CSRD and CBAM, where sustainability is treated more as a legal and social obligation, while noting that progress in the United States has often been more fragmented and inconsistent. That contrast ultimately reinforced her interest in climate advisory.
For Lucie, the summer at OPF has been an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to sustainability consulting projects firsthand. Most importantly, she says the experience has helped her understand how to turn sustainability strategy into business action, and provided a clearer sense of the impact she hopes to make in the climate space.
"What I have most valued is learning how to sell the business case for sustainability, translating abstract concepts into practical solutions leadership teams will actually act on, and thinking from the client's perspective to better understand their needs and provide more tailored recommendations.”
Sahana Kaur
Malaysia
A recent graduate of Yale University with distinction in Environmental Studies and Political Science, Sahana witnessed the impacts of climate change long before she imagined building a career around it. Growing up in Malaysia, she experienced firsthand how environmental challenges could affect everyday life.
"Schools would close for several weeks every year due to haze from deforestation in Indonesia. The damage done to public health, education, and the environment was my first introduction to human-induced environmental destruction.”
Her journey in climate action began with local beach cleanups, and now, she has already advised United Nations agencies and governments on topics ranging from emissions reduction to youth engagement, delivered climate talks to more than 10,000 people worldwide, and contributed to international climate discussions through the UNFCCC and other global forums. She now sees both the challenges and opportunities facing Malaysia, from rising sea levels and flooding to stronger regional collaboration through ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and investments in climate adaptation infrastructure.
This summer, Sahana was drawn to OPF by the opportunity to work directly with organizations navigating real sustainability challenges, and she has particularly valued the opportunity to work across different industries and types of projects.
"The projects I worked on were incredibly varied in terms of sector and deliverables, making the experience that much more valuable. I had such a great summer working with both the OPF team and clients!”
Sean O'Keefe
United States
Originally from New York, Sean is an MBA student at the Yale School of Management with a background in product and program management in the technology sector. As an avid hiker, his interest in sustainability grew from a lifelong love of the outdoors and the responsibility that comes with enjoying it.
"The 'Leave No Trace' mentality taught me how we can move through the world without harming it. Working in sustainability is the professional version of that worldview."
Alongside his career, Sean has previously worked to embed sustainability principles into the software product development lifecycle, both at Microsoft and through the Green Software Foundation. Looking at today's business landscape in the United States, Sean believes: “there is a need to reframe the benefits of sustainability in terms of resilience and efficiency gains rather than compliance costs.”
Sean joined OPF for the summer to learn how organizations can align commercial priorities with sustainability, creating long-term value for both businesses and society. While working on a broad range of climate challenges, from climate finance to LCA and emerging questions around AI emissions, he gained experience applying climate and sustainability strategy in different regions, sectors, and disciplines.
"It’s been invaluable to see how frameworks and research translate into practical work for businesses, while learning from a global team how that application varies across contexts and geographies. I've come away with a much clearer sense of where I want to build my own expertise in climate and sustainability, and how to apply it to real-world challenges.”
Elaine Liu
Taiwan
Originally from Taiwan, Elaine has lived in six countries, giving her a global perspective on climate change and its impacts. Now pursuing an MBA at the Yale School of Management after working as a Senior Consultant at EY, her interests lie at the intersection of AI and sustainability.
Rather than a single defining moment, her path into sustainability was shaped by seeing similar environmental challenges emerge across different parts of the world.
"I have experienced environmental changes in different parts of the world, from growing temperatures in Singapore to smog in Shanghai to wildfire smoke in Toronto. Though these places are 7,000+ miles apart, they reflect similar underlying pressures from unsustainable development and resource consumption. These experiences have made me realize that climate change is a truly global problem, even as it is experienced through different local lenses.”
These experiences have also shaped Elaine’s interest in the relationship between technological growth and the energy systems that support it. In Taiwan, a major hub in the semiconductor supply chain, she has seen firsthand how questions around technology, energy security, and decarbonization are increasingly intertwined. This has contributed to her interest in how emerging technologies like AI can be developed whilst managing the environmental systems and resources they depend on.
She brought this interest to her work at OPF, contributing to projects spanning sustainable AI, climate adaptation, carbon markets, sustainability regulation, and impact measurement.
"My summer at OPF has given me a much better appreciation of how wide and interconnected the climate space really is, and how many levers can drive climate action. My biggest takeaway has been to stay curious, keep learning, and be comfortable navigating the evolving climate landscape.”
Reeti Sethi
India
For Reeti, sustainability wasn't originally part of the plan. With a background in Industrial Engineering and a Master's in Environmental Management from Yale, her career direction changed in 2020, when she had the opportunity to work at a zero-waste and clean energy center in India, evaluating renewable energy solutions for rural households.
“What started as a technical analysis quickly became a transformative experience. I was especially struck by the contrast between this idea of self-sustaining community and its proximity to polluting industries. It made me recognize the role I can play as an industrial engineer in shaping environmental and social outcomes. I decided not to be a part of the problem.”
Growing up in India has shown Reeti both the complexity and opportunity of climate action. She sees enormous potential for the country to leapfrog toward cleaner energy systems, sustainable industrialization, and circular manufacturing, while industrial pollution, climate vulnerability, and a shortage of climate-skilled professionals remain significant barriers.
Those challenges closely align with the work Reeti hopes to pursue in her own career: helping industries transition toward cleaner, more resilient, and circular systems. At OPF, she has been able to build on that focus by diving deeper into climate finance and impact investing, working at the intersection of sustainability and AI, and strengthening her LCA skills:
"The most formative part of the experience was seeing how methodologies and assessments are tailored to each project while meeting the client's requirements. It has made me even more certain that this is how I want to make an impact. And being around a team that leads with so much intention has only added to that. This has definitely been like a great step into my sustainability career after graduation.”
Building the Next Generation of Climate Leaders
Every member of our Summer Team followed a different path into sustainability, yet they all share a common belief: meaningful climate action happens when ideas are translated into implementation.
As they continue into the next chapter of their careers, we're incredibly grateful for the passion, insight, and dedication they've brought to OnePointFive, and we're excited to see the impact they'll continue to make across the climate space.
Whether you're an individual or organization looking to accelerate your sustainability strategy, build internal climate capability, or navigate an evolving regulatory landscape, we're here to help you turn ambition into action.
Let’s explore how we can accelerate your impact.
