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Pat Cronin, a Master of Environmental Management and Master of Business Administration concurrent degree student, spent his summer as an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps Fellow with Walmart.
Cronin is pursuing concentrations in Environmental Economics and Policy and in Energy and Environment.
Each year, Nicholas School of the Environment students complete internships with organizations around the world. These summer experiences provide valuable opportunities to gain career-related experience and build a professional network.
Duke Environment recently caught up with Cronin to learn more about his experience.
What aspects of the experience did you find most rewarding or memorable and why?
It was rewarding to see how sustainability can be embedded into overall organizational strategy, as well as how an organization can drive sustainability impact at scale.
To quote Holly Emerson, Walmart has been 鈥渄riving the bus鈥 of corporate sustainability for over 20 years. It鈥檚 a well-developed team that plays a strategic role across corporate functions.
Given its ambitious goal of zero emissions by 2040 (zero emissions, no offsets, no net zero), sustainability has to be central to decision-making, and the team I worked on developed and refined initiatives that aligned the company鈥檚 sustainability and growth goals.
Given its scale, Walmart can create markets, and I was able to work on innovative projects that are doing just that.
How did the coursework and resources at the Nicholas School prepare you for success in this role as well as your internship search?
Stanback Dean Lori Bennear鈥檚 Energy Economics class helped me understand the intersection of sustainability and markets in which Walmart operates. Energy and Environment with Lincoln Pratson helped me contextualize the company鈥檚 energy use in the larger global energy system. Tim Johnson鈥檚 Energy Technology class helped me understand some of the tools and technologies that the company is using to abate its Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Finally, Holly Emerson鈥檚 Carbon Accounting class, as well as her mentorship, were instrumental in forming the basis of my understanding of corporate sustainability and the strategic impact this function can have to improve business performance.
Did you collaborate with any Nicholas School alumni? If so, how did those connections add to your summer experience?
My direct supervisor, Sara Bogdan, is a Nicholas School MEM alum, and there was another MEM alum, Avery Siciliano, on the sustainability team.
Working for Sara was a tremendous opportunity to learn from a Nicholas School alum who is an expert and leader in global corporate sustainability.
In general, all Duke alumni I met, from the Fuqua School of Business and across the university, were happy to provide guidance and showed a strong interest in my success. And there were a lot of them!
How has this internship influenced your career aspirations? Did it confirm or change your professional goals in any way?
I came into the internship interested in how markets, capital allocation and scale interact to drive sustainability and the energy transition. This internship gave me a firsthand view of that intersection and made my Nicholas School experience seem even more valuable.
