Maya Batres (she/her) is the Senior Advisor for People and Climate at The Nature Conservancy where she works to reduce the impacts of climate change to people and nature in a way that prioritizes community needs and accounts for economic and environmental outcomes . She has over a decade of experience in climate and energy, with a focus on land use and infrastructure, economy-wide decarbonization pathways and just transitions. She has authored papers on environmental and climate justice, including serving as project director for the first spatial analysis of decarbonization pathways for California and the Western Interconnection. She was in the 2022 cohort of the Women’s Earth Alliance Grassroots Accelerator, is the recipient of an Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellowship, and is an AmeriCorps VISTA alumni. Maya’s academic background is in civil rights and the environment, and she spent 5 years as a research assistant to the chair of the Department of African American Studies. She earned her J.D. (Energy and Environmental Law) and her B.A. (Spanish Studies, African American Studies, Political Science) from the University of Minnesota.

Maya is Guatemalan-American and speaks Spanish and English. She serves on the board of Justice Outside, is an advisor to Footprint Project, and spends her free time in nature with her family.