Carla Skandier joined The Democracy Collaborative as a research associate with the Next System Project in October 2015, having completed an LLM (Master of Laws)'s degree in Energy from Vermont Law School in 2015. She has a background in international environmental law, climate change, renewable energy, and sustainable development, particularly in developing countries as Brazil and China. Previously, as a Global Energy Fellow at the Institute for Energy and the Environment, she worked with Vermont communities as they aimed to develop renewable energy projects to provide community self-sufficiency and economic development.