Mariya Absar, Ph.D., is a senior life cycle assessment specialist with over 15 years of experience in environmental science and sustainability. She serves as a technical lead on projects for private-sector clients, including consumer packaged goods companies, industry associations, and public agencies. Her work includes comparative packaging and end-of-life assessments in the food and beverage industry, development of plastics life cycle inventories for public databases, and development of interactive LCA-based tools to support data-driven decision-making. She also plays an active role in business development across both private and public sectors.

Prior to joining ERG, Mariya worked as a sustainability expert at Quantis, a BCG company, where she led ISO-compliant LCAs and greenhouse gas protocol-aligned corporate footprint assessments for Fortune 500 companies in the food and beverage, fashion, and chemical industries. She designed and developed interactive corporate footprint tools to assess GHG emissions year over year and managed projects focused on science-based targets, corporate climate strategies, and circular economy assessments, including plastic leakage modeling.

Mariya holds a Ph.D. in energy science and engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in a joint program with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She also holds a master of environmental management (Fulbright Scholar) from the Yale University School of the Environment. In her personal time, Mariya loves to explore nature and travel the world with her daughter.