Climate Change Jobs

Last week, a brilliant climate tech founder showed me his pitch deck. The technology? Revolutionary. The impact? Massive. The story? Non-existent. 'But look at these numbers,' he insisted, pointing to graphs and data. 'The solution sells itself!' Here's what I told him: - No one has ever fallen in love with a spreadsheet. - No one has ever changed their behavior because of a pie chart. - No one has ever evangelized a product because of its technical specifications. The most powerful climate solutions don't win because they're the most advanced - they win because they tell stories that make people feel something. Tesla didn't sell electric cars by talking about battery chemistry. Beyond Meat didn't transform food by explaining protein extraction. Patagonia didn't change retail by detailing textile engineering. They told stories that made people imagine a different future. A future they wanted to be part of. Your climate solution isn't just fighting carbon emissions or waste or pollution. It's fighting for a story in people's minds. Yes, your solution must fit a need and work well. But in the battle for attention, the best storytellers often win. What story is your climate solution telling? 👇 #ClimateInnovation #Storytelling #CleanTech

After mapping over 850 members of Climate Crew's Sydney network (CC.SYD), I've confirmed a key pattern: The success of our climate transition will not be defined by a single 'hero' technology. It will be defined by the speed and quality of our connections. A brilliant solution in a silo is a failed solution. A fund with no one to deploy to is just a number. The real 'work' is done by the connectors – the people who build the 'soft infrastructure' that allows capital, ideas and talent to flow. This is why I'm launching the 'Climate Catalysts' series: to spotlight the movers and shakers who are doing this critical, connective work. For this first post, I'm sharing my 'A-Team' of leaders doing the 5 essential roles required to turn an idea into real-world impact. 1. The Strategist: This is our 'why'. We need leaders like Linda Romanovska, who operate at the highest level to write the rulebook for sustainable finance (for the EU and EFRAG) that guides the entire market. (Also learn about Victoria Whitaker and Thierry Lotrian in the carousel.) 2. The Architect: This is our 'where'. We need community builders like Mark Rowland, who design the 'soft infrastructure' (like Climate Action Week Sydney) for all the other roles to connect and collide. (Also learn about Tony Gourlay and Anita Kolni in the carousel.) 3. The Funder: This is our 'how'. We need 'smart capital' from people like Priyanka K., a 'new guard' climate tech investor who finds, funds and provides commercial advice to early-stage startups. (Also learn about Geoff Sinclair and Mac Christopherson in the carousel). 4. The Ecosystem Builder: This is our 'engine'. We need program leaders like Mick Liubinskas (Climate Salad, Startmate), the 'godfather' of the startup ecosystem who builds the entire network for climate tech. (Also learn about Elisa-Marie Dumas and Dane Murray 👨🏼🚀 in the carousel.) 5. The Corporate Champion: This is our 'gateway'. We need in-house champions like Abigail Thomas, the Head of Sustainability at SBS, who leads real-world implementation and unlocks corporate scale to 'pull' innovation into the mainstream. (Also learn about Giselle N. and Nathan Robertson-Ball in the carousel). The pattern is clear: when these 5 roles are present and connected, solutions get built. When one is missing, good ideas get stuck. Who is a key 'connector' in your network? Tag a leader who you see bridging these roles. #ClimateAction #ClimateCommunity #ClimateLeadership #ClimateCrew #ClimateTech

All the 'green skills' in the world won't make a difference without one, fundamentally human, skill. As the world looks towards COP30 in Brazil, the chat is all about targets, technology, and policy. Where can we be more ambitious? How do we get more progress, faster? And we talk a lot about 'green skills'—the technical expertise in carbon accounting, renewable energy, and biodiversity. These will help accelerate emerging tech like carbon capture and vital solutions like low carbon liquid fuels. And while that stuff is critical, it’s only half the story. In my experience, the real work of sustainability happens in the messy, human middle. It happens at the intersection of people, departmental politics, and budgets. All the best data in the world doesn't mean a thing if you can't get it over the line with the people who need to sign off on it. This brings me to what I believe is the single most important skill in delivering real progress on climate: stakeholder engagement. It's the 'street smarts' of knowing how to listen, how to bring people along, and how to find common ground, even when it’s hard. It’s about getting sh*t done, not just being technically "right." We need the technical experts, absolutely. But we desperately need the people who can connect the dots and make change happen. And we need to be teaching these skills alongside the “hard” green skills if we are going translate promises into action. #COP30 #GreenSkills #GreenJobs #ClimateJobs #LinkedInNewsAustralia #SustainabilityJobs #SustainabilitySkills

Some people are putting way too much faith in technology to solve the climate crisis. Techno-utopianism—the belief that technology will save us—sounds appealing. Carbon capture, AI-driven solutions, renewable innovations... it’s easy to get caught up in the hype. But here’s the thing: technology alone isn’t going to cut it. 🙅🏼♀️ Sure, tech can be a powerful tool. It can help us be more efficient, scale solutions, and even tackle some of our biggest challenges. But relying on it to solve systemic issues lets companies off the hook. Worse, it allows business as usual to carry on under the guise of “innovation.” Take carbon capture, for example. It’s promising, but treating it as a silver bullet risks distracting us from reducing emissions in the first place. What we really need is a combination of: 🧩 Systemic change to how businesses operate within planetary boundaries. 🧩 Behavioral shifts that reduce overproduction and overconsumption. 🧩 Policy frameworks that hold companies accountable for real progress. Technology is a tool, not a solution. It can support change—but it can’t replace the hard, messy work of rethinking business models and resetting priorities. #Sustainability #ClimateAction #TechnoUtopianism #SystemicChange

The sustainability professional with fifteen years' experience looked perfect on paper. Every qualification, every buzzword, every box ticked. Hired through the job advert. Two months in, the organisation wanted to part ways. Technically brilliant, but couldn't collaborate. Treated every meeting like a lecture. Made the operations team feel stupid for not knowing what carbon accounting was. Meanwhile, the candidate I'd placed the month before at the same place (through a search) —former hospitality manager with no environmental background—was thriving. She asked questions. She listened. She brought people along rather than talking down to them. Sustainability work is about changing how organisations operate. You can't do that by being right at people. I've watched technically perfect candidates fail because they couldn't read a room. Because they alienated the finance team they needed to influence. Because they treated sustainability as a solo mission rather than a collaborative effort. And I've watched "unconventional" candidates succeed because they knew how to build relationships. How to translate complex concepts for non-technical audiences. How to stay optimistic when progress was slow. The attitude matters more than most hiring managers want to admit. Can this person handle setbacks without becoming cynical? Will they treat the facilities manager with the same respect as the CEO? Do they approach problems with curiosity or rigidity? Personality fit isn't about hiring people you'd want to grab a pint with. It's about understanding the actual culture they'll be working in. That startup trying to disrupt corporate sustainability needs someone comfortable with ambiguity and failure. That established consultancy needs someone who can thrive within structure and process. Getting this wrong is expensive. Not just the cost of rehiring, but the damage to team morale. The projects that stall. The relationships that sour. The CV tells you someone knows the theory. The conversation tells you whether they can actually work with other humans to implement it. Most sustainability roles aren't failing because people lack technical knowledge. They're failing because someone brilliant on carbon strategy can't get the procurement team to care. Because someone passionate about biodiversity treats every disagreement as a moral failing. You can teach someone the technical parts. You cannot teach someone to be collaborative, resilient, or self-aware. That's the difference between a good hire and a great one.

Why is climate action still not scaling, even when we know what to do? Because knowing is not the same as knowing how. I’ve been saying this for years: It’s not that people don’t know what to do. It’s that they don’t know how to do it. And a major new study on natural climate solutions shows exactly that. The research looked at thousands of real-world cases across the globe and found something many of us working with systems change have seen again and again: The biggest barriers are often not just money. They are social, political, and practical. In simple terms: We already know that restoring forests, wetlands, soils, and ecosystems can play a major role in addressing the climate crisis. But in the real world, these solutions often get stuck because of things like: • poor coordination between institutions • weak policy implementation • lack of trust and local support • limited knowledge on how to do it well • unclear roles and responsibilities • too little capacity on the ground So the real challenge is not only: What should we do? It is also: How do we actually make it happen? That is the part too many climate conversations still ignore. We love talking about potential. How much carbon can be stored. How much land can be restored. How much is theoretically possible. But theory is not delivery. This study is a good reminder that the gap between ambition and action is often made of very human things: trust, institutions, governance, coordination, and know-how. And this matters far beyond nature restoration. Because this is true for almost every major transition today. We do not just need better ideas. We need better conditions for ideas to succeed. So what do we do about it? We stop treating implementation as an afterthought. We invest not only in projects, but in the systems around them: • stronger public institutions • better policy coordination • local participation and ownership • practical knowledge sharing • long-term capacity building • trust, relationships, and legitimacy In other words: If we want climate action to work, we have to design for delivery, not just for ambition. That may be one of the most important lessons in climate work today. Link to source in comments: #ClimateAction #NatureBasedSolutions #SystemsChange #Regeneration #Policy #Biodiversity #Sustainability #ClimateScience #Implementation #Leadership

Why technical solutions are not always the answer to sustainability. Technology is sexy. It is shiny, innovative, and promises to save the world. But here’s the uncomfortable truth. Technical solutions alone won’t solve our sustainability challenges. Why? Because sustainability is not just a technical problem. It is a human problem. We love to throw money at AI, carbon capture, or the latest renewable energy breakthrough. And yes, these tools matter. But they are just tools. Without addressing the root causes, our behaviours, systems, and cultures, we are putting a band-aid on a broken leg. Think about it: - You can design the most energy-efficient building in the world, but if people leave the lights on 24/7, what’s the point? - You can create a circular economy model, but if consumers still demand cheap, disposable goods, will it scale? - You can develop a machine that sucks carbon emissions out of the air, but if we keep burning fossil fuels like there is no tomorrow, are we really winning? Sustainability requires more than innovation. It requires behavioural change, cultural change, and systemic change. The hard part? Change is messy. It is uncomfortable. It does not fit neatly into a quarterly earnings report. But it is the only way forward. So, before you invest in the next big tech solution, ask yourself: - Are we solving the symptom or the cause? - Are we enabling better habits or just better gadgets? - Are we designing for people or just for profit?

How Climate Solutions Can Be More Inclusive Climate solutions aren’t truly effective unless they center the people they serve, especially the marginalized. A recent Mastercard study on mangrove restoration in Kenya found that local ownership, repurposing existing tech, sustainability incentives, and deep partnerships were essential for long-term success. In the Central African Republic, the World Bank emphasizes that climate solutions must be rooted in community needs, not imposed from above (blogs.worldbank.org). Place-based design matters. Inclusive climate solutions share a few key traits: Engaging communities at every stage; from planning to feedback Leveraging traditional knowledge alongside new tech Ensuring fair access to resources and decision-making power Climate solutions work best when they're by the people, for the people, and with the people.

People must be at the center of climate action.   As The World Bank marks Human Capital Day at #COP29, I'm delighted to share our new blog, co-authored with my fellow World Bank VP Juergen Voegele, exploring why human capital—people's knowledge, skills, and health—is one of our most powerful tools for building climate resilience.   The climate crisis is fundamentally a human crisis: • 400M students worldwide have faced climate-related school closures since 2022 • By 2050, climate inaction could cost low- and middle-income countries $21T+ in health impacts alone   But there's hope.   Our research shows that investing in people helps communities adapt and thrive in a changing climate.   Around the world, we're seeing how targeted investments build resilience:   ✅ In Angola, investments in health and nutrition protect vulnerable and food-insecure families from climate shocks ✅ Vietnam's transition to a green economy is expected to create ~1M jobs by 2040, with skills development programs playing a major role in preparing workers for green industries ✅ In the Philippines, integrating climate adaptation into education is preparing the next generation to tackle climate challenges ✅ In Maldives and Kenya, building local knowledge and institutional capacity is enabling communities to lead their own climate solutions   I invite you to read the full blog to learn how investing in people creates a more livable planet: https://lnkd.in/gbUvEa5p #InvestinPeople

We work on climate change and air pollution because people are already being harmed—by rising heat, worsening floods, and toxic air. This is not an abstract threat. It’s personal, urgent, and unequally felt. Our work spans both top-down and bottom-up approaches. At the top, we contribute to policy design, emissions research, and national climate frameworks. Equally vital, on the ground, we focus on reaching the people most affected—those living in low-income, rural, or marginalized communities—who are too often excluded from climate communication altogether. But it’s also important to ask: Are we truly doing enough? Change takes time, yes. Systems are slow, and impact unfolds gradually. But we must be honest about our effectiveness and equity. Are our materials actually reaching the right people? Are we measuring who understands, who acts, and who remains unaware? The disconnect between the most affected and the best informed is not just a gap—it’s a warning. This exclusion is not theoretical. The numbers speak clearly: More than 4.1 billion people live in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where vulnerability to climate impacts is highest (World Bank, 2024). Among them, an estimated 3.5 billion (~85%) are non-native English speakers, yet most climate and air pollution materials are available only in English or a few UN languages (EF EPI, 2023; Climate Cardinals, 2023). Compounding this, over 2 billion people in these regions lack internet access, with connectivity in low-income countries as low as 27% (ITU, 2023). Despite this digital divide, less than 15% of climate and air quality materials are designed for offline users—such as community radio, printed posters, or visual tools (UNEP, 2022; WRI India, 2023). In total, over 3.3 billion people—those most at risk—remain excluded from essential information. Meanwhile, over 80% of climate communication efforts continue to target urban, internet-connected, English-speaking populations—the segment least exposed to direct harm (IPCC & UNFCCC, 2023; WHO IEC Reviews, 2022). Improving our reach, responsiveness, and relevance must be central to how we define success in climate work. The good news is—we already know what needs to change. Now we must act to ensure the people most affected are finally the most empowered