Spark Ideas At Work
No matter what your job is, you and your colleagues are instrumental to how your organization operates and innovates - and the role it can play in responding to the climate crisis.
Whether it’s driving new ideas in your team or changing company-wide policies, getting your organization to engage on climate issues could be one of the fastest ways to drive impact at scale (especially if you work in an industry with a large carbon footprint).
Inside most companies, only a handful of people with “sustainability” roles consider climate issues part of their workday. This needs to change, and fast. Whatever you do, wherever you work, try to remember - every job must become a climate job.
tips
Consider the different ways your job or your organization impacts the climate. This might include your targets to reduce emissions, products or services you offer, the suppliers you choose, or the investments you make.
If your organization has a sustainability or climate team, set up some time to learn about their strategy and priority areas and find out how to work with them.
If your organization does not have a sustainability team and you are wondering where to get started, Project Drawdown’s Climate Solutions at Work and the Network for Business Sustainability’s library of tools are useful guides. If you want to form a team with others, figure out the right people in your company to talk to. You can learn about the latest global climate solutions to build a climate community with your coworkers, or join climate working groups outside of your organization and then share their resources.
The levers you can pull will vary depending on your role and the industry you work in. There are many ways to get involved - but here’s a few ideas to get you started. If you work at a corporation, ensure they have set an emissions reductions target based on science. If you work in marketing, consider partnering with clean creative agencies, or if you work at a retail store, see how you can help reduce in-store emissions. Perhaps you work as a nurse - if so, check out the Nurses Climate Challenge. Or If you are a teacher, learn more about the Green School Alliance. If you are a mental health professional, explore the benefits of becoming a climate-aware therapist. For anyone working at a restaurant or food chain, look for creative ways to reduce food waste.
If you’re an entrepreneur or start-up investor, this sustainability playbook may help. If you have a new idea yourself, organizations like the Climate Co-Lab may help you develop them and there are many prize competitions like the Keeling Curve and the EarthShot Prize.
If you are in between jobs or looking for a career change, Climate Base has a variety of job postings for climate job-searchers. Wherever you work, you can find opportunities for change.
benefits
Employers of all types - government departments, social and academic institutions, commercial companies, and more - can play a crucial part in reducing the world’s carbon emissions, not only in terms of their own footprints, but also by shaping broader social behaviors and political agendas.
As an employee of an organization, you have the power to directly influence this, and drive systemic change on a far larger scale than might otherwise be possible in your daily life.
Taking action at work can bring other benefits too - helping to create new jobs, shape better working conditions, and create organizations we all want to work for. Not to mention, research shows that companies who engage on sustainability issues perform better. A study conducted between 2015-2020 found that climate-aligned companies had over 6 times better returns. So remember - helping your organization get involved in climate solutions can not only make a direct impact on climate but can improve your organization’s performance and leave your workplace feeling healthier and happier, too.
text reprinted with permission from Count Us In