The Climate Careers Podcast

How do I get started? Where do I fit in? This is a question I've been getting a lot from folks interested in working in climate, but bewildered by the complexity of the sector, unsure where their skills and backgrounds are relevant, and what the opportunities even are for jobs. If that sounds familiar, than this episode is for you! Largely focused on white collar gigs, this podcast (which is nicely complimented by Ep. 2.1 with Professor Richard Stuebi) breaks down the macro trends in the climate sector, as well as the six principal segments within it, how they operate, and what skills are needed in each.

Electric vehicles are off to the races. But we don't hear a lot from the insiders making that happen outside of Elon Musk. Today, we're excited to launch Season 3 of the Climate Careers podcast with an interview with Patrick Hunt, a former consultant who joined Rivian as employee #15, helped grow it to one of the biggest IPO's of the past decade, and who recently retired from his role as Rivian's Chief Strategy Officer.

Lowell Bander had a good, steady job at Facebook as a fullstack engineer, with great perks and pay. But something was missing. As thousands of software engineers get laid off from Big Tech, Lowell explains how he found his way, and his purpose, working in climate.

Sadly, thousands of people are now getting laid off from the "Big Tech" firms that have been the darling of innovation and the stock market for years. Thankfully, there's ample opportunity for these folks in climate. Lauren Fraser, formerly of Facebook and Twitter, and now Co-Founder of Canopy, a climate action "benefit" platform for employers, explains how she made the jump from the classic tech space into climate.

Kerry Bowie grew up in Alabama, right alongside a Monsanto plant. He was from what in policy vernacular would be considered a "fenceline community," bearing the brunt of industrial pollution, though he didn't think of his hometown community like that. Since then, he's worked at the nexus of social, economic, and environmental justice for more than 20 years, and is now the Executive Director of Browning the Green Space, an organization whose goal is to advance Diversity, Equity & Inclusion within the climate tech industry in New England. We're long overdue for a focused conversation on equity in the context of climate action, and we're super grateful to Kerry for taking the time to speak with us.

$100 trillion in investment. 10% of GDP needing to get turned over. Professor Richard Stuebi of the Questrom School of Business sheds like on what the clean energy transition will actually look like over the next several decades - the scale of it, the amount of fossil fuel infrastructure that must be replaced, the essential technology that's yet to be developed, and how this all might just play out.

When I graduated from college in 2008, there were few immediately obvious paths into working on climate change if you weren't focusing on green buildings, science, or law. Now, really for the first time, there's obvious onramps from an undergrad education right into the climate tech industry. I met Elias Hatem in Portland, Maine when he was working at his first post-college job in solar at Revision Energy. He's since moved into the statup world at inBalance. He's an articulate guy, and we had a great chat about how undergrads can get right to work on climate.

You might think of climate change as an engineering challenge. But as energy is one of the most invisible and complicated inputs into our economy and society, compelling stories are essential to bring in reluctant investors, compel customers to try innovative tech, and demystify how we get to net zero. Julie Smith-Galvin started her journey in energy in a Peace Corps stint in the Dominican Republic, and now runs her own PR shop, Green Path Strategies. This is a great conversation for all the writers, speakers, and marketing folks out there.

Climate tech might seem like the domain of engineers. But with so many new companies getting formed to meet the various challenges presented by the climate crisis, those with a human resources skillset -- who know how to build the infrastructure necessary in organizations to support, motivate, and sustain good talent -- are as important as ever. Brendan Koscher was originally working in HR for Liberty Mutual, one of the world's biggest insurers, helping integrate smaller insurers into the company as Liberty acquired them. But COVID provoked a career change, and Brendan ended up intentionally turning into climate tech. He's now a Senior People Partner at Form Energy, one of the darlings of the battery storage sector and one on a rocketship of growth at the moment. Learn from how Brendan, who's also a Boston University Questrom MBA graduate, transitioned into climate tech HR and what challenges he's working to solve in a rapidly-growing sector.

Wind and solar are the backbone of our new energy supply. Combined, they have the potential to supply 80% of our energy needs. In the next decade, the amount of wind energy installed in the U.S. is set to double -- especially off the East Coast. Alex Spiridakis is a current Boston University Questrom MBA who transitioned into the wind industry from engineering work in distant parts of the energy world. He shares how almost any engineer can switch gigs and focus on climate full-time.