Redefining Work in the Era of Climate Change: Insights from Daniel Hill
We are in an era where we need all hands on deck to address climate change. The conversation between Gayathri, and Daniel Hill, a climate space visionary, offers a beacon of hope. Daniel’s insights shed light on how we can address the urgent need to integrate climate action into every facet of our professional lives.
Guest Spotlight: Daniel Hill
Daniel Hill stands at the forefront of environmental change, directing Business and Innovation at the Environmental Defense Fund. His focus on accelerating climate solutions and nurturing changemakers has marked him as a pivotal figure in environmental innovation. As the Head of EDF’s Innovation Fund, he is instrumental in unleashing inventive solutions for environmental preservation. His initiatives, such as hosting the Degrees Podcast mini-series "The Year of the Climate Job" and founding the influential #OpenDoorClimate movement, have created significant pathways for those seeking to enter the climate space.
Prior to his current role, Daniel co-founded the Green Impact Campaign, an innovative nonprofit that empowered students to conduct energy assessments, significantly impacting small businesses. His contributions have been recognized through multiple fellowships and prestigious awards, underscoring his commitment and impact in the field of environmental sustainability.
The Power of Community
Daniel emphasizes with the power of community in driving change. His initiative, #OpenDoorClimate, serves as a testament to the role of networking and meaningful conversations in the climate sector and has facilitated over 15,000 conversations between climate professionals and people looking to transition into a climate focused role. Daniel believes that collective efforts and shared knowledge are instrumental in creating impactful climate solutions. This community-centric approach not only fosters collaboration but also empowers individuals to become active participants in climate action.
Mental Health and Climate Anxiety
A significant yet often overlooked aspect of climate activism is the mental toll it takes on those who are deeply invested in the cause. Daniel advocates for a balanced media diet and seeking inspiration beyond the climate conversation. His approach helps in managing the anxiety that often accompanies climate work, ensuring that activists and professionals maintain their mental well-being while striving for environmental change.
Diversity for Effective Solutions
Diversity, or the lack thereof, in the climate field is a critical issue that Daniel addresses. He highlights the need for inclusive perspectives in developing holistic and effective climate solutions. Diverse voices bring varied experiences and ideas, essential for crafting strategies that are equitable and resonate with a broader audience. This inclusivity is not just a moral requirement but a practical necessity for the success of environmental initiatives.
Beyond Tech: Corporate Climate Innovation
Moving beyond the conventional view of climate innovation, Daniel challenges the notion that it is solely about technology or funding. He emphasizes the importance of human capital and engaging employees in meaningful ways. He advocates for integrating climate goals into day to day operations, stressing that innovation in the climate space is as much about people and processes as it is about technological advancements.
Integrating Sustainability Across All Roles
Echoing the idea that every job is a climate job, Daniel and Gayathri discusses how sustainability can be integrated into various professional roles. Individual actions, no matter how small, cumulatively contribute to larger climate goals. This is a call to action for professionals across industries to adopt sustainable practices in their daily work life.
Daniel’s unwavering belief in the power of collective efforts and his insights serve as a reminder that the fight against climate change is a collective journey. Each contribution, empowered by community support and driven by innovation, can create a significant impact.
Resources
Daniel recommends the book Start Within by Karen Holst & Douglas Ferguson for people looking to get into impact related work.
Podcast Transcript
climate-action-in-every-job-innovating-for-change-with-daniel-hill
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Daniel Hill: [00:00:00] I don't think it's a technology problem. I don't think it's a financing problem. I think it's a human capital problem. So I think it's again, getting back to, we don't have the people and places to be able to do the work. And that includes finding new solutions within companies.
Welcome to changing tomorrow with your host, Gayathri Unnikrishnan. In each episode, Gayathri talks to the people reshaping entire industries and societies. Changing tomorrow is the destination for the change makers of today. Here we explore the mechanics of creating lasting impact, turning ideas into tools that shape a brighter future.
So turn up the volume, grab a seat, and join Gaia3 for engaging conversations with those who are shaping the future right now. Welcome to changing tomorrow, because the future we want is built today.[00:01:00]
Gayathri: Hi friends, if you ever wanted to work in a role that more directly addresses climate change and you didn't know where to start. Today's episode will be super interesting to you. I'm talking to Daniel Hill. He's the founder of the hashtag open door climate movement. He's also working at the environmental defense fund and he's helped thousands of people transition into climate change related role.
He's got so many. golden nuggets and I cannot wait for you to listen to the insights that he has. So without further ado, folks, this is Daniel Hill. Hi, Daniel. It's so great to have you
Daniel Hill: here. Hi, Gayathri. Thanks so much for having me. Really excited.
Gayathri: Yeah, I think this one's going to be an important one and an urgent topic, to put it lightly.
So, Daniel, we start all of our [00:02:00] Episodes with the same question and it is if you could have a superpower, what would
Daniel Hill: it be? Oh, you know, I think the obvious ones that come to mind are like teleportation or flying or probably something a lot more altruistic. If I'm being really honest, the one that's like top of mind is I wish I had the superpower to always feel Like I got a full, really restful night's sleep.
That's just, I just want to feel like I get a good night's sleep every night and feel that way all the time. Now, full disclosure, it could be because I have a two month old baby and like, Sleep is on my mind, but congratulations. Thank you so much. But yeah, I just think how nice that would be to always feel really rested and how much I could get done And I don't know.
It's probably not the smartest superpower like Superman's gonna beat me But at least at least I want to better rest Yeah, I don't have bags under my eyes [00:03:00] when he beats me. But yeah, I think today that would be my answer
Gayathri: Oh my gosh, this is the realist answer and you struck deep with that one. It's like, everyone's chasing that with whoop and aura rings and all of those things.
None of that helps. Yes, if there is a secret to sleep, yes, I would want to know that too. So, love that. That's a real one. Okay, so today we are here to talk about the amazing initiative that you started, Open Door Climate. And I was wondering if you wanted to kind of tell us a little bit about that and talk about how it started and what's driving you to continue it every day.
Daniel Hill: Sure. Happy to do that. Maybe I'll start just with a quick story that happened about two years ago now. I went over to my brother's house one day and his neighbor was outside. And his neighbor flagged me down and said, like, Oh, you're his brother. I hear that you work in the climate space. My nephew is really [00:04:00] interested in working there.
Is there any chance you'd be open to just talking with him and tell him about it? And I said, Sure. You know, happy to do that. And we had a call and he just had really basic questions about, you know, how did I get into the space? What kind of jobs are there? He was, I think, thinking of going to grad school and asked me about that.
And this was one of, I mean, hundreds of these requests that I've probably gotten in my career. And it just kind of dawned on me, like, this is a recurring problem. And I wonder what would happen if instead of being so reactive to them, if I was trying to be a little bit more proactive and make it more publicly known that I was open to these calls.
So I did a post on LinkedIn basically just saying, Hey, I'm instituting an open door policy. If anyone wants to talk about working in this space, let me know. Happy to have a quick 15 minute call with you. And I think within two hours, I had 50 calls scheduled for the next two weeks. [00:05:00] And that's when I was like, Oh, this is a real problem, but also a real opportunity to help people.
So I took all those calls. It was incredibly inspiring to hear everyone's journeys and what they're interested in. But it was also really heartbreaking. Like, to hear over and over people just talk about how stuck they feel. Like, they're so passionate about this. They really want to work on it, but they just can't.
So, you know, I would share resources on those calls. I would give them some organizations to look up. I would talk to them about skills they could transfer. But it became very apparent, like, I'm not going to be able to. Just keep having 50 calls a week or whatever it is emotionally. I'm not going to be able to do it So I started to kind of tap some of my colleagues and friends that that work in the space saying like would you be willing?
To do this Oh put up a post and a lot of them said yes A lot of them said it was just such a rewarding experience. So maybe a year later now There's something like a thousand climate professionals have [00:06:00] done this. We're estimating like 15, 000 conversations have happened, which is really exciting considering it's just this like groundswell movement.
Like there's no organization behind it. And I think that's kind of been the biggest takeaway is as climate professionals, we are constantly saying like, we need help. We need more people. We need more solutions. And currently there's just A huge, huge group of people that want to do something, but they feel stuck and I'm happy to talk about why they feel stuck.
But it's no wonder that, you know, climate professionals are so willing to say, yeah, I'm happy to talk to you about this space if it helps you get in and get more people working towards it. Let's
Gayathri: talk about why they feel stuck.
Daniel Hill: Sure. There's kind of four big barriers that I heard come up over and over.
Okay. They lacked personal connections in the industry. They lack network. Do you think that's important? 100%. Yes, I'm going to butcher the [00:07:00] stat. So forgive me, but it's something like 80 percent of jobs are actually secured because of a personal connection to get that job. But it's no surprise. That's a big barrier.
Hence the reason open door climate has caught on so much because people are lacking people to talk to. So that's one. The second, there's a lot of uncertainty on how do people actually map existing skills they have to a climate job. So like I've worked in sales my whole life in the pharmaceutical industry.
I don't know what skills actually transfer to a climate job. The third being around. I don't know what skills but also I don't have direct experience and all these jobs are saying I need to have five plus years of carbon accounting and I don't have that and the last is just really around people not knowing what they don't know in terms of like, I don't know what organizations to look at.
I don't know what companies, I don't know what titles these jobs have, so I don't even know what to search. [00:08:00] So those kept coming up over and over and Because of those, I actually guest hosted a season of the Degrees podcast, which is put on by the Environmental Defense Fund, which is where I work, where we basically took each of those barriers and dissected it and said, how do you overcome these?
Which I recommend people check out. Yeah, I would definitely link in the show notes. Yeah, but also, I mean, I can share a couple like quick things, maybe. Yeah, yeah, that would be really helpful. The big one that It cuts across all those barriers is community. So for people to find, and there's some amazing communities out there that are focused specifically on climate networking.
So work on climate, climate base, MCJ collective, these are all basically really focused. Networking groups where they have office hours and events and job boards and all these opportunities that basically give people an instant network. It also provides people that are going through the same [00:09:00] thing and that's incredibly important when you're going through such a challenging journey in some cases to be with people that understand what it's like and can share and give some tips.
The other thing that I think is often overlooked is The direct experience is a big one. That's when I hear a lot of, and people often ask me, do I need to volunteer with an organization? And I think volunteering is good. I think there's a time limit to it though, where it starts to get to be too much of your time and you're not being compensated.
And so what I do recommend is, Basically, pitching freelance work. So whatever your skill set is looking on either individual organization websites, if you have some in mind, but also even just looking at job postings and pitching yourself, say like I could do a one off project for you and put a rate to it and get paid for your work.
So that's a great way to kind of gain some projects that you can actually talk about finding organizations. There's some [00:10:00] really great. Climate focused job boards out there, so they all sound very similar. Green jobs board, green jobs network, green biz. There's a lot of, a lot of job boards that are focused on this, but those are a great place to go because you know everything that's popping up is more of a climate focused role.
And the tip that I've always heard and shared is if you know what your interest is, so let's say you're really interested in solar. Energy and you are currently a data analyst, whatever company basically just combine those for searches. So data analyst, solar and see what comes up. And that's just a great way to show that there's a lot of transferable skills that a lot of these companies are still looking for the same roles that just happened to be working on climate.
So yeah, maybe those are my kind of three quick tips in terms of overcoming some of those barriers, though.
Gayathri: Those are really great tips. What about mid to [00:11:00] experienced career professionals? What have you, you know, I'm seeing a lot of folks wanting to shift into climate jobs and green jobs. And one of the fears that I have seen, and maybe you've seen the same as well, is that they feel like they need to kind of come down a few levels because they're changing industries.
Do you think the transferable skills? Applies there as well. Or what are you seeing in the industry for that piece? I
Daniel Hill: do think they transfer, I think, especially middle and more senior level. A lot of experience usually is around managing people and that's such a universal in terms of no matter what those people are working on, usually it's a skill set to have an experience to have, so the people management side, I think is very transferable.
It's really tough because it's easy for me to say, no, don't knock down and take class. Of a title or less pay, there's the right role out there for you, but also like when you're actually in it, [00:12:00] it's very frustrating. I understand like to go over and over and be like, why am I not getting callbacks or getting these jobs?
So I don't want to say definitively. No, people shouldn't be taking this because I understand that sometimes people might be in a financial position to be able to afford to do that. And it's worth it for them. But I think everything is kind of that personal calculation. Similarly, I tell people that for whether to go back to school, a lot of people say, do I need a degree to do this?
And In my mind, it's always just, it has to be seen as an investment. If you know exactly where you want to go and on that path you're seeing over and over that you need this degree, then it likely is a good investment. But if you're doing it because you're still not sure what you're going to do and you're still not sure where you want to go and you want to do it just as an exploration aspect, there's much better opportunities in terms of Terra.
do classes or extension courses that you can kind of take one off courses to get that exposure without. that level of investment. [00:13:00]
Gayathri: Okay. One of the, another kind of quote that I'm seeing that I really like is every job is a climate job. Every job is a sustainability job, which my interpretation is that you can make sustainable choices in any job that you do.
What is your take on that? Do you think we need more of that? Do you think there are, instead of people moving to sustainability, is there a way for people to integrate sustainability into what they're doing today? We
Daniel Hill: need that to happen. That's actually More important than people leaving jobs to take solely climate focused jobs.
And Jamie Alexander over at project drawdown is like famous for saying that quote, every job is a climate job and they actually have put out really. Really nice guides that actually show based on job function. So if you work in marketing, if you work in HR, really actionable things you can do to green your job.
So that's a great resource to check out. The bigger point is, yes, we need [00:14:00] people that are climate minded and interested in it in traditional roles. That's one of the. Only ways that we're actually going to scale climate solutions within companies. We're not going to do it with just a bunch of chief sustainability officers all over the world, because a lot of the work is getting done in business units.
And if people are not that interested or they're, they don't have that same drive or interest, it's just not going to happen. So there's a lot of ways to do that. I recommend checking out those guides, but the one that always comes back to is just. Being able to make that business case. So if you have an idea, if you see an opportunity that would reduce the climate impact of work being done, then that has to be because everyone's company culture is different.
But in most cases, being able to put together a business case for why. This makes most sense for the company is just such a needed talent and needed skill to be able to actually get it done. But to your point, yes, [00:15:00] we need that. Otherwise, I don't know if we will be able to reach the climate targets that we're aiming for.
Gayathri: Can we talk about business cases?
Daniel Hill: Of course,
Gayathri: when you're making a business case, especially for a climate positive or climate friendly solution, the solution or the ROI is not seen on a quarterly. basis or even on a yearly basis sometimes, right? And companies think in a quarterly yearly basis. So what I'm finding is those are very disparate kind of ways of thinking in the sense of people you need to convince or who you're presenting the business case to need to be able to translate in a How they can see immediate returns in some form or the other to justify the change, because sometimes and this is getting better.
Sometimes the solution is might be more expensive or may need more resources. So what is your perspective on getting around that hurdle? Yeah.
Daniel Hill: And [00:16:00] you've worked in the built environment, which I also appreciate that question. Have historically I started in energy efficiency and worked with real estate developers and that was one of the best things about working in energy efficiency is the payback periods and the business case were just so easy to make.
But it's a great point. I mean, some of them do have. Very tangible paybacks, right? So if you oversee a fleet for a company, you can do the calculations to show the maintenance costs that we're saving if we switch over to EVs versus diesel powered or whatever power they're using will benefit us in this quarter or that will provide this return.
So, some of them I think there is others, the ROI might not be the, that quarterly profit. Maybe it's more of a brand awareness or customer acquisition or something that it might take a little bit longer to feel to your point. [00:17:00] But I do think there is usually a quarterly metric. That could be shown on paper to say this is important.
The other thing is for companies that do have established climate commitments, if they've established that, especially if they've publicly established that, that is an existing goal. That that company is trying to work towards for a strategy. So if you can show, Hey, this thing will help us reach that goal.
The company has already bought onto like, maybe this isn't going to show up on the quarterly report, but this is important to us and we're looking for ways to get there. So a lot of it is yes. Making the business case and sense of investment, but also making the business case in terms of how do we achieve.
goals that we have that are concrete and defined.
Gayathri: Publicly committed to those are great tips. And I think talking about the built environment, the energy efficiency piece is like, it's the [00:18:00] easiest and the nicest. I started my career with LEDs and it was just the easiest thing to convince. Can we talk about how you got into energy efficiency and kind of your career?
And how, you know, you arrived at where you are today, you told us the story of open door climate, but I'm just trying to understand what your path and your journey has
Daniel Hill: been. Absolutely. I think I hear a lot of like, how did you get into the climate space stories from people? And they often involve these like beautiful stories about I was on this amazing hike.
And like I saw the Ospreys and there was this connection I had. And I realized that's I wish that was my story because I think it's a beautiful story. The truth is I'm not that outdoorsy, I'm not like a huge nature loving person in the sense of like I always want to be outside. The reality is when I was Getting ready to think about going to college and think [00:19:00] about what I want to work on for the rest of my life, which was extremely daunting at the age of 17.
Gayathri: I still can't believe you make kids go through that. Yeah, there's
Daniel Hill: got to be a better way. But I knew I wanted to work on something that mattered. That was for some reason in me, I knew I wanted to work on something that would actually had an impact and mattered. And at that time, climate change was the thing.
That was threatening humanity the most and surprise, surprise, as I've gone through my career, it's become more of a threat, not less of a threat. But that was it. If I'm going to dedicate my life to working on something, I want it to be something important and I want it to be as big of an impact as I can have.
That led me to climate change. And initially, I was really interested in alternative fuels. I graduated during 2009, which was a massive recession and not only was there No jobs for alternative fuels. There was also like hardly any companies at the time because no one could get funding. So, I had a [00:20:00] like 15 minute chat actually, ironically enough, with someone that was telling me that they do energy audits, like that's their job.
They go into buildings, they find inefficiencies, they recommend things to improve the energy efficiency and energy management. It kind of clicked for me. I thought that was really interesting and I went on and got an internship learning how to do energy audits and that like just changed everything for me because as someone that studied energy and studied climate in college, it was really hard to connect that into real world.
Like, well, what does this actually mean in terms of what I can do? And energy efficiency was so tangible. And so, you know, you go in, you see something, you change it, you flip a switch and it has an impact. Like that was so satisfying for someone that was just starting to learn about this. So, I worked for a startup doing real time energy management back in the day when it was still a new thing.
I worked at a consulting firm where I was doing energy [00:21:00] assessments for real estate developers. And then I actually started a non profit that Really aimed at fixing this problem that I had. We were trying to expose students to energy efficiency as a way to make this bigger topic more tangible for people.
So we created this training platform in this app that would allow students to conduct energy audits for small businesses in their community in like 20 minutes or so. So I Thank you. Drew that program for five years, we had some really exciting results and through just being an entrepreneur, I kind of became really interested in more of like this innovation space in the sense of new ideas and how do we harness them?
And I was part of some incubators where I think I was more interested in how they were running the incubator than I was in my own organization at the time. So apologies to those organizations, but I became really interested in that. And then I joined environmental defense fund to help them run the climate core fellowship [00:22:00] and then had the opportunity to actually create an internal incubator inside of EDF to say, we have amazing people here.
They have amazing ideas. What if we had a way to kind of grow them and harness those ideas and been doing that for the past four years, three years now. So that's how I got here where I am today.
Gayathri: That's super cool. And I love the love that you knew the direction that you wanted to go in right at the outset.
You spoke about the difference between studying about it and then doing the job and kind of the reality check that comes with that. Another aspect of it is. It's just the sheer scale of the problem that you just feel so overwhelmed and that you don't have control and that what you're doing is meaningless and all of those things.
So if you don't mind talking about that, how do we, like, how did you reconcile? Those feelings are those emotions
Daniel Hill: I don't think I have is, [00:23:00] I wish I could say, you know, like after all this time, after 15 years, whatever, however long I've been working on this, that I feel like, Oh, I'm doing everything I can.
And like, that's great. And I think it's just the nature of the issue to your point is so overwhelming and it's. Getting worse, not better, which is really challenging when you've spent this much time working on it, but the result is just constantly checking in with yourself saying Is what I'm working on right now the thing that will have the most impact that I can have and some days it's yes, some days it's no, which is why, you know, I changed jobs a couple times there because I realized this isn't it when I was working for the consulting firm.
It dawned on me that this was no longer about climate change. This was about making the principle more money. And I was not interested in that, which is why I went off and some would say had [00:24:00] an overreaction and started a nonprofit. But I think it's a constant. struggle that in what I'm working on, is it enough?
Is it, could I be doing more? And there's some healthy aspect to that of it's a good reflection exercise, but also I've really tried to learn that there is a level of patience involved and there is a level of uncontrollable in terms of you really can only do so much no matter what you want to be doing.
You can only do so much and to not burn yourself out because that would be the worst thing.
Gayathri: One of the things that I think is very important that we actually had an episode about is the mental health aspect of climate change is generally for, for the younger generation. And people are more comfortable talking about it now in the older generations as well.
And one of the key pieces of that is the self care aspect of things. And, um, one of my colleagues, Kimberly Lewis, likes to say, you need to fill your cup and whatever it is that fills your cup. you know, just go do it. Are there any [00:25:00] tips that you have for people who are looking to kind of just...
Daniel Hill: I'll share what I do, I don't, I don't know if it's going to be relevant for everyone. I learned a few years back that I actually have to limit the amount that I consume related to climate. So when I'm not working, I try to listen to podcasts on very different topics. Like I really like podcasts more on like psychology and behavior.
I try to read books that are not always focused on climate. Because I realized I, I just, my brain wasn't turning off and that's what was really causing more and more climate anxiety. So for me, it's not only stepping back from the issue at times, but also finding inspiration in these other domains. I think there's a lot to be said there.
Like, I think... The study of behavior change is so interesting as it relates to climate change and what could be done for more sustainable behaviors, but I don't know if I would have come across that if I only consumed climate information. [00:26:00] So for me, that's big. I think there's just like a level of moderation involved in terms of how much are you consuming.
Gayathri: A media diet, so to say. Yeah. Okay, can we now talk about diversity? Sure. In the industry, again, coming from the perspective of the building industry, there is a huge disparity and lack of diversity in the industry, generally, but also specifically in the world of sustainability and climate change. Yeah.
What is your perspective on that? Do you have, is that something that you're experiencing from your... vantage point. What can we do as a community to change that? A lot of questions. I don't have answers to. So I'm asking you.
Daniel Hill: A lot of questions. No, I think, I mean, I will share what I do know. And I think there's other thought leaders out there that have some really great things.
Christy Drutman is a great one to follow. Brown Girl Green is kind of her handle, but she talks a lot about this issue and has some, some great points. Yes, it is. 100 percent an issue. I think it's very apparent. [00:27:00] I think there's efforts going on to make it better. But with anything, I don't think climate is special in this case, but with anything, when you have people from diverse backgrounds, educations, Even just skill sets, there's just more holistic, equitable solutions that come from that versus one population designing solutions for everyone.
It's obviously going to be biased. It's just in its nature. So I think there's obviously a strong case for the benefit of the fight against climate change for that. In terms of how... That's going on. I do think exposure and representation is a huge one. So going back to kind of the schools and showing that there are these career paths, not just for those in a four year college, but I think trade schools is a really interesting one.
There's a really good piece that was about the shortage of electricians going on and how it's actually [00:28:00] putting a huge slowdown on the adoption of electric vehicles because so many people want to travel. An EV charger at their house, but there's not enough electricians to actually do that. So they have to wait.
So it's not like a very blatant or obvious thing like, oh, an electrician is a climate job, but this gets back to the bigger. Every job is a climate job like that plays a role in this. And I think if we can kind of expose that more to even the trade school level. To let people know that that makes an impact.
I think people would be more excited about those roles and see the connection. So that's just one. The other thing I'll mention is just professional development, workforce development, workforce development programs across the country. There's so many great ones. And I think it's really easy for everyone to say, well, we just need new ones.
Like we need green workforce development and that's going to do it. But you just can't undersell how important the community connections to existing Workforce development programs [00:29:00] are so instead of let's just create new ones that are green. The conversation really should be about let's build capacity of the existing ones and make sure that they're well resourced and make sure that they have whatever information or training or connections to experts in the field that they need because the connections and the community that they've built is actually what's really strong about them.
So I'll just mention that in terms of I think there's Not enough attention going towards that, but I think people know that workforce development is an important one. Talking
Gayathri: about, let's go to the corporate side. We've been talking about workforce development and what, you know, employees and people can do, but you work in climate innovation.
What do you think companies can do more of to encourage climate innovation to kind of push the boundaries a little
Daniel Hill: bit? When I first started working what I now call corporate climate innovation, I immediately went to climate tech. I think it's [00:30:00] become synonymous, climate innovation, climate tech, same thing.
And it's an interesting space. There's a lot of really exciting solutions coming out, a lot of engineered solutions coming out. But what I realized is I don't think it's a technology problem. I don't think it's a financing problem. I think it's a human capital problem. So I think it's again, getting back to, we don't have the people and places to be able to do the work.
And that includes finding new solutions within companies. So in terms of what I really think about now with climate innovation, as it relates to companies. Top of the list. This isn't even climate innovation specific. Companies need to not advocate against climate policies like federal level. The way that they advocate is hugely important.
They should be advocating to unlock more public and private programs that will fund Climate innovation research and seed grants and hubs. That's just top of the list. The other thing that [00:31:00] I've really started to think more about is how are companies engaging their employees around climate because companies, okay, they're not good at innovation.
I shouldn't say they, they're good at scale. They're really good at scale. Some are very good at innovation. Every one of them. Says they're innovative because they have to, but I think, you know, companies have existing processes for innovation. What we're trying to get is, can you integrate climate into that process that you have?
So a lot of times they have dedicated innovation teams, they have an innovation lab, they have employee resource groups that are organized around specific topics. All of those are really great opportunities to say. Okay. One of the pillars we're going to have for these things now is climate. And let's work towards that as a metric.
The other thing is just integrating it into business units, right? Like all of them have [00:32:00] KPIs. Allbirds is a great example of someone that's done this where they're actually putting a carbon footprint label on all their products to say this shoe has This many pounds of carbon embedded in it, and that incentivizes their business units to say, okay, how do we get that number down?
Because now it's on this label. And that is just a huge opportunity for innovation. Like, where can we find new materials? How can we source this differently? So yeah, employees are big one. And then there are more traditional innovation arms of companies. So a lot of them have a startups, Coca Cola, just Announced one that is specifically focused on sustainability, which is exciting to see.
And there's also more of kind of the industry collaboration. So a lot of companies coming together to say, you know, we'll commit to buying aluminum. That is, you know. This much reduction of carbon if it's created. So there's a lot of those kind of advanced market commitments going on, which is another [00:33:00] great way that companies can actually spur innovation in a lot of ways.
So yeah, that's a lot of, it's a lot to say on it, but I think the larger point is it's not always climate tech when we're talking about companies. And a lot of times it's working within the company walls because a lot of the resources are there. It's just aligning it with climate targets.
Gayathri: I love that you went back to quite the literal definition of innovation here, and it's not a flashy, you know, shiny solution, it's actually quite unglamorous, so to say, innovation in this case, which is revisiting operations and revisiting Thank you.
Thank you. Advocacy, which is great for, I think, employee retention and brand value, but it's not the first thing that comes to mind when you think innovation or climate innovation. It's not a new product line, so to say, it's reinforcing or making the current product line better. Yeah.
Daniel Hill: Yeah. And in my mind, it's kind of parallel to [00:34:00] energy efficiency.
You know what I mean? Like we talked about it, this proven really easy thing, but not at all shiny. Like people are not shouting from the mountaintops, like our company is implementing energy efficiency measures because it's just not as exciting, but man, it shows results and that's what we need.
Gayathri: I love that.
What can people do working in companies? And we spoke about the business case a little bit earlier to get them to innovate in the definition or in the sense that you spoke of, what is a takeaway that you would like? You know, people listening in to leave this podcast episode with
Daniel Hill: so I do recommend checking out the product drawdown resources that I mentioned, okay, I will link that.
Yeah, that's a great one that makes it a little more tangible. The other thing that I'll mention is, I think there's a lot of power in organizing within companies. So there's a chance that if you're interested in Climate and figuring out how to make your job or make the company more sustainable. [00:35:00] So really good chance.
There's other people in your company that feel that way just based on the numbers. And the first step should be finding those people and just start talking. It doesn't have to have a firm agenda. The first couple of times you meet, just get together. Start talking about your ideas. Start talking about what you're seeing in your own role, and it's a good chance that that group's going to grow pretty quickly and a good chance that it's going to formalize pretty quickly.
So the first step in just finding each other, I think, is a big one. And then from there, I think there's just a lot of opportunity to, you know, we saw Amazon employees do this where they were demanding a climate pledge, basically from Amazon. We've seen other companies, we've seen Microsoft. Grow one of the largest kind of employee resource groups around sustainability, and they got some actual operational projects done because as a group, they came together and said, we're going to go to operations and put together this plan and tell them about it.
[00:36:00] And a lot of, well, I don't know a lot of times, but some of the times they said, yeah, we think it's a good idea. We're going to do it. So collective. Power is very real within companies, so organize, share ideas, start putting things on paper, and I think there's a lot of power in that.
Gayathri: I would not have thought that as a pathway.
That is blowing my mind right now. You're right. You're 100 percent right. It's true, but I never made the connection. Organize, make friends, and get around in a circle. You know, try and make a change within the work that you're doing and around that's really powerful. Thank you for sharing that. Where can folks find you, Daniel?
Daniel Hill: LinkedIn is probably the best place. So find me on LinkedIn, just shoot me a connection. Happy to chat if I have the time. And then for those that are more interested in talking to any climate professional, check out opendoorclimate. com or just search opendoorclimate. Hashtag on LinkedIn, and you'll see a bunch of people with posts pop up that are willing to talk.[00:37:00]
Gayathri: Thank you. And final question. What is giving you hope right now?
Daniel Hill: I think community is the big one. I think just seeing, you know, I open door climate has been really exciting to see. It's just. Kind of like the side passion project that I've been involved in, but seeing so many people just volunteering time to talk with others and then just hearing about those conversations is really inspiring and it's really motivating to say, like, there is this growing movement of people out there that want to do this and that's given me a lot of hope because Having been someone that's worked in this space for so long, it is hard to find hope a lot of days, but it does seem to always come back to people.
There's always this, like, people centered aspect of it that is really exciting to see, and I hope it continues to go that way, and, you know, all the surveys show that it is going that way in terms of more and more people want to work on this, more and more people are interested in this, but to actually talk to people, I think, is a lot of inspiration.
Gayathri: Well, thank you for [00:38:00] creating the community open door climate and yeah, thank you so much for coming on Daniel. This is such a wonderful conversation.
Daniel Hill: Thank you so much for having me. It was great.
Gayathri: And folks, that's Daniel Hill. If you're still here, cheers to you. If you want to know more about what we discussed today, check out the blog post and the resources in the show notes, as well as our website, which is www.
makeitliveable. co. I am also very excited to announce that we will be releasing a newsletter, which is really going to capture the trends that you're seeing when we are talking about creating purpose driven organizations and purpose driven spaces. So I highly encourage you to check that out and would love it if you subscribe.
All of it can be found on the website, www. makeitlivable. co. Hope you have a lovely day and see you in two weeks.