📚We’re publishing a series of climate career stories, highlighting the diversity of climate journeys and what makes a climate career.
If you’re interested in contributing, we invite you to share your own story on #climate-careers or reach out to Elisa or Jon on Slack for guidance.
Gaël Duez is the creator of the Green IO podcast and conferences as well as a Tech Sustainability Strategist for IT teams. He also works pro bono for Climate Fresk, The Digital Collage, Time for the Planet, and the W3C Community Group on Sustainable Web Design.
What is a climate career to you?
Good question! 😅 I would define a climate career as embracing a job whose mission is at minimum consistent with respecting the planetary boundaries and if possible promotive a regenerative economy. That’s for the theory 🎓
Now in practice, I would simply say a job where every morning when looking at yourself in the mirror you can smile at yourself and say “Deep down in my guts, I know that I’m doing useful things enabling humankind to live longer on planet Earth”.
How did you get started and what changes did you make in your career to work in this space?
I quit my previous job. Simple like this! 😉 Well not that simple in fact… I seized the opportunity to create my own activity while relocating geographically for family reasons. I found it easier to change my professional path while also changing other big stuff in my life. Then I allocated some time to wander and explore a bit the new sustainability field in which I was a pure newbie. Not having to kick start immediately and at full speed my new project was a blessing which helped me a lot fine tuning this very project.
Eventually, I realized that I could share this exploration phase with others, hence the launch of the Green IO podcast, and that I could learn with others, hence my training as a facilitator in different workshops (Climate Fresk, Digital Collage, …). And after a while I felt confident enough to advise my former colleagues and I added some consulting activities in IT Sustainability.
What challenges have you faced in making this transition?
I knew it when I decided to make this shift but my incomes were seriously reduced (divided by 5 to be precise). However, the main challenge was mostly to assess the ROI and actually the ROII (Return On Impact and Investment). Having launched a podcast, with a limited feedback loop available and a value proposition positioned on awareness and knowledge sharing, I realized it’s hard to have a clear evaluation of the positive impact that I provide. So I multiplied opportunities of exchange (which is one of the reasons I launched the Green IO conferences) and I also allocated some of my time to more immediately concrete activities such as consulting.
Any advice you’d like to share with others on their own climate journeys?
Take the time to explore these very rich areas of knowledge. And mostly, don’t stay alone. There’s an infinite number of groups and people to bond with and to learn together. Climate change, actually all the environmental crises, take a hard toll on our mental health and sharing (and fighting) together is one of the most efficient ways to regain some peace of mind.
You can connect with Gaël on LinkedIn and hear his podcast on GreenIO.tech.
If you’re interested in contributing, we invite you to share your own story on #climate-careers or reach out to Elisa or Jon on Slack for guidance.