The Climate Careers Podcast Ryan Dunfee

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.

The past five years have seen an explosion of new startups getting created to tackle the thousands of challenges we must solve to fully decarbonize our economy. It's the second big wave after the boom and bust cycle of the mid-2000's "Clean Tech 1.0," but this time feels different. We stop by Greentown Labs' 10th anniversary gala to meet a few of these startups, hear about the challenges they're tackling, and what talent they need.

Consulting is one of the go-to sectors for MBA students across the world. It touches every industry you can think of. And now the Big Four, and many others, are pivoting to help their clients figure out how to decarbonize their entire business. In the first episode of The Climate Careers podcast, we talk with Lucyann Murray, Management Consulting Senior Manager at Accenture Natural Resources, to discuss how she shaped a career to focus on climate & sustainability in the consulting world.