New Degrees Podcast Miniseries: The Year of the Climate Job

Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers, a podcast from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), is launching a new miniseries dedicated to helping Gen Z and Millennials find and secure climate jobs. While green jobs are some of the fastest growing around the world, job seekers face key barriers to finding jobs in emerging fields. “The Year of the Climate Job” features the leading voices in green jobs to help job seekers overcome key challenges. 

There have been 100,000 new clean energy jobs announced since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law last year; with an estimated 9 million green jobs expected over the next decade in the U.S. alone. A 2022 LinkedIn report found that demand for green jobs is outpacing the talent pool. However, many frustrated green job seekers would disagree. 

A new analysis of thousands of job seekers on LinkedIn’s platform found that green job seekers face four leading pain points:

• Lack of personal connections in the industry;
• Uncertainty about how to map skills to roles;
• Concerns about being overlooked due to lack of direct experience in the field;
• Difficulty in finding organizations that align with interest areas.

“While so many people are trying to get climate jobs, they’re feeling stuck. This new series is designed to get people unstuck. Ultimately, we want as many people as possible innovating and accelerating a just energy transition. It’s all of our responsibilities to make it easy for the brightest minds to work on solving the climate crisis,” said Daniel Hill, director of Business and Innovation at EDF+Business. Hill is the host of this Degrees podcast miniseries, “The Year of the Climate Job.”  

To meet the growing demand for one-on-one green jobs mentorship, Hill started a grassroots project called OpenDoorClimate. Thousands of job seekers have held conversations with volunteers from dozens of NGO, public- and private-sector organizations, gaining valuable career advice from these expert volunteers. 

“The race to match skills with new and emerging roles is on – and more important than ever. The green jobs of today will define our success in the fight against the climate crisis over the next decade. We’re witnessing unprecedented innovation and supportive policies that are leading to new green jobs every day,” said Yesh Pavlik Slenk, Director of the EDF Climate Corps Program, an OpenDoorClimate mentor, and the regular season host of Degrees.

The new five-part podcast miniseries features a narrative format. The trailer launches April 19, 2023; the first episode releases on April 26, 2023. Scheduled guests include green jobs experts:

• Kristy Drutman, Founder of “Brown Girl Green” and the Green Jobs Board
• Nick Martin, CEO at TechChange
• Eugene Kirpichov, who quit Google to found Work on Climate 
• Anshuman Babpna, TedX speaker and Founder of Terra.do

For more information about the Degrees podcast visit www.edf.org/degrees-green-jobs-podcast.

“Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers” is in its 5th season, with over 40 episodes of inspiring stories of growing green jobs, in every sector. The podcast has listeners in 171 countries, multiple rankings on Apple's Top 25 Careers podcasts, and Spotify features. The podcast is produced by Podcast Allies, LLC. Music is by the eco-conscious and beloved band Lake Street Dive. 

Daniel Hill is Director of Business and Innovation at Environmental Defense Fund and creator of #OpenDoorClimate. Daniel runs EDF’s Innovation Fund and works with companies to amplify climate innovation within business. Prior to EDF, he co-founded Green Impact Campaign, a national nonprofit that trained students to help small businesses save energy. He also served as a sustainability consultant for several firms, helping them reduce energy usage in commercial real estate buildings. Hill has been recognized as an Echoing Green fellow, Halcyon Incubator fellow, Clean Energy Leadership Institute fellow, and the recipient of the Alliance to Save Energy's Rising Star of Energy Efficiency Award and Net Impact's Force for Change Award.