Today's guest is Lucy Piper, Director at WorkforClimate.
WorkforClimate is a not-for-profit that provides individual employees with clear step-by-step playbooks to help influence and accelerate a company's decarbonization initiatives. Lucy and Cody discuss how climate change can be an intimidating topic and pushing for change inside your company can be risky. And yet it's clear that if the world's corporations don't change quickly to reduce emissions, the effects will be worse.
So how do we quickly help employees feel educated and empowered to push for change? WorkforClimate’s solution comes from its playbooks and programs. They've identified four key areas of change that employees can impact: energy, emissions, money, and influence. Lucy and Cody chat about each of these, why they matter, and some of the steps that WorkforClimate recommends employees take to maximize their collective influence. One thing that isn’t covered, but nonetheless important is that when we take personal agency around climate change, it inspires more people to do the same, ultimately creating a ripple effect. As organizations realize that well-informed requests are coming from a significant portion of their employee base, rather than a radical minority, they become more motivated to make changes.
In this episode, we cover:
[4:22] Lucy's climate journey
[7:39] Employees as influential stakeholders to drive climate initiatives within corporations
[12:45] The power of strength in numbers despite risks
[14:44] An overview of green teams
[15:57] How formally organized groups and sustainability professionals factor into WorkforClimate's playbook
[18:00] The areas WorkforClimate focuses on, including energy, emissions, money, and advocacy
[23:04] The issue of greenwashing
[25:46] An overview of WorkforClimate's playbooks
[29:12] Pros and cons employees have to grapple with to inspire corporate action
[33:00] WorkforClimate's emissions framework
[40:05] The type of companies best suited to collaborate with WorkforClimate
[47:15] The money category WorkforClimate addresses, including bank accounts, treasury, and retirement funds
[54:28] The role of corporate influence on policy
Visit our website for a full transcript of this episode.
Get connected:
Cody Simms
Lucy Piper / WorkforClimate
MCJ Podcast / Collective
*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
Episode recorded on March 22, 2023.
Empowering Employees to Drive Corporate Climate Action