Careers in climate change: What you need to know

The next couple of years may be considered a golden age for climate work. The milestone Paris agreement identifies an action plan for all parties — not just developed countries — to limit emissions and advance climate change mitigation and adaptation. For international development, that means related issues will increasingly be integrated into core programming. There will also be a growing demand for people with the skills to do the job. “At the end of the day, the demand will of course be a factor of the money that will be invested,” Jo Scheuer, director of climate change and disaster risk reduction at the U.N. Development Program, told Devex. The climate pact signed in December indicates that an increasing amount of international resources will flow toward national-level initiatives, which could prompt organizations to boost their roster of local experts to remain relevant. So where will the job growth happen? It will likely be in the areas of energy efficiency, clean technology and disaster risk reduction, according to industry veterans Devex spoke with. What’s available? “If you look across our team [at UNDP], they come from all walks of life and all sorts of backgrounds, because many, many years ago, it was very rare to study the science of climate change,” Scheuer said. Similarly, there’s no one particular type of organization that’s engaging more people with associated expertise. All the usual suspects — development banks, bilateral donors, consulting firms, nongovernmental organizations, foundations and think tanks — are hiring. What you need to have In general, climate-related posts require candidates to have field experience and technical expertise in a particular sector, whether that be forestry, coastal management, agriculture or health. “Climate change is really being spun in a lot of different ways. It's important for people to know that many careers that were like forestry before may now be called climate change mitigation via REDD+,” said Hope Herron, senior climate change specialist at TetraTech. “The main point here is that you should really think about the sector you're interested in, which may be old but the timeline for delivery has been moved up because of climate change, so there's new language around the job.” Technical experience is particularly important amid shifting funding. Advocacy, for example, may be losing momentum. “Funding for, say, anti-carbon and behavior change campaigns are trending downward, and young people and advocates generally may be stuck without work if they do not have technical experience,” noted Kelly Tobin, recruitment manager at Engility Corp., which is implementing a climate change resilience project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Having an advanced degree helps. That being said, the degree doesn’t necessarily have to be related to climate change as long as job seekers have strong technical knowledge in one or more sectors as a well a strong understanding of the key climate change mitigation and adaptation issues related to their field and how to address them, according to Tobin. Tobin added that Engility seeks people with a basic understanding of natural and climate sciences, economics and policy; project management and business development skills; an in-depth knowledge of a particular region; foreign language competencies; and advanced software knowledge like geographic information systems. Rebranding past work As more climate-related positions open up, some job seekers are rebranding their previous experience as climate work. What used to be called “watershed management,” for instance, is relabeled as “climate risk management.” Such a trend could make it difficult for young people with relevant degrees and field experience, even for those with strong analytical backgrounds, to compete with seemingly more experienced professionals. Hiring managers, Tobin suggested, should do due diligence by reviewing not only resumes but also online profiles and asking experience verification questions during interviews to determine the candidates’ true expertise in climate change. Career-building tips Industry veterans Devex spoke to agreed that anyone who wants build a climate-related career in global development should get field experience and understand the language of both climate change and development. “My advice would be to gain experience as quickly as possible, to know not to expect to get the dream job today when you leave the university but be clear where you want to go, use the opportunities to build that experience to understand how development in general works, and within that, specialize a bit more,” Tobin said. For her, job seekers should also acquire broad experience such as in designing and conducting field and survey research, business development, proposal writing and project budgets. They should also keep up with the trends by having a firm understanding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s projections and downscaling. But while Tobin noted the downward trend of funding advocacy and behavior change programs, Herron, meanwhile, emphasized the value of knowing how to effect behavioral change in addition to technical skills. “Working with stakeholders for behavior change, on transformational technology — the things that are important for scaling and catalyzing the efforts — could be the differentiator for someone that's really interested in working in climate change,” she said. And just like any job, candidates for climate-related positions shouldn’t shy away from networking, attending events and seeking out professionals working in the field to learn more about their position and organization. Interested in working on climate change issues? Check all of the jobs related to climate change on the Devex job board. Looking to make a career move? Visit our career center for expert advice on how to navigate your job search — all you need is a Devex Career Account to get started.