What Soft Skills Are Needed For A Career in Climate Action?

The threat of climate change is one of the biggest environmental problems facing humankind, leading to death and illness from weather-related extreme events (heatwaves, heavy downpours, tornadoes, etc.) and the disruption of food systems, which can cause major changes in availability or accessibility of essential sources of energy. There’s an urgent need for innovative solutions. Every industry, every profession, and every demographic can chip in to make the transition work – to avert catastrophe, we must decisively change direction and embrace net zero by reducing carbon emissions to a small number of residual emissions that can be absorbed and durably stored. 

As pressure mounts to address climate change, we’re likely to see greater support for careers in sustainability, which cover a diverse range of job titles and responsibilities. You can work in or consult for the government, third and private sectors.

Nonetheless, you can carve out a career with a future within organizations as more seek to address environmental, social, and economic issues; someday has finally become today. Green jobs are booming worldwide as more and more people are waking up to the realities of climate change and global warming.

The good news is you don’t have to be a lab-coat-wearing scientist to make a difference. For example, you can organize and improve access to training and education. 

Recruiters are making great efforts to find candidates with the right skills in spite of the large number of applications for each job. If you lack essential soft skills, you might not be able to fulfil the responsibilities of leadership or team collaboration adequately, so personal development should be an ongoing process. Developing the following interpersonal attributes can enhance your professional success: 

Empathy

Roles in climate change are typically roles of influence, and empathy helps you see things from the other’s perspective, understand their emotions, and foster stronger connections.

Using empathy can help you and your team members develop more creative solutions that address specific climate-related issues. Empathy can’t be rushed – it requires patience and presence, which means you should be calm as well as aware.

Equally important is to practice deep listening to build trust and resolve conflicts. It’s an approach that can be helpful when discussing difficult topics, as the listener(s) can be open to views they refute. 

Multi-Cultural Literacy

A global phenomenon, climate change affects all regions worldwide, raising economic, health, and national security issues. According to the experts at Miltek, some nations experience more adverse effects than others.

Europe is heating up more quickly than any other continent, experiencing temperature increases that are double the global average, and Member States are legally committed to fighting climate change by shifting economies towards carbon neutrality.

Denmark, for instance, has joined forces with the United Nations Environment Programme to protect nature and wildlife and assist countries in building climate resilience. 

Some of the highest-impact climate and restoration projects are based in locations where there’s not enough staff, so it’s necessary to work closely with local communities to assess their needs and come up with viable solutions.

Multi-cultural literacy consists of skills and aptitudes that help you navigate and engage with various cultures in a respectful manner. Become aware of your own cultural biases and assumptions so that you can communicate and interact effectively with people from ethnic groups.

Learning a new language opens the door to understanding another culture from the inside out, so spend half an hour studying every day.  

Leadership 

Fostering a healthy planet requires collective action beyond governments, and leadership plays a critical role in overcoming the initial barriers and ongoing difficulties encountered along the way.

Your agenda is packed with different types of get-togethers, such as conferences, working group sessions, summits, and so forth. If you’re not a natural-born leader, how do you become one?

Effective leaders are made, not born, so learn from trial and error and from experience. You can adopt a delegative style, giving your team lots of freedom in decision-making and ownership of projects. There’s no need to dictate every move – leadership is about balance and trust. 

Communication And Collaboration

Complex challenges like climate change can’t be solved in isolation, and partnerships are essential to provide the much-needed support and resources to prevent and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Moving forward requires constant communication.

Poor communication leads to conflict and more tension, which can cause decreased productivity and absenteeism. When sending a Slack message or drafting an email, use simple and straightforward language; with time, you’ll get better at conveying information. Ideally, you should talk face-to-face. Try to relax your body and facial expressions to avoid sending the wrong message. 

Collaboration is paramount to delivering results on projects that require teams of people working together, so incorporate some of your colleagues’ talents into your skill set. You must be willing to seek out new perspectives for better understanding and greater empathy, so take into account others’ beliefs, experiences, and viewpoints.

Teams are often convened swiftly to address urgent problems that require an immediate response, collaborating online and sometimes over long distances. When the project is complex and demanding, you must admit to yourself you need help. 

Problem-Solving 

Leveraging problem-solving skills is vital in solving the increasingly complicated and urgent issue of climate change. Irrespective of your title or job description, you must be able to concentrate on the root cause and generate feasible solutions, which involve critical thinking and analytic reasoning.

Finding solutions requires creativity and brainstorming; the best results stem from controlled sessions, and time spent on contingency planning equals time saved in an emergency. Bear in mind there are risks and factors that are difficult to foresee, so use the problem-solving tree to establish a realistic overview and awareness of the problem. 

Concluding Remarks 

If you’re interested in a career in climate and sustainability, develop your soft skills, or if there are soft skills you want to work on further, do some volunteering. Opportunities abound, with prospects spanning human rights groups, local institutions, and schools, so balance the risks and potential impacts of each decision you make.