Degrees features interviews with sustainability changemakers—entrepreneurs, leaders in government and academia, activists, and Fortune 100 employees —including many Climate Corps alumni.
Climate Careers Podcast
Environmental Defense Fund
Overview
THE ISSUE
Applications to EDF’s Climate Corps fellowship program were steadily increasing even though the program’s acceptance rate remained the same. Meanwhile, Gen Z and Millennials’ interest in pursuing purpose-driven careers – with pro-climate, sustainability-minded employers – was surging. Cristina Mestre dug deeper and uncovered an unmet need in the market: job seekers’ demand for information about and tips on finding climate-focused careers far outweighed the available supply of reliable, trustworthy data and resources.
01
OUR APPROACH
This gap created an opportunity for EDF to not only help young people position themselves for and find purpose-driven careers but also to raise awareness of the organization’s climate change expertise and its Climate Corps program – especially with younger audiences. Cristina championed and created EDF’s first-ever podcast, focused on interviewing changemakers about how they got where they are – highlighting their obstacles, successes and failures along the way – and creating a community of green job seekers and mentors. Working in partnership with production firm Podcast Allies, the team created a community of green job seekers and mentors.
02
WHAT WE DID
Cristina developed a strategic plan for producing and launching the inaugural podcast. She also created a digital marketing and media campaign to generate attention for the podcast, highlight its trailblazing interviewees, and showcase EDF’s expertise on climate careers. Now in its sixth season, Degrees: Real Talk About Planet-Saving Careers, has repeatedly been featured on Apple’s top career podcasts list, and includes a global network of listeners.
03
Cristina and team also created a Green Jobs Hub to help young people navigate their climate and purpose-driven career search. The hub features organizations, research and resources to inform their job search and also helped drive new and younger audiences—and potential donors—to EDF’s website.
EDF’s Climate Corps fellowship program matches graduate students with top companies and organizations to advance climate and energy goals. EDF has embedded fellows with hosts like Google, IKEA, Kickstarter, the Mayo Clinic and Tata Steel.
Project Outcome
Empowering the Next Generation of Climate Leaders
The Degrees podcast is on Apple’s top 25 careers podcasts, with over 240,000 downloads, listeners in 175 countries, with multiple features on Spotify and Amazon Music. It has helped raise awareness of and funding for EDF’s Climate Corps program, and has introduced new and younger audiences to EDF. Further, it has helped empower climate career seekers with the resources, community and guidance needed in their job search.
One podcast listener said, “It’s not an exaggeration to say that this podcast changed the course of my life and my career. The episodes combine inspiring stories with real-life tactical pieces of advice that feel accessible and truly helpful.”