Why I quit Google to join the ‘green collar’ revolution

Being a Google employee is great.

You’re at the centre of the incredibly exciting digital transformation industry. You work alongside some of the best, most talented people in the world. You’re constantly learning. And you’re looked after in terms of pay and perks. By many accounts, it’s a ‘dream job’.

That’s why it was so hard for me to quit.

I spent most of the COVID lockdown in a cottage in the French countryside, where I used the forced isolation time to immerse myself in the most pressing issue of our – of all – time: the climate crisis. The more I learned, the more concerned I grew. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that my climate awakening happened in unison with another period of self-transformation: becoming a parent.

This shift made me reevaluate what it really means to ‘provide the best’ for my child. In the face of record-breaking heat spells, cascading extreme weather events and accelerated biodiversity loss, what could be more important than stewarding in a safe and stable climate for my son, and all future generations to come?

In a recent Women’s Agenda report, 82% of the women polled were “very worried about climate change”, while 62% of women said their family’s health and wellbeing has been impacted by climate change. On top of this, women unjustly carry a lot more of the ‘climate load’ – the burden, stress and labour of reducing emissions at home or responding to climate-caused disruptions.

While I was happy and comfortable in my role, I was living in a bubble. My job wasn’t overtly harming the climate, but considering Google generates over 80% of its revenue from advertising that fuels consumption, it wasn’t in service to it, either. I felt compelled to make a change. After all, if we don’t solve the climate crisis, nothing else matters.

So in 2020 I resigned and joined the ‘green collar’ workforce, dedicating my career to the climate cause. I landed a role as head of experience at WorkforClimate – a non-profit organisation that helps climate-concerned professionals turn their companies into climate champions from the inside out.

In my job, I’m educating and empowering employees to become a voice for change within their businesses to help us decarbonise the planet faster. WorkforClimate has taught me that you don’t have to quit your dream job, whether it’s at Google or any other organisation, to join the ‘green collar’ workforce and work in the sustainability sector. People created companies, and people can change companies. People like you.

The fact is that many employees who are worried about the climate, work for companies that contribute to its warming. 187 companies out of 200 listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (the ASX200) make up 32% of Australia’s operational emissions. And it’s not just fossil fuel companies. Every business, industry, job and product relies on energy. And as long as the majority of our energy comes from fossil fuels, then most organisations are contributing to climate change just to maintain business as usual.

That’s why I believe your current job is the biggest tool in your climate toolkit. Yes, really.

If you’re a full-time employee, you spend about one-third of your life – or 1,700 hours a year on average – at work. If your company is working against your climate values, that’s a lot of time to cope with the conflict between what you think and what you do. Imagine instead that you could dedicate some – if not all – of this time to applying your skill set to help stem your company’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Welcome to the growing rank of ‘climate intrapreneurs’ – ambitious and talented employees of all stripes, skillsets and seniority levels who want to leverage their organisation’s resources to create a positive climate impact. At WorkforClimate, we help arm these employees with the skills and networks needed to do this work, including a self-paced academy course, online resources and a passionately connected community. As well as educating employees about pragmatic steps they can take to drive climate action at work, we also aim to empower them with the essential leadership skills to become a voice for change in their business.

The good news is, we already have some of the tools we need to create meaningful change. Corporations can make the switch to renewable energy solutions. They can decarbonise their supply chains and operations. They can divest their money from fossil fuels. They can advocate for climate policy. If enough companies start doing these things, it will go a long way towards shifting how the system operates, taking us towards a safer, more equitable and more sustainable future. And employees can drive these actions, creating an outsized impact every step of the way.

This internal momentum from employees can help organisations reach those positive tipping points to become climate leaders instead of laggards, which in turn creates the bigger positive tipping points we need to get back on a safe climate trajectory. Every person, every business, every community pushing for change is getting us closer to our end goal: a climate that can sustain us, our environment and future generations to come.

This is the work of our lifetime. Let’s get to it.

Laure Legros is an ex-corporate employee and the head of experience at WorkforClimate.

This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.