In my role at Oxford HR, I work across many corners of the climate sector. I support NGO boards appointing chief executives, I speak with founders scaling climate ventures, I meet with campaign leaders, policy people and funders. Moving between these spaces, one thing stands out; we call it the ‘climate sector’, it is not a sector.
In actual fact it is a web of different communities across energy, food, finance, nature, justice, philanthropy and activism and more, each with its own set of priorities and pace. In one conversation, I might be discussing energy transition, in another, I am hearing from campaigners focused on calling out injustice. Later the same day, I find myself speaking with a foundation exploring how to deploy funding responsibly.
These worlds share a common goal; to protect people and planet, but they operate with different assumptions. Each is serious about impact but their strategies and more often their language can feel worlds apart where phrases such as “net zero” or “just transition” carry meaning, but they also carry history, and in some rooms, they signal ambition and in others they raise concerns about equity or delay.
Another pattern I notice is the mismatch in time horizons. Investors talk in terms of return cycles; governments move within election terms; philanthropy often funds in three- to five-year commitments; grassroots organisations respond to immediate community needs. And yet in the climate space, all of this is surrounded by an urgency and a scarcity that is hard to comprehend as the planet warms and run-away climate change beds in.
At international gatherings like COP and others like it, the diversity of the field becomes visible in one location where negotiators, the private sector, civil society and community representatives, are all advocating for different but sometimes competing priorities.
From where I sit at Oxford HR, a leadership consultancy with a vision to unite leaders to achieve a sustainable future, that diversity is a strength as complex problems of course demand multiple approaches. But diversity without coordination creates strain and sometimes a sense that good leaders are not deployed where we need them, especially in a space already awash with burn out.
Leaders can feel pulled in opposing directions, accountable to stakeholders who do not always agree. It would be nice if everyone was on the same page. But climate change is not a single-issue problem with a single solution because it touches everything and, in every scenario, there will be losers. The task for leaders is not to eliminate difference but to work with it and find alignment where it exists and to keep moving forward anyway.
At this point, there are many things that could be said about what makes a successful climate leader who can navigate big problems, but very honestly, I no longer believe there is formula, a recipe or blueprint for this. When it comes to climate leadership there simply must be the will to carry on and the acceptance it can’t be perfect. The moment demands everything.
Zoe Greenwood
Zoe joined Oxford HR in 2018 after 16 years working in environment and climate. She has led the growth of the Environment, Climate, Conservation and Sustainability sector specialism in the organisation, working with a wide range of client such as WWF, Greenpeace, Mighty Earth, Global Canopy, Ethical Tea Partnership, the Clean Air Fund, Manufacture 2030, Climate Impact Partners and many more.
She is committed to finding and supporting leaders to address the climate and nature emergency. Zoe has a background in learning and development and communications and has worked in India, Ghana, Kenya, China, Brazil, Costa Rica, Brazil and Malaysian Borneo. She has collaborated with local organisations, global NGOs and climate scientists and to design and deliver nature-based behaviour change programmes and worked with the corporate sector to embed sustainability thinking into their operations and culture.
Zoe has a postgraduate degree from the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (University of Cumbria), she is a trained coach and facilitator and Co-Founder of the Climate Change Coaches.
