Quick Summary
- My journey into climate began with grassroots fieldwork in rural India, not offices or conferences.
- Climate is not a single issue but a polycrisis — biodiversity, water, and equity overlap with emissions.
- I created the Climate Primer Toolkit to give others a structured starting point I never had.
- Lessons from working with founders and investors: impact > scale, greenwashing risk, community solutions matter.
- The future of climate lies in circularity, regenerative agriculture, and bio-materials, not just AI or carbon credits.
- Climate is not a sector; it is the operating system of the future economy.
Why Climate Became My Compass
I didn’t step into climate from air-conditioned offices. I walked into it through India’s rural heartlands — observing NGOs at work, documenting resilience in tribal and slum communities, and learning what sustainability really means when resources are scarce.
From investigative visits to hilly regions, villages, and urban slums, to volunteering with initiatives like Exnora, my early journey was rooted in grassroots exposure rather than polished theory. Over time, this on-ground immersion evolved into structured learning through special scholarships on fellowships — including Terra.do’s Climate Fellowship, Climatebase’s Climate Fellowship, and OPF’s Sustainability Consulting Accelerator, and later into strategic advisory for founders, investors, and institutions.
Why Climate Work Needs Both Science and Systems Thinking
- The IPCC (2023) Sixth Assessment Report warns global emissions must peak before 2025 to keep 1.5°C within reach.
- Climate is not just an emissions issue; it’s a polycrisis overlapping with biodiversity loss, water stress, pollution, and equity.
- To solve this, we need systems thinking — understanding how climate intersects with various sectors like finance, geopolitics, technology, and psychology.
I would like to give you some examples so have more context on how system thinking saves you from trouble:
- Example 1: Waste Management — Why B2C Fails and Waste Mafias Win
In India’s waste sector, many startups that began in the B2C space quickly realized the hard truth: behavior change at scale is almost impossible. Getting households to segregate waste consistently requires cultural shifts, not just apps or bins. These companies ended up becoming capex-heavy, struggling to sustain operations or turn a profit.
As a result, most pivoted to B2B models, servicing corporates, municipalities, or industrial clients instead of chasing consumer adoption. Even there, they faced entrenched “waste mafias” and politically backed players who monopolize contracts and squeeze out new entrants. The lesson? Innovation alone doesn’t guarantee survival when systems are corrupted or captured.
Example 2: EVs — The Governance Trap of Scaling Too Fast
In the EV space, indigenous battery startups face an uphill battle. Building domestic battery tech is extremely costly, while imports from China flood the market at lower prices. Even when Indian startups secure early investor backing, they get caught in a vicious cycle: chasing ever-higher valuations, burning cash, and firefighting to stay alive against foreign competition.
In this scramble, governance and ethics often take a back seat. Startups cut corners, inflate numbers, or make promises they can’t deliver, all in the race to unicorn status. Eventually, investors pull out — sometimes because of ethical lapses, sometimes simply because the ecosystem itself doesn’t support local players enough to compete with Chinese supply chains. The result: even promising companies sink, not for lack of innovation, but because market dynamics, foreign pressure, and governance cracks overwhelm them.
Why I Built a Climate Change Primer Toolkit
When I first started exploring sustainability in 2019, my learning was scattered and unstructured. Blogs, YouTube channels, academic papers — none gave me a complete picture.
Through voluntary work, pro bono consulting, and persistence, I pieced things together. I also earnt money doing odd projects and saved up to enrol in courses. Later, I got to enrol in fellowships (through scholarships) and they gave me structured frameworks. But not everyone can afford to invest 1–3 lakhs or spend years figuring out where to begin.
That’s why I created the Climate Primer Toolkit — a structured, self-paced resource I wish I had at the start.
What is the Climate Primer Toolkit?
A self-paced resource with 7 parts, 29 topics, and 250+ subtopics that introduces learners to climate science, solutions, and career pathways.
It’s the entire map of the climate landscape, a curated entry point before diving into fellowships, jobs, or advanced studies. I would like to tell you that this in anyway doesn’t compare to an experience you would gain out of a fellowship however this specific toolkit is for you to unpack all of climate in a structured, asynchronous, self-paced manner. You can consider this a wikipedia for climate. It has all the topics. You can feed the same data into an AI and that could do wonders for you too.
Who is the toolkit for?
Anyone curious about climate careers — students, professionals pivoting sectors, or entrepreneurs exploring sustainability.
Why charge for the toolkit?
Because it distills 6 years of lived experience, fellowships, and consulting insights into a structured guide. The price reflects the value while keeping it affordable.
The Problem: 200 Conversations, Same Questions
In recent months, my inbox has been filled with DMs like:
“Can we get on a quick call? I want to transition to climate. I want to pick your brains. I want some guidance. I want a job.”
Here’s the reality: I’m a consultant. Time is money. I charge ₹3,000/hour for a reason. But I also care about impact.
So instead of repeating the same conversation 200 times, I invested 15–20 hours into creating a comprehensive toolkit. It captures everything I typically share on paid calls — including worksheets, tools, and truths nobody tells you about climate job hunting.
The toolkit helps you:
→ Map your passions, skills, and interests
→ Align them with climate roles
→ Understand how hiring really works in this space
→ Build your portfolio and proof of work
→ Avoid mental burnout from aimless searching
I even included exercises from my own journey — like using personality tests to avoid misaligned roles. As an INTJ, I discovered my strength lies in long-term strategy — and I want others to reach that clarity faster.
Toolkit price? About the cost of a Swiggy meal or cappuccino. Because if you’re serious, you’ll invest. If not, free advice won’t change outcomes.
Lessons from Building in the Climate Ecosystem
From my work with EcoHQ, Zha VC, TN W.O.M.E.N, and RecycleNXT, I’ve learned:
- Not all scale is good scale. Impact must precede growth.
- Greenwashing is a systemic risk.
- Community-led solutions are undervalued. Grassroots water conservation or rural solar projects often outperform flashy frontier tech.
- Climate tech’s future goes beyond AI. The real breakthroughs are in bio-based materials, regenerative agriculture, water equity, and circular construction.
The Future: Climate as the OS of the Economy
- Renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels in most regions.
- AI + Climate Tech is revolutionizing risk prediction, carbon accounting, and resilience planning.
- Youth and fandom-driven activism are reshaping narratives faster than traditional institutions.
Climate is not a vertical. It is the horizontal layer shaping every industry and future economy. In the future, every job will become a Climate job!
Credits
This article is written by Deepa Sai