Why young workers are leaving fossil fuel jobs – and what to do if you feel like 'climate quitting'
- Written by Grace Augustine, Associate Professor in Business & Society, University of Bath
Are you frustrated with your employer’s lack of commitment to sustainability? Maybe “climate quitting[1]” is for you. Climate quitting means leaving your job due to concerns about your employer’s impact on the climate or because you want to work directly on addressing climate issues.
If you’re contemplating leaving your job over climate concerns, you’re not alone. Half of Gen Z employees[2] (people born between the late 1990s and early 2010s) in the UK have already resigned from a job due to a conflict in values. And 48% of people aged 18–41[3] say they are willing to take a pay cut to work for a company that aligns with their sustainability values.
Oil and gas companies in particular are finding it difficult to attract new talent[4], in part because they have been losing credibility[5] amid the growing climate crisis. This trend of climate quitting only adds to the industry’s talent challenges.
Organisational hypocrisy
A study we carried out in 2021[15] found that many companies in the energy sector go for clean rhetoric instead of green action and dilute their responsibility to take climate action. Our interviewees witnessed hypocrisy too, or a difference between what their corporate employers publicly announced regarding the clean energy transition and what they prioritised internally.
Some research[16] has found that oil and gas employees are often able to live with this dissonance. But the people we interviewed reported a growing sense of discomfort and value conflict at work, which ultimately got them thinking about leaving.
This comes as no great shock. A study from 2012[17] found that when employees in the oil and gas industry perceived their employers to be only pursuing environmental actions or claims in order to present a climate-friendly public image, they lose trust and identification with their employers.
Failure to create change from within
Our prior research finds that people often join organisations with the specific goal[18] of trying to get their employers to better address climate change and sustainability, by taking on new roles[19] such as sustainability managers. However, many of the interviewees from our unpublished research ultimately decided to quit following their failed attempts to affect change from within. Some had joined sustainability task forces at work, while others tried to move into roles that were focused on the clean energy transition. But, by and large, they did not feel that they were having the impact that they desired.
This is probably because most oil and gas companies dedicate only a small fraction[20] of their investments and operations towards fossil fuel alternatives. This means there are few internal opportunities for climate-conscious employees.
Taking on a climate job
Research[21] finds that it’s often easier for oil and gas employees with climate concerns to overcome their sense of value conflict and dissonance by changing their own minds rather than changing their jobs. But with new opportunities in the renewable energy sector, there is increasingly a place for energy experts to go.
The career trajectories of our interviewees conform with grave predictions for talent in the fossil fuel industry. A survey of 10,000 energy professionals[22] in 2022 found that 82% of respondents would consider switching out of oil and gas within the next three years. Half of these people said they hoped to move into renewables.
If you’re considering this type of move, there is a growing community of organisations with the mission to mobilise for climate quitting – including Work on Climate[24], Terra.do[25] and My Climate Journey[26]. They provide mentoring, support networks, job boards and training to help people move into climate jobs.
It may be time for oil and gas firms to finally reconsider their business decisions in the wake of employees’ concerns about the climate crisis and in pursuing value alignment in their work.
References
- ^ climate quitting (www.bloomberg.com)
- ^ Half of Gen Z employees (www.paulpolman.com)
- ^ 48% of people aged 18–41 (www.paulpolman.com)
- ^ finding it difficult to attract new talent (www.wsj.com)
- ^ losing credibility (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ This article is part of Quarter Life (theconversation.com)
- ^ How to challenge toxic behaviour and help someone being bullied or harassed at work (theconversation.com)
- ^ How you can future-proof your career in the era of AI (theconversation.com)
- ^ Three mindfulness and meditation techniques that could help you manage work stress (theconversation.com)
- ^ downplay its role (www.sciencedirect.com)
- ^ survey from 2022 (www.ons.gov.uk)
- ^ International Energy Agency’s 2021 Report (www.iea.org)
- ^ rolling back their prior climate commitments (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ m.afiqsyahmi/Shutterstock (www.shutterstock.com)
- ^ study we carried out in 2021 (journals.sagepub.com)
- ^ research (www.sciencedirect.com)
- ^ study from 2012 (link.springer.com)
- ^ with the specific goal (researchportal.bath.ac.uk)
- ^ taking on new roles (pubsonline.informs.org)
- ^ small fraction (journals.plos.org)
- ^ Research (www.sciencedirect.com)
- ^ survey of 10,000 energy professionals (www.getireport.com)
- ^ Mark Agnor/Shutterstock (www.shutterstock.com)
- ^ Work on Climate (workonclimate.org)
- ^ Terra.do (terra.do)
- ^ My Climate Journey (www.mcjcollective.com)
