Can you tell me a little about your work and professional journey, to set the stage?

Sure. I have no background in climate – that’s covering the technical aspects, knowledge, professional network…So working in climate now, it’s like restarting my career. I am a chartered accountant - I did my MBA at the Indian School of Business. I worked in mergers and acquisitions during the MBA and later, at an ecommerce company in Dubai.

The switch came when I had the chance to take an expedition to the Antarctic. Experiencing in person the changes that climate change is bringing to these ecosystems – which are the most fragile ecosystems on the planet – I realised that there are deep problems that need solving in the world.

But at work – I was making people buy stuff in 15 minutes, that was my job.

Right after the expedition, I quit my job to follow this new sense of purpose.

I was starting from scratch – I had no knowledge in the field of climate, as such, and no connections. I was lucky to win the ACT fellowship.

So I was trying to figure out who are the people who have the depth of knowledge, who I can ask for guidance.

I put out a post on Linkedin – that led to 20 people who showed up at a park in Gurgaon. All of different backgrounds, working in climate.

Back then, it was a passion project.

But then we realised that discoverability is actually an issue: professionals from different domains, but working towards the same climate solutions, did not have much of a platform to come together and meet each other.

The Solution: Climate Parties to build India’s Climate “Scenius”

 We wanted to bring together all the genius in the climate scene to build what we call the “scenius” – the collective genius of experts and professionals across the board in climate.

We held the first Climate Parties every month in Delhi and Gurgaon, to build consistency.

It’s usually all doom and gloom for those working in climate – without a lot of opportunities to make the pursuit of climate action fun. There are conclaves, conferences, mixers by VCs and so on – but these are usually exclusive and not action oriented.

We wanted a space that’s inclusive, and welcoming to people across domains in climate.

Bridging gaps

Initially, people found us through Linkedin, and our WhatsApp group.

We put in effort to bring in the missing groups: although we had students, VCs, and policymakers, mediapersons – journalists and so on – had to be better represented.

We were certain that we wanted to keep our platform in real-life physical space. If you’ve been in online platforms – there’s this sense of noisiness, you tend to get lost in Slack channels after a while.

We started getting good turnouts in Delhi and Gurgaon – and also requests from other cities. Now The Climate Party is spread across 6 cities in India – Bombay, Bangalore, Goa, Hyderabad, in addition to our first two.

A lot of people also reached out to us – for everything from business collaborations to investment to jobs. And people from cities as diverse as Surat, Kochi, Pune, Nasik – want to open chapters too.

40% of our participants [this month in Bangalore] were here because someone else called them – word of mouth. And we have a great repeat rate.

So from 0 - 6 cities now. And people have been really kind.

That’s quite a journey. You mentioned that the Climate Parties like to test out new formats – any examples?

The idea is to give people an experience they haven’t had before. Earlier we had a completely DIY kind of experience – where the participants, without any panel, had a mediated self-learning session and then networking. We also had events where we matched people based on their professional interests, what kind of knowledge they’re seeking, that kind of thing.

There are a lot of people now working on awareness, and I think in general the public consciousness on climate and sustainability is probably pretty high now. In your opinion, is there still scope for awareness? What do you think should be the next step?

 We definitely have a lot of scope to bring in more people. Especially in our country – India has such a massive population. We have diversity in every strata – geographically, economically, socially…there is no one size fits all. We need localized solutions, and actual on ground work – not just lip service.

In that respect, we’ve just begun.

Largely, people may have some awareness but it still needs to hit home. People don’t understand the second order of effects [of climate change]. And they may not understand until they feel it themselves.

It’s that sense of realisation that’s still lacking – a lot of people live in a rut, just taking one day after the other – not really taking time out to think. So in that respect we do need more people to actually become aware, and start acting on it.

What areas or sectors in sustainability are you personally excited about, where is there potential for most growth?

From the Indian perspective, we’ve just scratched the surface. I actually think the biggest innovations of the next few decades will come from the climate space. I’ve done an op-ed on my newsletter – Why am I optimistic about climate change.

There’s such massive potential for growth, there’s so much that needs to be done.

Personally, I’m interested in food wastage – in stopping food wastage at source rather than at consumption level.

And also in sustainable fashion. Fashion houses are great at creating and fueling a cycle of demand. I think consumerism is at the root of a lot of problems.

What tips or advice would you give to students or professionals wanting to start in the climate space?

 Two key things:

1. Leverage your passion. I know a bunch of founders, when they’re looking to hire they want to see passion for the field. Learning always happens on the job.

And climate startups have a meaningful purpose, but they run just like a company. They need everything - branding, finance departments, IT, legal…If you have genuine passion, you can always learn on the go.

2. Network well: Putting yourself out there gets half the job done – if you do, you’re already ahead of half the people that just aren’t visible. Use platforms – whether it’s the Climate Party, LinkedIn, cold emails… Degrees and aptitude won’t get you where your tenacity gets you.

 Especially in the climate space, we’re still figuring it out; because everyone is learning, everyone needs each other. Science is evolving and new things come up every day. It’s the best time to capitalize on people’s helpful nature. 

Even in the Climate Party’s whatsapp group, people are so proactive that anyone’s call for help is always answered either in minutes or hours - rarely in days.

 I’ve also done this podcast with the Transitions Research thinktank – for people navigating climate careers.