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The Climatebase Fellowship is the climate career accelerator for mission-driven professionals — an immersive twelve-week program and ongoing community built to help people advance their careers in climate and sustainability.
Fellows arrive with wide-ranging goals — most list at least three — ranging from getting new jobs, to launching startups and projects, to expanding their network and knowledge in the space, and beyond. Due to this diversity of goals, the Fellowship is not explicitly a job placement program; rather, it is a capacity-building program designed to support our Fellows individual pursuits. But for the roughly half whose primary goal is to land a new role, the Fellowship supports that transition through education, career guidance, and direct access to a community of thousands of alumni working in the space.
This report looks at the 2,328 Fellows from our first six cohorts — far enough past the program to have experienced meaningful career outcomes — and asks one simple question:
How has the Fellowship helped them build their careers in climate and sustainability?
The four numbers below are the short answer.
GRADUATES ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO WORK IN CLIMATE
increase in Fellows working in climate & sustainability after the Fellowship.
OVER ONE THOUSAND JOBSEEKER SUCCESS STORIES
alumni from our first six cohorts now working in climate roles.
FELLOWS GO ON TO WORK AT HUNDREDS OF CLIMATE ORGS
leading climate & sustainability organizations employing Fellows.
A VETTED COMMUNITY THAT BRINGS OPPORTUNITIES
join an organization where other Climatebase alumni already work.
Fellows come from every corner of the climate economy — and from well beyond it.
They arrive as engineers and educators, founders and first-time job-seekers — some with decades of experience, some pivoting in from an entirely different field.
Community figures span all nine cohorts. Outcome data later in the report covers the first six — far enough out to show meaningful results.
“I'm joining the Center for American Progress as Associate Director of State Climate Policy. I couldn't have done it without the Fellowship.”
“The Climatebase Fellowship is one of the best things I've ever done. It has been utterly transformative for my life and my career.”
“An incredibly valuable experience. Foundational knowledge across the climate space, and a supportive, passionate community of peers.”
The data on how much the Fellowship raises Fellows' odds of getting a climate job, where they land, and how the network opens doors.
“I'm pumped to share that I recently started a new role as Operations Manager for Education and Engagement at National Wildlife Federation! I'm especially grateful to my family and friends who encouraged and supported me in this career transition and also for the many resources and connections I got through the Climatebase Fellowship.”
“I'm incredibly excited to announce I've started today as a Senior Product Designer at the Open Earth Foundation! For me, this is a dream come true. This journey has included participation in reforestation projects, birdwatching, and dedicated learning in sustainable UX design and climate literacy through the Climatebase Fellowship.”
“I'm thrilled to share that I've started a new position as Full Stack Engineer at Recover Ag! Recover Ag is an early-stage climate tech company helping farmers adopt regenerative practices that improve soil health, increase resilience, and sequester carbon — making agriculture part of the climate solution. I'm incredibly proud to join this amazing team and contribute to that mission. Many thanks to Climatebase for making this connection possible!”
From our first six cohorts, across climate & sustainability.
A sample of the 250+ organizations where alumni now work.
“The Climatebase Fellowship on its own is a huge differentiator for job applicants.
It’s just a lot easier to onboard folks who have some sense of the vocabulary and the ecosystem — that will immediately make you stand out.”
“The Climatebase Fellowship is where we’ve hired most of our team members. If you’re coming from outside of the climate industry, I would want to know what steps you have taken to build your awareness and fluency in the vocabulary and to understand the moving parts. It’s the right place if you want to find opportunities with employers in the climate space.”
“Climatebase Fellowship has been the source of some of our best hires!
Their team is extremely professional and efficient, particularly during the sessions that take place during the Climatebase Fellowship, where we meet so many talented Fellows.”
You're not just joining a twelve-week program — you're joining a community of thousands of Climatebase Fellows who are building careers, launching projects, growing companies, and driving climate solutions across the ecosystem.
of graduates landed their role at an organization where a Fellowship alum already works.
Many Fellows are already working at climate organizations and companies around the world, creating a powerful peer network that extends far beyond your cohort. Through that community, Fellows find collaborators, mentors, friends, and job opportunities.
“I connected with a Fellow who was already at EVgo. They referred me, and that referral is what got me in the door.”
“I joined to get clarity on the climate tech landscape, and I got that — but what I didn’t expect was how powerful the network would be. While building an energy demand forecasting model for my capstone, I connected with a Fellow who was already at EVgo. They referred me, and that referral is what got me in the door.”
Climatebase Fellows have organized 500+ in-person meetups across nine cohorts, all around the world.
Compared to applying cold, candidates who come in through an internal referral see dramatically better odds at every stage of the hiring funnel.
In the broader job market, referrals make up just 7% of applicants that account for nearly 40% of all hires. (Zippia / Jobvite hiring benchmarks)
In climate and sustainability specifically, 80% of jobs are filled through personal professional connections, making your network and the value of the Climatebase Fellowship far more critical for those who are applying to jobs. (Trellis / Environmental Defense Fund, 2024)
Sources: Jobvite, LinkedIn, and Greenhouse hiring benchmarks — referred candidates consistently outperform cold applicants by an order of magnitude.
Every fellow who lands a role becomes an insider — and future referral source — for the next one.
Stories from graduates building careers in climate — in their own words, from their own announcements.
Personal news: I'll be joining the Center for American Progress as Associate Director of State Climate Policy, starting in July.
American Progress is one of Washington's leading public policy think tanks, and I'll be joining an action-oriented team focused on helping states lead the way on clean energy, economic growth, and climate resilience. As federal momentum shifts, this work is more important than ever for delivering practical solutions that create jobs, strengthen communities, and protect public health.
At CAP, I'll bring experience managing successful campaigns, organizing coalitions, and strategizing for impact. I'm excited to apply that perspective to real policy work that centers people and supports market-driven approaches to addressing the climate crisis.
As a Louisiana native, I'm especially proud to contribute to a mission that speaks directly to frontline communities like the ones I come from.
Grateful to the Climatebase Fellowship for helping me break into the climate space, and thankful for both the good and tough experiences navigating Washington that brought me to this point. I'm stepping into this role more grounded, more focused, and ready to get to work.
Happy to share that I joined Forerunner last week as a Senior Product Designer! Over the past year, I've been intentionally exploring climate tech — huge shoutout to the Climatebase community for the education and connections along the way.
This is long overdue, but I'm still so excited to have joined Form Energy as a Staff Mechanical Engineer on the Cell Team. It was a long search for a role in Climate Tech, and I'm so glad I stuck with it in a tough job market. I'm motivated every day to roll up my sleeves and dig into really tough challenges because I know it has the potential to make a huge difference. And it never hurts to be part of an incredibly talented & down-to-earth team!
I'm excited to share that I've joined TheZero Inc. as Head of Supply Chain & Operations, partnering with Shalini Majumdar to build the business side of the company. At Zero, we transform global crop, food, and agricultural waste into renewable biochar to cut CO₂ emissions and unlock new pathways to net-zero energy, fuels, and materials.
The past year has been one of deep reflection and getting clear on what I want my career to stand for. Thank you to Kim Conroy for pushing me to be honest with myself about impact and purpose. You are truly the best career advisor a Lauder Institute alum could ask for.
I'm also grateful to the Climatebase Community for the camaraderie and courage to pursue a career in climate.
I'm happy to share that I've started a new position as Manager at the Oji Management Office in Tokyo, Japan.
I'm deeply grateful to everyone who supported my transition from the non-profit to the private sector — and for the connections and knowledge I gained through the Climatebase Fellowship.
In this role, I'll be engaged in nature-positive projects across company-owned forests around the world. I'm excited to deepen my understanding of corporate sustainability, particularly the value of forests and natural capital accounting.
In December, I took the first steps towards a new career in climate, joining the Rappel team as a Decarbonization Delivery Analyst! I'll be helping businesses make data-driven plans to achieve their sustainability goals and intelligently prioritize projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Even just a month in, I'm already energized by the depth of expertise on the team and could not be more excited for 2026. Meeting everyone from the LA office at our holiday party was a highlight of the season for me!
Deep gratitude goes to the many folks who helped encourage and mentor me through this change — Climatebase Fellows, colleagues at Haven, and every friend who helped me start this new chapter.
I'm excited to share that I accepted an offer with Greentech Renewables. Huge month. Still letting it sink in.
This month I graduated from Drexel University's LeBow College of Business with my MBA and completed my Cohort 8 Fellowship at Climatebase, an experience that sharpened my thinking and connected me with people actively building in climate and clean energy.
One of the most valuable parts of this stretch was taking ideas off the slide deck and into the real world. Through MeCal, a Climatebase Fellowship project focused on advanced insulation materials for building retrofits led by Melissa (Ying) Chen, I worked through what it actually takes to move an early-stage climate technology forward. That experience reshaped how I think about strategy and impact.
Grateful to my professors at Drexel, the Climatebase team and Fellows, mentors who offered candid feedback, and friends who kept me grounded when the pace picked up.
After building my career in big tech, I'm thrilled to be channeling everything I've learned about scaling ideas into something that really matters — climate 🌍
I've joined Mission Zero Technologies, a company pulling CO₂ straight from the air to help build a world that thrives in balance with carbon.
My focus will be on bringing our direct air capture technology to market — we're looking for partners turning atmospheric CO₂ into things like carbon-negative building materials, sustainable aviation fuels, or safely storing it underground to reach Net Zero by 2050.
Finding the right opportunity in climate has been a journey. Through the Climatebase Fellowship and months of learning and volunteering across the carbon removal space — including at CDR30: The Global CDR Initiative at COP30 — I realized I wanted to work with people building real solutions, not just talking about them. That's why Mission Zero immediately stood out to me.
This week I got to meet the brilliant Mission Zero team in London and visit our labs and one of our projects at O.C.O Technology Ltd's Norfolk site.
A huge thanks to Lukas and Maria for helping me land this incredible opportunity, and to Jamie, Shiladitya, Nicholas, Gaël, Tom, Emily and the whole MZT team for the warm welcome!
Let's go 🌱
I've always believed that true health comes from caring for both people and the planet. That belief, rooted in my Yaqui heritage, has shaped my career journey from health tech into climate impact, and I'm excited to share that I've begun a new role at Terraformation!
Earlier this summer, I completed the Climatebase Fellowship (Cohort 7), a transformative experience that kickstarted my career in climate. The fellowship introduced me to carbon markets, nature-based solutions, and climate innovation, while connecting me with an inspiring community of changemakers. It reinforced my commitment to addressing root causes by expanding my focus from individual health to planetary health.
At Terraformation Hawaiʻi, we are advancing native reforestation and carbon drawdown as part of a global initiative to combat climate change through large-scale native ecosystem restoration. By partnering with communities and landowners, we are restoring forests, strengthening ecosystems, and building cultural and ecological resilience for generations to come.
I'm excited to continue growing at the intersection of operations, sustainability, and impact, and to contribute to projects that deliver meaningful outcomes for both people and planet.
I'm super excited to share that I've joined Marine Biologics as a machine learning scientist leading AI Discovery! Marine Biologics exists at the fascinating intersection of sustainability, product development, and AI-driven molecular discovery. 🌊
I am thrilled to share that I have joined the team at Membrion, Inc. as a Senior Product Manager! Each and every day, I will help customers solve some of the toughest industrial wastewater challenges out there with Membrion's Electro-Ceramic Membrane Technology.
This role builds perfectly on my extensive experience bringing novel advanced material technologies to market at W. L. Gore & Associates while enabling me to deepen my professional commitment to hands on building of hard tech climate solutions!
I look forward to continuing to share my journey and the great things we're building at Membrion with you all!
Excited to share my next chapter! After an incredible journey through the Climatebase Fellowship, I'm thrilled to join Spare-it.
My work in building decarbonization now extends to a critical but often overlooked area — waste intelligence. While we've made great strides in energy efficiency and renewable systems, waste remains largely invisible in most buildings.
Spare-it changes that by making waste visible, measurable, and actionable at the building level empowering smart waste programs. I'm leveraging my experience at the intersection of sustainability, operations, and urban systems to democratize access to waste data — enabling organizations of all sizes to move the needle on their sustainability goals.
Grateful to the Climatebase Fellowship community for opening doors and to the Spare-it team for welcoming me aboard! 🌱
A 12-week cohort followed by ongoing community membership — built to launch and sustain a career in climate.
Accelerate your climate career.
Apply to the Fellowship