WorkingNation logo with the tagline of "Covering the Future of Work"
DONATE
Search
WIP Taj Eldridge
Tags   
Tags 

Sustainability is no longer a stand-alone idea and that’s creating a growing demand for green workers

A conversation with Taj Eldridge, managing director of climate innovation, JFFLabs
By Ramona Schindelheim
-

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Youtube Music | RSS

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Taj Eldridge, managing director of Climate Innovation at JFFLabs, joins me to talk about how the rapidly growing demand for workers in jobs that are addressing climate change.

The climate is changing and we need millions of green workers to help prepare for, recover from, and adapt to these changes. And we’re not just talking about solar panel installers and wind turbine technicians. In fact, these jobs make up a very small fraction of the green jobs and potential green jobs out there.

“We believe that all jobs can be and will be green jobs,” says Eldridge. “The reason for that is because we think that sustainability is no longer going to be this offset by itself idea. It is encompassing everything that we’re doing, from what we’re putting inside of our bodies, how our food has grown to what we’re putting on our bodies, the clothing that we’re wearing and the materials that we’re having as well.”

He adds that legacy companies in legacy industries are also thinking of new ways to become more sustainable to attract a new market. “We see that the population is pushing it, the population is wanting this. And I think that’s the difference from what we’ve seen before.”

In the Green Jobs Now report prepared by Lightcast for WorkingNation earlier this year, we estimate that there is the potential for 51 million green jobs – jobs helping repair the damage of climate change or preventing future damage – nationwide.

Some will be new jobs and some will be jobs that are redesigned with sustainability in mind. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will repair our roads and refurbish our bridges, is creating opportunities in industries such as construction, manufacturing, and architecture.

“I love the fact that our federal government decided to have these laws in place from the Infrastructure Act to the CHIPS and Science Act, and so many others, to really move us forward,” says Eldridge. “I also think that this idea of climate resiliency, the focus on climate and workforce is a global idea, (but) we’re in the adolescent phase. There’s a lot of growth. There’s a lot of changes and there’s a lot of organic changes.”

Helping workers and job seekers find the career opportunities connected to that movement into the green space is the mission of the Climate-Resilient Employers for a Sustainable Tomorrow (CREST) initiative, funded by Ares Charitable Foundation. CREST aims to close the gap between the demand for skilled green workers and the training needed to fill those positions.

JFFLabs is one of the partners – along with World Resources Institute (WRI) – in the initiative. It’s a nationwide effort, touching communities big and small.

Eldridge explains, “We are working with local regional opportunities, organizations, municipalities, universities, schools, and community colleges, in order to train and place individuals into these jobs. We have a quantitative goal. The goal is 25,000 jobs within five years, but that’s the minimum goal.”

“The hope is that the work that we’re doing is catalytic, that other organizations would come on and see the issues that we’re attacking and add to it, because we’re going to need more organizations focus on this, more partners and everyone else,” he adds.

Eldridge and I go into detail about the types of climate-resilient jobs that are being created through this green jobs movement. We also talk more about the CREST initiative, including its support for entrepreneurs who have starting companies with protecting and repairing the environment in mind, and its support of micro, small, and medium enterprises in India that are key to the global supply chain.

You can listen to our podcast here or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

WorkingNation produced a digital magazine about the CREST initiative – Climate and Careers – which you can read here.

Episode 298: Taj Eldridge, managing director of climate innovation, JFFLabs
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Related Articles
Get the latest from WorkingNation
DONATE
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Our Mission
Contact Us

© Copyright 2025 by Structural Unemployment, LLC dba WorkingNation

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.

Share Bio