Foreword

It is clear that, as a whole, private sector action is not meeting the scale or severity of the climate crisis.

Companies must redefine what they believe to be ambitious climate action and change how they do business to align with a healthy climate for the planet and all people. And while businesses may seem like unmovable entities driven by profit, we often forget one key detail: they are made up of people. They consist of employees like you and me, each with a unique set of passions, skills, and knowledge.

Because employees are what keep businesses running, they have immense power to create change—indeed, they are some of the most critical drivers of elevated corporate climate action. But for too long, climate action has been siloed in under-resourced sustainability teams. How can we expect just one small team within a company (if there even is one) to engage all corners of an organization? Thankfully, non-sustainability employees are waking up to the fact that they, too, can use their positions for climate action. Every job is becoming a climate job.

Product managers are especially well poised to use their roles to accelerate climate action in the workplace. Weaving together business, technology, and user experience—and interacting with various stakeholders along the way—product managers can be effective and far-reaching climate communicators. With a bird’s eye view of the product journey, employees in these roles have multiple opportunities to integrate and elevate climate considerations to the same status as product usability, feasibility, and profitability. And, perhaps most importantly, product managers not only influence internal product processes and decisions, but their efforts to integrate climate can shift user behavior and have external ripple effects that extend far beyond their organization.

Product managers work with some of the most strategic levers for ensuring climate is a central part of business decisions—using their existing position and expertise, they can support their companies in becoming climate champions. In this playbook, you will learn that to be a product leader is to also be a climate leader.

—Aiyana Bodi
Manager, Employee Engagement, Drawdown Business Coalition