Chloe Munro Scholarship 2021 recipients

Georgia Cox
Project Officer
Carbon Market Institute

Tell us a bit about yourself personally and professionally

Personally, and professionally I am deeply inquisitive, driven, and determined to create a long-lasting positive impact on this planet.

I have a passion for learning about other cultures, foreign languages, travel and doing anything that will get me out of my comfort zone.

What was your pathway into the carbon abatement industry?

I have always had a passion for sustainability and living within our means. I care deeply about our environment and social equity, so I studied climate change communication, international development and then corporate sustainability.

Working in various sustainability roles I experienced the ongoing challenges of implementing sustainability initiatives within an organisation. I became increasingly aware of the cognitive and behavioural barriers to climate change mitigation and developed an understanding of ways to positively incentivise action. This led me to look into the concept of market-based mechanisms for driving decarbonisation, which in turn led me to my current role at the Carbon Market Institute.

What leadership impact do you hope to make with the scholarship?

Throughout my career, I want to champion a culture of leading through deep collaboration, empathy and empowerment of others. I hope that this scholarship will allow me to set these foundations that I will be able to draw upon for many years to come.

In turn I aspire to provide opportunities for young people to bridge the daunting gap between their studies and professional career. I want to be a role model for other women to pave their own path and create their own career narrative. I also want to be a staunch champion for gender equity in parental leave entitlements and work-life balance.

I want to help others see that it doesn’t matter what socioeconomic background or educational discipline you come from, if you have drive and ambition, you can have impact in the world.

In a male-dominated industry, what advice or encouragement would you give women who want to work in the clean energy sector?

Take every opportunity because one will lead to another which will lead to another. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to experts in the field, ask them questions or enquire about potential work opportunities. Even if nothing comes of it immediately (which is most likely), you will have at least made an impression, planted a seed, or learnt something from the interaction.

Typically, women feel a lot of self-doubt and this hinders our collective careers more than we like to admit. If you present yourself as unsure of yourself, as timid, or unworthy, then unfortunately, that’s how you will be perceived. But when you take those opportunities – those risks – then you start to prove to yourself that you can get that new role, you can speak to that seasoned professional you admire, you can put forward your bold idea to the team. Sometimes to break the cycle of self-doubt, you must feign confidence ever so slightly.

This is another gender stereotype, but it’s one for a reason and it’s an important cycle to break: don’t let others talk over the top of you in meetings. Call it out (constructively and professionally of course). Others will thank you for it.

Why is it important to support female leaders in the clean energy industry and what improvements could be made to increase the number of women in renewables?

In any given industry, it’s important to support an under-represented group of people to lead, be role models and to champion diversity. We need a diverse range of leadership styles, and we can only get this if we have diversity of people – of gender, race, background, and so on.

Decarbonisation industries are no different. In general, we have a higher proportion of women working in sustainability roles, but few women working in the technical and leadership aspects of sustainability. So, supporting young women to develop their technical expertise and leadership skills will be crucial to increasing the number of women in decarbonisation industries. For this reason, I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to develop my leadership skills through the Chloe Munro Scholarship.

Somebody I admire very much once said to me: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” So, we need to showcase female leaders. We need to put them front and centre – at industry events, university talks, schools, and in mentoring roles – to demonstrate to young people that their glass ceiling is no longer defined by their gender.