Our focus for diversity and inclusion throughout 2025 has been on establishing clear internal policies and processes, giving back to the community through volunteering and putting the Canary Code into practice at Life Size. But now we want to think about how we can start supporting other climate tech companies with their efforts.
This led us to a report, put together by Climate Mosaic earlier this year, called ‘The (Other) Climate Gap: Diversity in Climate Tech’. The extensive report gathered insights from investors and operators to shape a clear picture of how intersectional diversity interacts with climate tech innovation.
The findings were interesting but, unfortunately, unsurprising. They reveal that many climate tech companies begin and end their diversity and inclusion efforts at recruitment.
Only considering diversity and inclusion at the hiring stage is not enough; we want to share with you the ways we are building inclusivity into the fabric of our company, so you can do the same.
Why diversity and inclusion in climate tech is still so far behind
The report by Climate Mosaic revealed that representation at entry-level in climate tech companies is improving, but power remains concentrated. For example, women often hold mid-level roles but rarely reach the C-suite, and women and ethnic minorities are underrepresented on investment committees and boards.
The key takeaway from the data that has been presented in this report – and from our own experience having worked in this ecosystem for 15 years – is that many companies think diversity and inclusion begins and ends at recruitment. If we have an inclusive hiring process and we are getting diverse applicants and new starters, then we have solved the D&I problem in our workplace.
But this is not the case. Recruitment is only half the battle.
Recruitment is a starting point, but there is more work that follows
In the report, I was struck by a quote from an investment director at an early-stage VC:
‘It’s very easy to fall into this thinking of “we need to recruit more underrepresented people” and then that’s where it stops. But we’ve learned and seen that that’s no good – you have to think about retention; pay, culture, giving them agency, encouraging them to speak up and feel included.’
This perfectly sums up the problematic thinking amongst climate tech companies. Diversity and inclusion can’t stop at recruitment, and it’s because of this thinking that we are seeing such a lack of representation in leadership roles and retention challenges for these underrepresented groups.
Inclusion has to be embedded into the culture of the company, and opportunities – such as promotions and training – need to be transparent and made available to everyone. By championing diverse talent all the way up, companies can begin to foster truly inclusive workplaces.
How to start building a truly inclusive workplace beyond recruitment
The report goes on to list 10 actionable strategies that act as a blueprint for any organisation that wants to build a framework for diversity and inclusion. We have shaved it down to three simple considerations that we have been practicing.
The first is organisational culture. If you are welcoming diverse talent into your company but not making them feel safe and supported, then the efforts are meaningless. This is why it is important to celebrate diversity by recognising cultural events, to create safe spaces for employees to share their concerns or feedback, and to integrate care and flexibility into the workplace through adaptive work design and inclusive benefits.
Then you can tackle leadership pipelines to ensure that diverse hires are given access to the same opportunities that will lead to progression into senior roles. A great way to address this is by offering career development support to all employees. This is something we do at Life Size with our coaching programme, which every Life Sizer has the option to utilise.
Finally, the everyday decisions that a company makes have arguably the greatest impact on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Diversity and inclusion must be operationalised, not idealised, which is why everyone in the company should be involved in the decision-making process, where possible.
Some examples of how we make decisions as a company are through anonymous surveys and feedback forms, a voting system for electing our employee representative and by bringing discussions to places like Slack or team meetings to encourage open conversations where everyone can participate.
And these three actions are to all be factored in alongside a diverse and inclusive recruitment and hiring process.
We’d love to know how you plan on embedding inclusivity into your company. What have you tried that has worked? Are any of the actions we listed things you would consider implementing?
