Celebrating one year at OG with our Communications Assistant, Daniel

As the second person to join our busy communications team, Daniel has played a crucial role in raising the profile of not only Opportunity Green, but also the SASHA Coalition, in his first year. He tells us about his highlights so far and what he’s looking forward to next.

Daniel with a fungus on our summer foraging day.

What drew you to work at OG? 

I had just finished my master’s degree, and knew I wanted to contribute to climate action professionally but wasn’t quite sure where to start.

Then I came across Opportunity Green – it’s not every day you find organisations that both take a principled stance on climate justice and are sharply strategic in creating systemic change, in OG’s case through diplomacy, policy and legal action. And on top of that, one that doesn’t consider employee welfare a ‘nice to have’ but rather a core organisational goal. And even better, it had a comms position open that I was desperate to nab, and the cherry on the top was that they offered it to me!  

What has changed since you started? 

I know I’m not the only person to comment on how much we’ve grown – from 12 to 23 (Roo included) since I joined – but it really is a huge shift. The most exciting part of this isn’t just that I have ever more amazing colleagues to work with and learn from, but also that the nature of our work is always changing.  

We’ve shifted from focusing more or less just on aviation and shipping to looking at steel, agriculture and finance, as well as expanding the scope of our climate diplomacy project and integrating more economic and scientific analysis. It’s a really invigorating moment to be at OG. 

What are you most proud of being involved in since you joined? 

I find in communications that often the smaller tasks are the most gratifying. Helping my colleagues edit blogs or articles and bouncing ideas to get their arguments on paper in the right words that tell the right story – that makes me really excited. A sentence can go a long way and I’m always proud when I feel like I’ve helped our amazing team get a complicated point across in a compelling and comprehensible way. 

An example of this that really stuck with me was working with my fabulous colleague Olivia, OG’s Legal Assistant, in May to live-tweet the ITLOS advisory opinion being handed down, and again this month at the ICJ public hearings. It was great working closely together to cover in real time these watershed moments for international climate law, and huge victories for climate justice and particularly the Pacific Island states that did the phenomenal legwork to get these processes rolling. It was thrilling to feel like I was playing a small part in a historic moment, albeit from Finsbury Park rather than in the heart of the action in Hamburg or the Hague!

Daniel and our Chief Security Officer Roo.

What inspires you about what you’re working on? 

The climate crisis is such a totalising issue it can feel quite paralysing. With the crisis covering humanitarian, justice, economic, political, domestic and international grounds, how do you meaningfully intervene on what really is the everything-issue? Before joining OG I knew I wanted to work on climate but didn’t know what working on climate could actually look like and how to ensure our action is impactful. Seeing my brilliant colleagues’ incredibly targeted, strategic and incisive interventions has not only been inspiring but has opened my eyes to what interventions are truly impactful and also very possible.  

It’s great working on projects that are both specific in scope – for example targeting kerosene taxation or advocating for certain alternative fuels – and incredibly ambitious at the same time. It’s really shown me what strategic climate action looks like. 

What are you looking forward to in the coming year? 

Working in communications at OG is so engaging because I’m involved in all our projects, which means I get to look forward to everything! Specifically though, I’m excited to work more closely with the SASHA Coalition getting our policy demands to the right people to shift the dial on decarbonising aviation and shipping.

I also can’t wait to see how the comms team itself develops. Only six months ago our Communications Director Hannah and I still made up a team of two – next month we’ll be four!  

Above all I can’t wait for another year of constantly learning. Working in this sector means thinking like a politician, a storyteller, an economist, a diplomat, a lawyer, an activist, a businessperson, and a scientist all at the same time – it keeps you on your toes. Just as a year ago I never would have expected to know as much about green hydrogen as I do now, I can’t wait to keep gaining new insights from my team and others in this field, and continue homing in on the right stories to tell to get us the just and equitable transition out of the climate crisis that we desperately need.

Inspired to come and work at Opportunity Green? Keep an eye on our vacancies page and follow us on Bluesky, LinkedIn, and Twitter.