How a Climate Corps Fellow is Strengthening Environmental Resilience with Chubb
Later is too late to act on climate change, and Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) Climate Corps program is cultivating a new generation of environmental leaders ready to act now. Our mission is simple but powerful: to train and mobilize the future of the green workforce. Climate Corps does this by placing talented fellows at leading organizations to advance sustainability goals and deliver tangible results, such as recent fellow Carter Purcell, who worked with Chubb on a groundbreaking new project.
Chubb, a global commercial property and casualty insurer, enlisted Carter to develop a new sustainability and resiliency resource hub targeting its crop, farm, and agribusiness clients. With a portfolio encompassing more than 90 million acres of farmland, this project is set to drive major engagement on climate risk across the sector. Last week, Chubb just launched the finalized Agriculture Resource Hub.
A Project Rooted in Impact
Carter hit the ground running in her fellowship, tackling this ambitious project in three key phases:
- Identifying priorities: Carter analyzed climate risks and business needs to focus on actionable strategies for on-farm resiliency.
- Delivering thought leadership: She developed 5 public-facing resources to help farmers address critical climate challenges like drought, heat, and floods.
- Collaborating for scalability: Carter worked closely with Chubb’s Underwriting and Marketing teams to design the user-friendly website architecture for the resource portfolio that is now live.
The potential impact for agricultural sustainability is significant: these resources aim to help farmers adopt climate-smart practices that reduce risks, improve sustainability, and bolster resiliency in the face of extreme weather events. Together, these tools form a critical foundation for Chubb’s continued leadership in sustainable finance and climate-smart agriculture.
Carter’s Journey: Passion Meets Purpose
Carter’s unique background positioned her to excel in this role with Chubb. To celebrate the launch of the Hub, we caught up with Carter on her sustainability journey so far. Reflecting on her experience with Climate Corps, she shared:
“I worked in the sustainable agriculture field for several years before coming to the University of Michigan, including having worked with EDF experts during my time at the non-profit Field to Market. I hoped to find an internship that would combine my experience in the regenerative agriculture movement with an interest in sustainable finance which I developed during my MBA. I couldn’t have been luckier that this role at Chubb sat perfectly at the meeting place of those two things.”
During the fellowship, Carter applied lessons from her dual MBA and MS in Sustainability programs, leveraging both her agroecology knowledge and business strategy expertise.
“Even with my background in agriculture, I leaned into learnings from my agroecology coursework at Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) to demonstrate the resiliency benefits of sustainable agriculture and soil health practices,” she noted. “My MBA coursework has helped me enormously in developing strategies to make the business case for sustainability, both for farmers and their financial partners.”
Hope for the Future
Carter is optimistic about the future of sustainable finance and agriculture, in part due to the leadership she sees emerging in the financial sector:
“It’s so exciting to see financial sector leaders like Chubb getting more deeply engaged in climate action. Financial risk is a language that resonates with every audience, from farmers to corporations to individuals. If we can find compelling ways to communicate the financial reward of building climate resilience—and the financial risk of doing nothing—I’m hopeful we’ll see major progress in this space.”
EDF’s team sets host companies and fellows up for successes like Carter’s through our custom–matching process, creating meaningful fellow fits for organizations’ sustainability challenges. Throughout the fellow journey, EDF provides support to its fellows from foundational knowledge sharing to hands-on mentorship, so that they receive the guidance needed to advance projects.
Advancing Sustainable Finance and Climate-Smart Agriculture
Carter’s work highlights the critical role Climate Corps fellows play in advancing sustainable finance and climate-smart agriculture among other sustainability drivers. From empowering farmers with tools to address climate risks to enhancing responsible business strategies, this fellowship exemplifies how Climate Corps is expanding the green workforce to meet today’s challenges. Other fellows in 2024 have made strides in these sectors as well, including this fellow who developed a dashboard for a global asset management firm that provided insights into financed emissions data and this fellow who created a zero-deforestation roadmap for commodities of concern for a large food and beverage company. You can explore all past Climate Corps projects here.
Ready to Drive Sustainability in 2025?
It’s not too late for organizations to join this movement, and by applying to host a fellow you’ll become part of a burgeoning network. Strong demand for fellows reflects Climate Corps’ business value, with 7 hosts engaging multiple fellows in 2024, and 80 hosts returning to Climate Corps for 5 or more years. In fact, many hosts have worked with Climate Corps for more than 10 years — including Fortune Global 2000 companies Citizens Bank, Colgate-Palmolive, and McDonald’s.
Applications to host a Climate Corps fellow for Summer 2025 are open until December 19. Learn more here and reach out to Michael Cronin or Sophie Marx with any questions.
