Brooke Savoy
In Brooke Savoy's work for the climate organisation, Solutions For Our Climate, in Seoul, focuses on policy research and activism aimed at improving South Korea's energy policies. She is motivated by the knowledge that her and other people's work is making the world even a little bit better: "In the long run, everything we do adds up to make an impact".
She graduated from LUMES in 2024, as part of batch 26.
What are you working on right now?
Currently I am working for a climate organisation based in Seoul, South Korea, called Solutions For Our Climate (SFOC) My work focuses on policy research and activism aimed at improving South Korea's energy policies to accelerate the renewable energy transition. South Korea's renewable energy use sits at just 7% of all electricity generation, yet new renewable energy capacity is still struggling to be built and generate more. Outdated regulations and practices are a major barrier to expanding renewable energy use, which is why my team is dedicated to advocating for policy reform in the electricity sector.
I actually got my start in the energy field while volunteering during university. I joined a campaign in the United States called Ready For 100, which had a goal of getting city governments to commit to sourcing 100% of their city's electricity from renewables. The energy sector is the largest source of emissions driving climate change, and this knowledge has driven my interest in the energy transition. Now at SFOC, I work to reduce South Korea's electricity sector emissions by carrying out policy research and educating vital stakeholders like national assembly members, regional governments, and other CSOs. I also engage with domestic and international companies to mobilise their demand for renewable energy
How have you benefited from the education at LUMES?
With my background in biology, my knowledge and experience was limited to the world of natural science. When I decided I wanted to go into the field of sustainability I knew I would need knowledge and training from the social sciences as well since solving sustainability issues is deeply connected with society and politics.
LUMES provided a holistic, interdisciplinary, and critical education on sustainability science, which I think is hard to find among similar programs. The world's systems are highly interconnected, and to implement truly just solutions we have to be able to understand the issues from all perspectives. LUMES supported me to develop the interdisciplinary education and systems-thinking mind needed to do just that in my work. The programme also brings together diverse people from across the world dedicated to tackling sustainability challenges, so it was an invaluable opportunity to make connections and learn from the perspectives of people worldwide.
What motivates you in your daily work?
I think all people working in sustainability and climate can easily become dismayed by the multitude of issues we are exposed to everyday and trying to solve. What motivates me to keep going is the knowledge that the work I'm doing is making the world even a little bit better than before. In the long run, everything we do adds up to make an impact, and I don't want to look back and regret that I didn't try. I never let myself stop believing that our world and human society will be better in the future.
What do you see as the most important sustainability challenge currently?
I don't know if I could say any sustainability challenge is more important than another. Each one is important in its own way to different people. However the sustainability challenge that I'm most concerned about and motivated to work on personally is energy usage and the renewable energy transition. The energy sector is still the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions affecting climate change, but it is a very complex area to decarbonize. Energy is tied into everything we do and highly linked with modern economies.
Particularly Asia, where I work, is a center for production and many countries are reliant on heavy industries which need copious amounts of stable energy. It's not easy to transition such industries to using renewable energy, but you also can't ask these countries to simply stop these industries they rely on. The transition here is vital, but it requires complex transition plans and large social and monetary investments in a new vision of being as a society.
What advice would you give to students in sustainability?
My advice to sustainability students would be to keep an open mind, but find the field or sector you are really excited about and focus your extra time on learning more about that. As sustainability scientists, we need to have an interdisciplinary background, but we can't be experts in everything.
I remember some of my classmates being concerned that we weren't going deep enough into each field, but it never bothered me much because my goal was to get a broad understanding of all aspects of sustainability. I tried to use each class - politics, social theory, environmental science, geography, etc - to dig deeper into how that field would affect my biggest interest, power sector emissions.
We also have our whole lives to continue learning, and you learn most when you're working "in the field." My other advice would be to connect with as many people as possible working in sustainability. This field is still relatively small but very well connected, and the people you meet will be able to help you find the right path in your career.