Episode 5: Natalie Weigum on the World Bank and the challenges of working in climate science

Oct 21, 2021

Natalie Weigum (BSc’10) is currently living in Washington, DC working as a Climate Change Specialist at the World Bank, where she helps integrate climate change into the organization's development lending. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Physics and Chemistry at the University of New Brunswick she completed her PhD in Atmospheric Physics at the University of Oxford and worked in London, UK as a Policy Advisor for the UK Government's Department of Energy and Climate Change. Natalie enjoys living in DC with her fiancé and two cats, and finds time to visit Fredericton as much as she can! 

In this episode: 

• Pivoting out of academia into policy work and experiencing its more tangible day to day impacts 
• Overcoming an internal crisis of working on the energy side for implementing the shale gas industry  
• Working on transformative climate change projects to help countries adapt to climate change especially in the developing world 
• The challenges and rewards of pushing the World Bank’s green lending and convincing stakeholders that climate change is important  
• Natalie’s optimisms about the future of climate change and how we as individuals and consumers can reduce admissions  
• Advice for trusting the process and not being afraid of change in your career 

 

Links and resources: 

Natalie’s LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieweigum/  

UNB Fredericton Faculty of Science: https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/science/  

World Bank: https://www.worldbank.org/en/home

Thanks to: 

Our alumni host, Ian Smith: https://www.unb.ca/alumni/alumni-news/unb-alumni-podcast.html 

Instrumental alumni artist, Beats of Burden: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/beats-of-burden/1451387846 

Our alumni Affinity Partners, TD Insurance, Manulife, and MBNA Mastercard: https://www.unb.ca/alumni/benefitsandservices/index.html