Like all right-minded humans this week, I’ve been appalled, horrified and left speechless by the atrocities happening in Ukraine. As a 52 year old I’ve been blessed to have lived my whole life in a benign and peaceful Europe. That has been shattered this week. 

In such circumstances it is easy to feel powerless. I certainly have. But we’re not entirely powerless as individuals and companies. Whilst it won’t immediately ease the carnage on the streets, we can and must do what we can to cut Putin and his ilk off at the knees.

I’ve always believed that social and environmental justice go hand in hand. It’s clear that Putin’s regime is built on Oil & Gas, I read that 60% of the Russian Economy is based on these fossil fuels. We know also, many right-wing maniac ‘Strong Men’ (pathetically weak in reality) are Cheerleaders for, and in the pay of, fossil fuel interests. And that is where I see hope, optimism, and an opportunity to ‘do my bit’ if not with immediate impact, at least with significant future impact.

We must rapidly transition to a cleaner, more sustainable and renewably powered society. This is nothing new, it’s been my passion and mission for over 14 years. I was always focused on this being for environmental reasons, to leave a planet capable of human habitation for my children, to stop biodiversity loss and the cruel destruction of habitats for creatures of all sizes and types. The social justice thing has until now been a fabulous by-product in my mind. Now I see it as a way we can cut off the money that funds these tyrants and arseholes, like Putin and Trump. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naïve enough to think that there are no negative consequences, environmental or social, to the clean energy and mobility transitions. You don’t make omelettes without cracking a few eggs as the saying goes. We should always strive to crack as few as possible. But cracking eggs and sending missiles into cities are not remotely equal in my books.

There are myriad ways each of us can act, to use less energy, and to use/buy/create cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels. We can choose our investments and where we spend our cash to make an impact (more on that in my next podcast).  And of course, you can choose who you serve with your career and your working activities.

This has been my mission for the last 8 years, to support cleantech companies to scale, and to help talented individuals put those talents to meaningful, impactful use.  Through Hyperion Executive Search we have helped many companies and individuals in this way, working with some of the worlds most innovative cleantech companies. Mostly at the C-Suite, VP and Executive Level.

For some years I’ve had a great and passionate friend and collaborator on the mission to drive the clean energy and clean mobility transitions in Dan Caesar, Co-CEO of the Fully Charged Show. Through combined passions for Cleantech and Liverpool FC we’ve worked together many times, and increasingly since Dan joined Robert Llewellyn and the Fully Charged team.  

To connect the threads of this post, whilst the timing was neither planned, nor wanted, in terms of what is going on in Ukraine at present, it does feel timely that we announce the creation of Fully Charged Recruitment this week. This is a collaboration between the Hyperion Cleantech Group and Fully Charged Show, to help us to help far more cleantech companies to scale, and to help far more individuals to grow, or instigate their careers in cleantech. The more talent we can take from the sunset traditional automotive and Oil & Gas sectors, and help them into impactful, meaningful cleantech careers, the faster we can move the clean energy and mobility sectors, and the more quickly we can bring about the demise of fossil fuel companies, and the demagogues, tyrants and would be dictators of this world that they fund (not always intentionally to be fair, but often).

As John Lennon sang, ‘You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you will join us, and the world will be as one.’  Join the cleantech revolution (I added that bit!)

We recorded this podcast with myself, Stephen Robinson and Robert Llewlyn to announce the launch of Fully Charged Recruitment, and Dan Caesar contributed to this blog with the same purpose.  

As ever I’d love your thoughts. If you’d love to use your talents on our mission, please get in touch with the team and sign up for the newsletter updates on www.fullychargedrecruitment.com.

If you are an experienced recruiter, I’m hiring for both Hyperion Executive Search and Fully Charged Recruitment right now, send me a DM via Linked In if you’d like to learn more.

David Hunt

CEO & Founder

Hyperion Cleantech Group