Coaching at the edge of the climate crisis: Ethical tensions in supporting sustainability professionals

Sustainability professionals play a critical role in enabling governments to meet their commitments to net zero and the Paris Agreement. As such, this paper explores how coaching psychology, an evidence-based approach integrating psychological theory with coaching practice, can support sustainability professionals to be more effective change makers. Drawing on interviews with 28 sustainability professionals, we found five key challenges: imposter syndrome, career progression, eco-anxiety, internal greenwashing and loneliness. These challenges highlight areas where psychologically-informed coaching interventions could enhance individual coping, goal attainment, and resilience. Participants reported limited experience with collective support mechanisms, such as climate cafés and group coaching, despite expressing strong interest in these approaches. We examine the potential benefits and ethical tensions of group coaching from a coaching psychological perspective, including (1) the risk of individuals with high eco-anxiety seeking coaching instead of clinical support; (2) the possibility that participants may feel ‘lost’ in a group format; and (3) the limits of encouraging an individual to improve their emotional regulation when addressing systemic, complex problems. We argue that group coaching could be valuable because it provides a space to process the ‘unfolding tragedy’ of climate change, biodiversity loss and social inequalities with others that often feel isolated through doing the work they do. Coaches that are highly-engaged with sustainability issues can therefore support sustainability professionals through goal-setting and emotional regulation techniques to navigate unrealistic expectations, lack of resources, and internal greenwashing. This paper situates these findings within the broader evidence base of coaching psychology, demonstrating how theoretically-informed group coaching can provide meaningful, ethically-responsible support for sustainability professionals.