Thanks To Lisa Jackson, Apple Will Be Carbon-Neutral By 2030

In Bustle’s Quick Question, we ask women leaders all about advice, from the best guidance they’ve ever gotten to what they’re still figuring out. Here, Lisa Jackson — Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives — shares her tips for feeling more confident at work, what gives her hope about climate change work, and more.

In 1977, scientists discovered that a chemical company had been dumping hazardous materials in Niagara Falls, New York, harming hundreds of people. News about Love Canal, as the neighborhood was known, was everywhere, and 15-year-old Lisa Jackson was watching it all. The disaster sparked a lifelong passion for environmental science, leading her to combat climate change from positions at Apple and in former President Barack Obama’s administration.

“I saw what happens if we don’t take care of the planet,” she says. “If it’s not healthy, we can’t be healthy.”

In the ’80s, she saw the polluted rivers of New Orleans while studying chemical engineering at Tulane, and she began her career doing hazardous waste cleanups at the Environmental Protection Agency. She rose through the ranks (with stints in other government roles), and in 2009, Obama named her the head of the organization.

Four years later, Jackson joined Apple as the vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives. In 2015, she and her team set an ambitious goal: to make the company carbon-neutral by 2030. The tech giant’s plan, known as Apple 2030, takes a two-pronged approach: reducing emissions by 75% (they’re already at 55%) and launching carbon-removal projects around the world.

One such effort is the Restore Fund, a partnership that launched in 2021 with Goldman Sachs and the nonprofit Conservation International to give the private sector a financial incentive to combat climate change. It includes the creation of three working forests in Brazil and Paraguay — that is, revitalizing land that had been cleared for agriculture or ranching by planting new trees, some of which (not all) become timber for sale.

In early December, I flew to Trancoso, a hippie beach town in Brazil, to meet Jackson at one of the fund’s nearby sites. At a nursery, there was a tiny storage room that held the seeds for thousands of trees and rows of genetically engineered species. A short drive away, I saw a budding forest where there used to be farmland.

The next day, we spoke about her life’s work in a conference room with big windows overlooking the bright Atlantic Ocean; her silk pants were the same shade of blue. Below, Jackson shares the most important lesson she learned from Obama, her advice for feeling confident at work, and what gives her hope for the future of climate change.

You’ve held critically important jobs and worked with some big names. How did your career begin?

In my 20s and 30s, I was working as a staff-level engineer at the Environmental Protection Agency. I was out in the field either taking samples or dealing with the community. And those years of experience are what I rely on even today.

How lucky have I been? Blessed. Back then, I wouldn’t have believed I’d be where I am now.

Early in someone’s career, how can they develop more confidence?

When you’re starting out, it’s important to grind, to learn your craft, right? Confidence comes from within, so first and foremost, you have to get over any feelings about not being good enough. You absolutely are. You bring a different perspective — your own — and in any room, that’s important.

Any advice for succeeding at work?

Find a manager who’s actually going to help you have your voice heard. A lot of times they don’t even know that you’re feeling a lack of confidence.

If you say, “Hey, I’m not sure if I’m really being invited to speak in a meeting,” and their reaction is “Oh, wow, next time we’re in a meeting, I’ll say, ‘Hey, Lisa, what do you think about this idea?’” — you know you’ve got a supportive manager.

If the reaction is “Not my problem,” you tuck that away. You might not be able to move that day, but that tells you that you’re not going to get the level of support that you might need.

What was the most important lesson you learned from Obama?

The first time I met him, before he was president, we were at a Senate hearing. He was the only senator who sat through the whole hearing. That taught me so much about him — you go into the details. Not just like, “Oh, yeah, someone else is handling that.” You have to be able to answer questions in front of the boss.

What about a lesson from Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO?

He took me out for lunch on my second day, and I was like, “When is my first deliverable due?”

He said, “Before you try to influence us, you need to take some time to understand why we do what we do, the history, the context, the people who work here.” If you come in like “I’ve got an idea,” but you haven’t taken the time to build relationships with people, that’s really hard. To do great work, you need great collaboration.

From deadly hurricanes to dangerous heat waves, news about climate change has become incredibly dire. What gives you hope?

Anyone who has done great work has faced odds that must have seemed insurmountable. I think about one of my heroes, John Lewis, how he must have felt walking across that bridge, knowing he might not even live when he got to the other side. And yet he took care with every single step.

So, sometimes, instead of looking at the other side of the bridge, I need to look at the step right in front of us. If we all did something — whoever you are, whatever you do — it would make a difference.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.