ClimateVoices Featuring Dar-Lon Chang

In this issue, I’m pleased to be interviewing Dar-Lon Chang , a clean energy transition leader and engineering researcher. Dar-Lon spent 15+ years as a Researcher at ExxonMobil innovating simulation tools for design, analysis, and operations. Since leaving his career in the fossil fuel industry in March 2019, he has spent the last 5 years advocating for an energy transition away from fossil fuels. Since 2022, Dar-Lon has served as a member of the Just Transition Roundtable that supported the passage of Colorado bill HB23-1074 concerning a study regarding workforce transitions to other industries, which the Governor signed into law in Spring 2023. He currently serves on the Just Transition Advisory Committee for the transition of oil and gas workers to clean energy jobs. Dar-Lon has now dedicated his career to leading the clean energy transition by serving as the President of GeoSolar Technologies , a startup that creates net-zero homes in Colorado.

After over 15 years working as an engineer at ExxonMobil, you saw the climate crisis unfolding and recognized that change was not happening fast enough on the inside. As an employee working for change, what were your key takeaways at ExxonMobil and what do you recommend for other employees working within companies to urge action on climate?

My most important takeaway from working at ExxonMobil is that employees of similar Big Oil and Gas companies need help from outside organizations like ClimateVoice to have success pushing back against greenwashing and the short-sighted pursuit of increasing oil and gas production as long as the costs of destabilizing the climate are paid by the public instead of Big Oil and Gas. I heard many individual voices inside ExxonMobil speaking for climate action at employee forums and internal social media, but their voices were largely ignored, dismissed, and in some cases retaliated against.?

Among others, my former colleague, Enrique Rosero, was forced out of ExxonMobil after speaking out at an employee forum on the grounds that he was disrespectful to management, but he had many witnesses who said otherwise, and he took his story to the Wall Street Journal and Vice News. Lindsey Gulden, another former colleague, was fired for being a whistleblower over an alleged multibillion dollar fraud for pressuring data scientists to fudge models to overvalue Permian assets, as reported by the Washington Post.?

My experience with ExxonMobil upper management is that they are ruthless in their pursuit of maximizing profits, and as long as their lobbyists and lawyers are successful at preventing legislation and lawsuits from extracting penalties from ExxonMobil, they will continue to prioritize increasing oil and gas production over climate action of real substance. I believe that ExxonMobil funds greenwashing for its public relations value in reducing legal and lobbying costs, such as the decade long marketing campaign of algae biofuels, a research program that was canceled by ExxonMobil last year.?

Given all this, I recommend that employees of conscience work with outside organizations like ClimateVoice to coordinate their efforts while minimizing the risk to their own careers. Former employees like me could help with an “Underground Railroad” of sorts to transition oil and gas workers to clean energy careers. The National Whistleblower Center could help with getting potential whistleblowers the legal protections they need.

You’ve now dedicated your career to leading the clean energy transition, including advocating for climate policy progress, serving on a Just Transition Roundtable in Colorado and supporting the passage of a bill studying workforce transitions – especially for oil and gas workers moving to clean energy jobs. What advice would you give to those working to advance climate policy progress within their own spheres of influence?

My advice would be to have compassion and empathy for oil and gas workers who want to make a living without making the climate crisis worse. My personal experience with the clean energy industry is that it’s currently much smaller and less powerful than Big Oil and Gas, and it is very rare for an oil and gas worker to transition to a clean energy job with comparable pay and benefits. At the same time, I believe that climate goals cannot be met this decade without a mass mobilization of oil and gas workers to clean energy jobs. Until policies are in place to make this happen, I think we need to provide support groups for oil and gas workers facing the very real and daunting challenges of having to transition their careers for the sake of their conscience in addition to the needs of the public at large to address the climate crisis.

You recently signed the LEAD Statement*, which urges companies to leverage their power and influence to accelerate climate policy progress. What message do you have for companies who are actively obstructing progress, and how might employees working in those companies be reached with this message as well?

My message to companies like ExxonMobil that are actively obstructing progress is that they will face major consequences one way or the other if they continue their obstruction. Even if their armies of lawyers and lobbyists succeed in preventing financial consequences for those companies, the shareholders of those companies will suffer the very real consequences of a destabilized climate wreaking havoc on civilization. Like the First Class passengers on the deck of the Titanic, they may not be the first to feel the consequences of hitting catastrophic tipping points like an iceberg, but those consequences will come soon enough as we’re all passengers on planet Earth in the otherwise lifeless void of space. Those with influence over companies like ExxonMobil, such as employees and shareholders, should do what they can to stop the obstruction so that we can all get on with the business of avoiding catastrophic tipping points as the Titanic should have avoided the iceberg.?

*https://weleadonclimatepolicy.org?

In Big Tech, they call me a “shit stirrer” – and I love that nickname. What’s your moniker??

In Big Oil and Gas, I would say that my moniker is the “Terminator of Oil and Gas Jobs”, whether it’s through my unfortunate past work automating drilling rigs to require fewer human workers, or my current work to terminate oil and gas jobs and replace them with clean energy jobs.

Keep up with?ClimateVoices?– an online Q&A penned by leading climate thinkers and doers.?Follow ClimateVoice to stay in the loop when additional interviews are published monthly.

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The opinions and views expressed in this interview are solely those of the individual(s) being interviewed. They may not reflect the views, policies, or positions of ClimateVoice, the employer(s) of the individual(s) being interviewed, nor of any other organizations with which the individual(s) being interviewed are affiliated. This interview is intended for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as an endorsement or official statement on behalf of such employer(s) or organization(s).