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      Climate Policy Initiative

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      Climate Policy Initiative reviews

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      4.0

      71% would recommend to a friend

      (36 total reviews)

      Tom Heller

      81% approve of CEO

      74% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      3.9

      Culture & values

      3.9

      Diversity & inclusion

      3.5

      Work/Life balance

      3.5

      Compensation and benefits

      3.5

      Career opportunities

      3.2

      Senior management

      Climate Policy Initiative has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 36 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Climate Policy Initiative employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Nonprofit & NGO industry (3.7 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      36 reviews
      2.0
      May 11, 2018

      Unrealized potential of Org held back by incompetent management

      Senior analyst
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Opportunity to travel Exposure to high ranking officials from other institutions in the field

      Cons

      Micromanagement by senior staff Inefficient use of staff resources, yet insanely cheap with financials Ideological echo-chamber that does not take kindly to differing opinions. Inability of senior staff to prioritize work efficiently (you'll end up spending your time doing meaningless crap thats already been done by 100 other orgs, who did it better than CPI could ever do given limited resources) Seriously incompetent senior staff. Its honestly shocking to see the people that have made it to that level. Promotions are based on how well you are liked by CEO and senior leadership, not competence (the most glaring example of this is the current senior leadership - good friends of CEO but utterly incompetent).

      avatar
      Climate Policy Initiative Response
      7y
      I want to thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. We are committed to creating a comfortable, transparent and collaborative environment for all our employees so I’m disappointed to hear that your experience did not match our intentions. We value and consider all feedback and we’ll continue to find ways to improve but I wanted to address a couple of your specific concerns here. CPI is made up of a small and dedicated team with broad and varied knowledge and expertise. Decisions on project resourcing and staff promotions are based on precise assessments of needs and availability. Since our inception in 2009, CPI has grown very quickly and our administrative and operational functions including our development and training program has not always managed to keep up with that expansion. This is a big focus for us this year that I hope will see improvements at all levels of our organisation. Our dedication is, in my opinion, what sets us apart, our staff are passionate and dedicated to finding solutions to break down the barriers to combatting climate change. Thanks again for the feedback and best of luck in your future endeavours. Barbara Buchner, Executive Director, Climate Finance
      1.0
      Apr 27, 2025

      Toxic culture and extremely beauracratic and incompetent management

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Meaningful work Good for network for people who want to work in multilateral and non-profit agencies

      Cons

      1. Corruption and toxic culture- promotion is determined by how well you are liked by management not how well you do. To the opposite, if you do too well, manager will feel threatened and try to get you out because there is no accountability to managers. The grants they manage were given to "friends and family" orgs and not by the quality of the application. Everything is about "relationships" and "being liked by CEO and your manager" and it is utterly a corrupted organization that abuse the power and donation they receive to give to people they like. 2. Top leadership blindly trust the wrong people- there is no oversight or accountability to managers. If you have a good manager, lucky you, but if you are assigned a bad manager, it is hell. My manager treated me like crap, insulted me during 1 1, attacked my personality, took all credits, and used politics to ruin my reputation even years after I left. She repeatedly spread rumors and false accusations about me and tried to stop people at CPI from staying in touch with me. She did that to multiple people we worked with and yet she is still there. This speaks to the lack of management of reality from top leaders and CEO blindly place trust on the wrong person without investing time to truly understand the problems. - No upward trajectory. You stuck there doing work that can be done pretty much by AI and become "one of them" and "yes" man to CEO and that's how you stay,

      5.0
      Jun 15, 2018

      Young organization with a growing network and influence that is truly having an impact

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      - Passionate, brilliant, kind, amazing staff members and a very low-drama, collaborative culture. Definitely the best group of people I've ever worked with. - Extremely important work to shift global investment to low-carbon pathways - A strong network of private and public sector investors and decision-makers around the world, and an action driven agenda - a true "think and do" tank - For a small org, CPI has a significant influence on on policies and practices in the climate finance, international development, and sustainable investing sectors - Amazing leadership. Barbara Buchner is a total powerhouse, a strong but approachable leader who is both dedicated to the work and her team's well-being, she is a true inspiration to staff - Flat organizational structure and very entrepreneurial culture, with accessibility to executive staff, and empowerment to pursue opportunities - As a project-based research and advisory organization, there are always new topics and challenges to explore

      Cons

      - Normal issues with work-life-balance that come with international advisory/consultancy organizations, (similar to many comparative organizations). Teams and clients stretching across time zones, high quality expectations, and tight timelines for deliverables means hours are sometimes long, and work-life balance is an issue for many staff. However, the culture is very flexible which helps to mitigate this, and management is very aware/actively working to improve. - While leadership, support, and collaboration is very strong on the whole, there were issues related to one person in CPI leadership in particular (likely a factor in a couple reviews on here), but this person is no longer with the organization, and things have dramatically improved since - Management is starting to take steps to address, but there is a need to invest in stronger HR, finance & accounting systems, staffing and capacity projection, CRM etc. - As a young organization, there are certainly growing pains (like the above) but these issues are rapidly improving as CPI matures

      Viewing 1 - 3 of 36 Reviews
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      ReviewsClimate Policy Initiative reviews

      Glassdoor has 52 Climate Policy Initiative reviews submitted anonymously by Climate Policy Initiative employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Climate Policy Initiative is right for you.