EcoVadis CHRO: ‘Action creates momentum and shared responsibility’ – why HR leaders must act on eco-anxiety now

The world is changing at an exponential rate – both inside and outside of the workplace. 

With climate change intensifying and extreme weather events becoming more frequent, many people report experiencing ongoing concern about the future of the planet. This is known as eco-anxiety, which can otherwise be defined as a chronic fear of environmental decline. 

In an exclusive conversation, Dr Laurianne Le Chalony, CHRO of EcoVadis – which achieved a revenue of approximately $162.2 million in 2024 – and UNLEASH America 2026 speaker, shares the effects this topic has on employees, as well as what employers must do to mitigate these impacts.

Understanding the impacts of eco-anxiety on today’s workforce

Employees experiencing eco-anxiety are likely to feel “very real emotions,” such as worry, fear, helplessness and uncertainty about what the future holds, according to Dr Le Chalony. 

Unlike other forms of anxiety, eco-anxiety is grounded in “scientific evidence and concrete realities”, meaning it stems from rational concerns rather than imagined threats.

For some, it therefore becomes a “genuine, multi-domain” stressor, which is present in everyday work life, translating to difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and ultimately, reduced performance or withdrawal from work.

As a result, Dr Le Chalony suggests that eco-anxiety demonstrates that sustainability is not only a societal or reputational issue.

For example, if companies do not believe they need to act on sustainability issues, they should understand that “perceived inaction directly affects employees’ engagement, energy, and productivity”. 

Eco-anxiety is therefore a “signal” as it’s “one of the ways employees express an expectation that their organization should take meaningful action”. 

“From a work psychology perspective, eco-anxiety can be understood as a job stressor,” she expands. “It functions as an external demand that employees bring with them into the workplace. 

“Unlike burnout, which is often driven by internal overload, this form of strain originates in the external environment but its effects show up at work, contributing to emotional exhaustion when it is not acknowledged or supported.

This is why I believe organizations have a real role to play. There is much more that companies can do to provide clarity, demonstrate action, and give employees a sense of direction and meaning.”

What’s more, this is reinforced by employee resonance – a concept, which for Dr Le Chalony, stands as a powerful counterpoint to disengagement, because it “transforms eco-anxiety” or more broadly, “crisis-related anxiety”, from a being “debilitating stressors” to a “source of motivation, commitment, and purpose”. 

It therefore makes sustainability concerns actionable by “linking them to the conditions that drive engagement”.

As a result, Dr Le Chalony identifies three key conditions that enable employee resonance: 

1. Psychological coherence: the ability for individuals to maintain emotional resilience in the face of climate concerns, but also more broadly in the context of the multiple anxieties created by today’s polycrisis environment.
2. Alignment between personal values and organizational actions: employees need to see a credible connection between what the company says and what it actually does.
3. Social and environmental awareness: understanding the broader context and how one’s work contributes to addressing it.

Highlighting that these conditions apply beyond climate issues, Le Chalony notes that whether stressors may come from economic uncertainty, inflation, geopolitical tensions, or environmental challenges, employee resonance can counterbalance the loss of energy and productivity that external pressures can create.

“I believe we, as HR leaders, can build employee resonance through a balanced combination of what I call push and pull strategies,” Le Chalony says.

She further explains that push strategies involve structured organizational actions, such as climate-informed mental health support, clear sustainability commitments, or more broadly, any formal initiative aligned with the major external challenges employees are facing.

On the other hand, pull strategies are about strengthening employee agency, encouraging grassroots initiatives, recognizing individual and team contributions, and creating space for employees to engage personally with the issues that matter to them.

Summarizing, she says: “When both approaches are combined, employees feel that the organization’s values genuinely reflect their own. This reduces cognitive dissonance, strengthens engagement, and ultimately helps prevent disengagement.”

How leaders can support employees with eco-anxiety

When considering eco-anxiety’s impact in the workplace, a key question is raised: how can leaders better support employees with eco-anxiety?

To begin, Le Chalony drives home the importance of purpose-driven leadership, highlighting the need to embed “authentic environmental and social ambition into the organization” – not only in stated values, but also in governance. 

This, for example, can be reflected in concrete mechanisms, such as corporate bylaws or decision-making frameworks, to ensure that the purpose is structural and not just symbolic.

“Purpose-driven leaders genuinely believe in what they are doing,” she explains. “They align their actions with their commitments, follow through over time, and communicate transparently about both progress and challenges.

“Operationalizing purpose also requires moving beyond messaging to real participation.” 

To achieve this, Le Chalony suggests that employees need opportunities to contribute, for example, through channels that allow them to co-design environmental initiatives or take part in sustainability strategies, while also ensuring organizations are equipped with the right tools.

“More broadly, purpose-driven leadership is not only relevant to eco-anxiety,” Le Chalony adds, “but it helps address any form of uncertainty linked to external pressures, economic, geopolitical, or societal, by providing direction, coherence, and meaning.”

Yet this leaves leaders balancing the reality of global challenges with psychological safety and workplace optimism. 

For Le Chalony, the key concept is formulating a constructive narrative – which acknowledges uncertainty and risk, while framing the situation as a “call to action” rather than a “source of paralysis or silence”.

“When people are involved and able to act, something important happens: concern turns into collective energy,” Le Chalony shares. “Action creates a sense of momentum and shared responsibility. 

“I also recognize that climate change is only one of many pressures organizations face. That’s why it is helpful to integrate environmental challenges into a broader social and business narrative, and to connect what employees see in the media with tangible actions the company is taking.”

“This helps counter the sense of inertia or powerlessness that people experience. It can be difficult for organizations to openly acknowledge the scale of the challenge. But honesty matters.” 

Through her research, Le Chalony understands the responsibilities leaders and organizations have to build resources to help people manage that emotional load: clear direction, meaningful support, opportunities to act, and the tools to develop effective coping strategies. 

When employees feel supported, motivated, and engaged, their capacity for impact is remarkable and the benefits for performance and productivity are very real,” she says. “What organizations need to avoid is inertia, because disengagement and passivity are far more damaging to business outcomes.

“This is why I believe HR should focus strongly on pull strategies. By encouraging participation, initiative, and shared ownership, organizations create a sense of urgency and cultural empowerment rather than relying solely on top-down mandates that often have limited impact.

“When employees feel that they are part of the solution, it strengthens alignment around common objectives, reinforces collective responsibility, and helps reduce feelings of helplessness.”

Dr Le Chalony and UNLEASH America 2026

In less than one month, Dr Le Chalony will be speaking at UNLEASH America about Eco-Anxiety Unlocked: HR Strategies for Employee Resonance.

She shares that her primary goal will be to share how climate anxiety and more broadly, polycrisis-related anxiety, are part of the transformation of work. In doing so, she will address it not just as a wellbeing topic, but rather as an essential tool for engagement, performance, and long-term business resilience.

Dr Le Chalony expresses how she’s “really looking forward” to meeting likeminded peers who are interested in eco-anxiety. She adds: “What excites me most is the opportunity for real conversations, hearing different perspectives, questions, and even debates.

That’s what UNLEASH is about: bringing diverse viewpoints together and collectively exploring the best solutions.

“I’m also very interested to see how practices have evolved since the last UNLEASH. A year ago, especially around AI, it felt like a moment of awareness, organizations were realizing that this was real and that they needed to take action. 

“What I’m curious about now is how that initial urgency has translated into concrete initiatives, capabilities, and impact over the past year.”

It’s not too late to grab a pass to join us in Las Vegas, March 17 to 19, for UNLEASH America 2026.