After 22 years with Earthworks, much of it spent leading our Mining Program, Payal Sampat will be leaving us in early October. Fortunately she won’t be going far: Payal is making the move from advocacy to philanthropy, taking a position in the Minerals + Materials program at the 11th Hour Project. While she will be missed dearly, we are thrilled that she will continue to exercise her talents, wisdom and expertise to advance equity and justice in the climate and clean energy space.
It is impossible to overstate the impact Payal has had on our organization. During her time with Earthworks, Payal has overseen the growth of the Mining Program from a small team focused on federal mining policy to a diverse, talented, international team of 10. Today our Mining Program is strong and thriving thanks to Payal’s leadership.
She leaves with an impressive set of accomplishments under her belt. During Payal’s tenure, Earthworks launched and led the award-winning No Dirty Gold campaign, which secured responsible sourcing commitments from 119 jewelers. She’s a founding Board member of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, which provides independent, transparent assessments of mining operations’ environmental and human rights performance. Anticipating that the transition to electric vehicles would trigger a huge spike in demand for battery minerals, Payal launched our seminal Making Clean Energy Clean, Just & Equitable (MCEC) initiative, which connects our work fighting the injustices of fossil fuel extraction to our efforts to ensure the clean energy era does not repeat them.
This will require centering Indigenous sovereignty in decisions about where and how transition minerals are extracted. To that end, Payal co-founded the Mining and Energy Transition learning space and the Securing Indigenous Rights in the Green Economy Coalition, which is fast becoming the “go-to” for best practices and policy approaches that respect the rights and practices of Indigenous Peoples.
These accomplishments just scratch the surface of Payal’s two decades at Earthworks, an era during which she cemented a legacy of labor solidarity, Indigenous rights, and environmental protection. It is no exaggeration to say that we are who we are in large part because of her vision and leadership. I am so grateful to have been able to work so closely with Payal and look forward to continuing our relationship in her new role at the 11th Hour Project.
Our society is in the midst of a fundamental shift in how we power our lives and a pivot to a new industrial revolution away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy. The decisions we make today will be hugely consequential for future generations. We are in a moment when our advocacy, and the philanthropy that supports it, are more important than ever.
In the months ahead we will launch a process to recruit Payal’s successor. In the interim, our Mining Program will be co-directed by senior team members Jan Morrill and Ellen Moore. As leads on our mine tailings and transition minerals work, Jan and Ellen are perfectly positioned to step in and guide our work forward—a final testament to Payal’s collaborative approach to leadership.