Oh I know you from LinkedIn...
- Matteo Deidda
- Jan 11
- 4 min read
I attended an event this week, someone stopped me "I follow you on LinkedIn, I enjoy your content".
We chatted, we shared our journey, we both learned from each other, and we left feeling a bit more energised.
For many years, I was a LinkedIn scroller. I'd check in, read a few posts, maybe like something, and close the app. I wasn't sharing. I wasn't engaging properly. I definitely wasn't building anything intentional. I had lots to share in my head, but I felt uncomfortable doing it, I wasn't sure how to do it really....
Then I intentionally decided to change that. Not because I'm some sort of a social media guru (I actually don't have any social media at all beside LinkedIn) or because I suddenly had loads of spare time. I did it because I realised that, being passive on LinkedIn is a missed opportunity.
Over the past couple of years, I've put real effort into building my presence here. And the results have been genuinely surprising. My posts this year have reached around 1 million people. That's not a vanity metric (or not just that), that's a massive platform to put sustainability messages in front of people who might never have heard them otherwise.
If you're working in sustainability and you're just scrolling, you are missing a trick. Here's why I think investing time in LinkedIn is now an essential part of the job.
1. Amplify your voice (and your impact)
This one's simple: reach matters.
Your personal emissions are tiny. You can do only so much at work. But your influence is huge. The content you put out here can inspire someone to take action in their organisation, change how they think about a problem, or give them the confidence to push back on greenwashing.
That ripple effect - that's your climate shadow. And it's massive if you use it properly.
So, that's how 1 million impressions isn't just a vanity metric. Not all of them engaged, obviously. But even if 1% of those people stopped, read, and thought differently about net zero, carbon removals, or SME decarbonisation - that's 10,000 people.
That's scale you can't achieve sitting in meetings or sending emails.
Your climate shadow is always bigger than your personal carbon footprint. LinkedIn gives you a way to make that shadow count.
2. Build real career opportunities
The network I've built on LinkedIn has been incredible for finding new opportunities, meeting smart people, and staying current on technology, policy, and best practice.
My personal experience? I've had conversations with people at companies I never would have reached otherwise. I've been invited to speak at events, advise on projects, and collaborate on ideas, all because I put myself out there on here.
And here's the thing: this doesn't happen by accident. You can't post once a month and expect your network to magically open doors. But if you're consistent, if you're generous with what you share, and if you actually engage with other people's content, the opportunities follow.
3. It's continuous professional development (whether you realise it or not)
I barely use AI to write my LinkedIn content. Not because I'm anti-AI, but because the process of writing forces me to think.
When I sit down to write a post about SBTi V2.0, or carbon removals, or the SME financing gap, I'm not just regurgitating what I already know. I'm researching. I'm refining my thinking. I'm connecting dots I hadn't connected before.
That's continuous professional development. And it's free.
Every post I write makes me better at explaining complex ideas clearly. Every comment thread sharpens my understanding of where people are confused or skeptical. Every time someone challenges me in the comments, I learn something.
If you're scrolling but not posting, you're consuming other people's learning instead of doing your own. There's value in that, sure. But it's not the same.
4. It's a safety net (spoiler: you build it when you don't need it)
This one's more selfish, but I'm going to be honest about it: having a strong LinkedIn presence is a safety net.
The sustainability job market is tough right now. Lots of skilled people are looking for work. Budgets are tight. Roles are being cut or deprioritised. If you suddenly find yourself needing a new job, having a big network and a track record of thought leadership makes a difference.
But here's the critical bit: you can't build this when you need it. You build it when you're employed, when you have the headspace, when you're doing interesting work worth sharing.
By the time you need your network, it's too late to start building it.
5. And yes, there's an ego element, let's just say it
Look, social media is designed to make you feel good and release some dopamine.
When your post gets lots of likes, when your follower count ticks up, when someone
leaves a thoughtful comment, it feels good and there is nothing to be ashamed of.
I'm not going to pretend that doesn't matter. It does. There's an element of ego gratification here, and I think we should just be honest about that rather than pretending we're all doing this purely out of the goodness of our hearts.
But here's the thing: that dopamine hit keeps you coming back. And coming back means you keep creating, keep sharing, keep building. The ego element isn't a bug. It's a feature.
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