The steps to building your team of climate leaders

When it comes to sustainability-related professions, there is no doubt that the talent marketplace is going through a fundamental shift. The combined effect of companies embedding ESG frameworks and employees re-evaluating the impact of their careers means sustainable jobs are both aspirational and in demand.

Nicknamed ‘the great reshuffle’,1?this shift in employee attitudes and alignment with growing ESG practices?should?create an easy talent redeployment scenario, but the reality is not quite so rosy. Many sustainability jobs require a science or environmental background as well as the many years of study that they entail. The existing talents’ experience just doesn’t match up and the roles remain unfilled.

For most companies, the cost of not embedding ESG data practices is high. A BCG analysis found a strong correlation between emissions intensity and diminishing company valuation, and it simply cannot be avoided.2

First, hire a Chief Sustainability Officer

60% of companies already have sustainability strategies in place and the focus on this activity has given rise to the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO).3?The number of CSOs holding an executive-level position increased to?28% in 2021, more than triple the mere 9% representation in 2016.2

Without a CSO, companies risk missing compliance changes, or worse, being perceived as having sustainability activities as a low-priority task. But how can legacy companies fill this emerging role? It is this very question that worries CFOs, with 17 from FTSE 100 companies reporting that the talent gap poses the greatest risk to businesses alongside climate change.?

While many CSOs have a science or environmental background, they are increasingly being called upon to enact a tech-based transition to carbon neutrality. To add even more complexity, they are also required to deliver on the social and governance elements of ESG and arrive at this new role with a far-reaching skillset.

As with all successful leaders, the key is not being everything to everyone but hiring the right people.

Next, build the right team for tech-driven sustainability

The explosion in green jobs arose from a perfect storm of new investor requirements, consumer preference, political focus and growing regulation. PwC alone plans to hire 100,000 ESG-related roles globally over the next 5 years.? But these roles are not just leadership positions. Workers are also needed to deliver on sustainability promises and keep ESG commitments running, even when standards are met.

Embedding efficiencies and reducing the reliance on natural resources has meant that digitisation is the logical next step for many companies. As such, the climate talent gap is a technical one. Digital professionals are needed to set up and manage the transition to green services such as data storage, cloud connectivity and automation. This is where the existing technical teams step in. Already holding the right set of skills to implement technologies, these employees become natural sustainability teams.

Training for technology workers is also showing growth. Heavyweights in climate training, both Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and the CFA certificate in ESG investing now offer modules in technology transition.

Using restructures and layoffs as the solution to the climate talent shortage is costly and time-consuming, whereas reskilling your technical professionals on the workings of ESG frameworks might just offer the long-term solution.

Using AI to fill talent gaps

The people with sustainability skills are?rightly demanding a premium for their services during this talent pinch, meaning that rapid salary increases have followed suit. Global data shows that the cost of hiring this talent has jumped from between 7% and 20% in only the last 12 months.?

As more companies transition to a circular economy and eschew unsustainable practices, 71 million jobs are predicted to no longer exist.??These roles are not lost but resurfaced in new, sustainability-supporting positions.

The combination of increasing labour costs and talent shortage will speed up the implementation of AI and IoT technologies to ease pressures. Automated machine learning tools, out-of-the-box sensor kits and SaaS-based cloud computing services will offer companies facing a skills shortage the opportunity to implement AI. Applied in this way, AI will also help them achieve the digitisation of sustainability activities such as emissions reductions and smart metering.

The evidence is clear – climate skills are in high demand and filling the gaps with AI will help smooth the transition to a net zero economy.?Talk to us ?today about how automation can achieve your ESG goals.

#sustainability #ESG #earthdayeveryday #InvestInOurPlanet

References:

1. Adecco Group, 2022, Key Takeaways from LinkedIn Learning’s Report
2. Forbes, 2023, The Challenge of CSOs – Creating a New Mindset Throughout an Entire Organisation
3. WeForum, 2022, Why Sustainability is Crucial for Corporate Strategy
4. Deloitte, 2022, CFO survey
5. Careers in SG, 2022, Mind the Gap: Navigating the Sustainability Talent Market
6. WeForum, 2022, The Green Skills Imperative: How can we Create a Future That Works for All?