Intro to ESG - part 1 - Is sustainability a secret club? And how do I join?

We get this question a lot. If you are passionate about sustainability and have been looking for an opportunity in the space, it’s possible you might be discouraged by now. Well, I have good news. I can report that there is no special degree or secret handshake, and there are many paths to a career in sustainability

I want to start by telling you that some of the most knowledgeable and respected people I know in the sustainability space did not have formal sustainability training or certification when they started. Some are engineers, some are accountants, and others have sociology or economics degrees. Some fell into their current work in sustainability, while others were more deliberate. All of them will tell you that there are a few key attributes that will help you succeed.

Here’s a list of my top three:

1)      The ability to deal with complexity and simplify. This might mean organizing complex information in a way that enables you to summarize it for others. Or it might mean ruthless prioritizing, choosing the most important items from a list and letting go of the others. Regardless of the task, simplification is the name of the game.

2)      The ability to embrace change. Sustainability is changing by the minute and I think it’s exciting. If you love being in-the-know, are willing to put in the work to stay cutting edge, and if you are energized instead of intimidated by change, this is definitely the field for you.

3)      The ability to communicate across disciplines. Sustainability is by nature multi-disciplinary.  Because it covers environmental, social and economic factors, being able to talk to others outside of your field of expertise is a must. For example, if you find you are good at explaining technical concepts to someone in a non-technical field, or if you can process complex information from outside your field of knowledge and digest it, making it useable for your project, you are well on your way.

You’ll notice I didn’t list a master in environmental science, a GRI or SASB certification, or other formal training. That’s because the type of job you have in the sustainability space will determine what types of training will be most useful to you. As you can imagine, the training needs for a data analyst will differ wildly from those needed for a communications role. But no matter what your field is, and no matter your work experience, the above attributes are essential for any job in sustainability.