Sustainability & ESG Careers: Trends & Opportunities | Ellen Weinreb

On this episode of Sustainability Ambassadors, we speak with Ellen Weinreb about the trends and opportunities she is seeing for (young) professionals to develop their careers in the areas of ESG & Sustainability.
Through our episode, she mentioned the following reports:
State of the Profession 2022
weinrebgroup.com/state-of-the...
The Chief Sustainability Officer 10 Years Later
weinrebgroup.com/cso-chief-su...
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Timestamps:
00:19 - Welcome
00:50 - Ellen Personal Introduction
01:42 - Trends in Sustainability & ESG
02:34 - Executive level sustainability & ESG positions that companies are looking to fill
03:10 - Opportunities for young & mid-career sustainability & ESG professionals
04:04 - Role of universities, consulting firms, and certifications to build professional skills
05:10 - Which school / certification are most valuable in the market
06:00 - Technical vs. general certifications
06:30 - Sustainability is now becoming a career
07:20 - Basic requirements for becoming a sustainability leader
08:03 - Size of gap between talent supply and market demand
08:39 - How to get your start
09:22 - State of Profession report: key findings
11:30 - Chief sustainability offers and executive trends and structure
13:16 - ESG Drivers: Regulation, consumers, and supply chain
15:15 - What are companies looking for?
16:31 - Salary Ranges & Trends for CSOs and Sustainability Executives
18:22 - Growth of Chief Sustainability Officers
20:18 - Career Advice for sustainability-minded young professionals
About Ellen:
Ellen has worked at the intersection of sustainability and human resources as a recruiter and consultant for 20+ years. A super connector, Ellen’s passion for sustainability and ESG was sparked while obtaining her MBA from Yale and interning at L.L.Bean. Ellen is a regular speaker at industry events, as well as a contributor to Forbes, Huffington Post, and has her own column with GreenBiz entitled “Talent Show.”
Follow Ellen:
Company LinkedIn: / weinrebgroup
Personal LinkedIn: / ellenweinreb
Twitter: / sustainablejobs
About Collective Responsibility
Based in Shanghai, Collective Responsibility is a strategic advisory firm founded by Richard Brubaker, one of Asia’s most recognized authorities on sustainability, innovation and responsible leadership.
Founded with the fundamental belief that a sustainable world can only be achieved through awareness of issues, finding tangibility in business cases, and development of cross-sector collaboration, Collective Responsibility acts as a knowledge base, catalyst, and facilitator between stakeholders.
Our mission is to:
- Create a knowledge base and catalyze discussion of issues related to the development of civil society, business sustainability and social development in Asia.
- Develop tangible interests, engagement, and action on issues of sustainability (economic, environmental and societal).
- Develop organizational capacity with the aim to help create stable and profitable enterprises.
Follow Us:
Website: www.coresponsibility.com
Facebook: / collectivere. .
LinkedIn: / coll. .
Twitter: / beyondbau
WeChat: www.coresponsibility.com/wechat/
Contact Us:
[e-mail]

[@user-gy8gd7xr2t]

Just the right questions and fabulous insights into a career in sustainability Rich! Thanks for this. Just wanted to know if you need to be from a specific background (like finance, accounting, environmental science, engineering) if you are looking at getting into sustainability (ESG) reporting. Companies could be looking for candidates who could help them with ESG reporting given that mandatory regulations have come into force.

[@Coresponsibility]

Hi Vijay.
Thanks. Glad that you found the insight valuable!
To answer your question, I'd say that there are opportunities for everyone (regardless of background) in ESG reporting, but a few factors may help :
1) Industry / operations - Depending on the industry, and technical level of operations, having experience in that "area" I'd say trumps ability to "report"
2) Functional experience - Coming from a financial, supply chain, or comms focus each bring their own benefits and opportunities to pivot/ exploit ESG opportunities.
3) Level of seniority - The higher you go, the more important ability to build/ manage vision, teams, and engage
From there, there are many avenues, and as I am preparing for a second conversation with Ellen I will be sure to ask her this directly.
In the meantime, I'd recommend you check out our conversations with Sam Crispin, Sammie Ho, or Veronica Yeow to get their perspectives on how they approached their careers.
Thanks again, and if you'd like to follow up with more questions, feel free to do so!
Rich

[@user-gy8gd7xr2t]

Thanks so much for the detailed response Rich. It helps a lot! Apologies for not getting back earlier as I had not seen your response. Some great interviews on your channel. Will keep watching. Great going!

[@sustainability.s]

Insightful!!.
Enjoyed this podcast on sustainability. I understand that due to the release of IFRS S1 &S2, there would be an increase in demand for professionals having deep understanding of sustainability reporting. Could you another podcast specifically on sustainability reporting spectrum? skills set needed, demand and supply etc.
Regards
Salman