Sustainability Recruitment is Still Going

It seems like every day I hear from an old friend or colleague, who is closing down their business, or moving away from sustainability.  

I find this incredibly short-sighted, because the one thing you have to accept as a specialist in the sustainability recruitment space, is that it is going to be cyclical. 

Sustainability recruitment and executive search levels have declined dramatically since the spring of 2022, when inflation soared. There was a political pushback, a wave of regulations, a massive cost cutting regime in all industries where the price couldn’t be passed on to the consumer. 

Sustainability recruitment backlash 

This is not to say that there hasn’t still been recruiting in sustainability. You just need to know where to look. 

While asset managers have trimmed their sustainability teams down, and have hired less, dropping recruitment levels to only junior replacement hires; asset owners continue to expand strategically. Maybe not at the senior level, but there are new initiatives and a big focus on diversification to recruiting talent with private assets sustainability experience, and also talent with data experience. 

Sustainability talent with an investing background are looking for businesses that ‘mean it’ and that also have strategic plans to grow. The logical place to go has been foundations and family offices. Having said that everyone has the same idea! 

On the corporate side, despite the delay of CSRD, there is still some movement. Firms with complex supply chains realise that practical climate risk, and human rights issues, are a major blocker to growth. 

CSRD delayed – affecting sustainability recruitment? 

There is still hiring among supply chains, and firms that outsource their farming, or product production, even if the reporting is less stringent.