False dawn or real momentum? Recruiters on the recent boom in sustainability jobs

Experts caution against reading too much into the recent uptick in roles.

The sheer number of companies seeking sustainability experts since the start of the year has prompted Real Economy Progress to turn our fortnightly job round-up into a weekly one. 

Unilever, Microsoft, Nestlé, Google, Lego, Heineken and Amazon are just some of the well-known names looking to build out their teams in the past month – despite all the talk of rowbacks and headwinds. 

Recruiters have taken to social media to hail the recent surge as a sign that the “sustainability hiring freeze is about to break”, after 18 months of being in the doldrums.  

But others are less optimistic. 

Serrol Osman, director at sustainability-focused recruitment firm Verdant Search, describes the recent uptick in vacancies as a “bubble”. 

“I’d be very happy if this led to some real momentum, but I don’t see a lot of reasons why it would,” he confesses.  

The sentiment is echoed by Tom Strelczak, a partner at search firm Madison Hunt, which specialises in infrastructure and energy investing.  

According to him, the optimism some recruiters have expressed online is misplaced.  

“I think they’re trying to will [into existence] the market that existed between 2018 and 2022, and I just don’t think that’s going to happen,” he says.

So, what is behind the recent jump in vacancies?  

Strelczak thinks it’s down to two things. 

The first is that companies are replacing roles opened up after making redundancies.    

“They’ve realised there’s still quite a lot of heavy lifting to be done around sustainability from a regulation, compliance and reporting perspective, and now they’re very short staffed,” he says.  

The second is the realisation that, despite backlash in the US, sustainability “isn’t going to disappear completely”.   

Osman thinks there was also a boom in jobs in the UK after the budget was announced in November.  

“That sort of thing makes CFOs nervous and unwilling to sign things off,” he explains. 

“So when the budget wasn’t as bad as expected, there was a significant uptick of jobs coming through.” 

He adds that the advancement of some EU regulation, like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the EU Deforestation Regulation, is also likely to have buoyed demand. 

Pinch of salt 

Strelczak cautions against taking full job boards as a sign anything has fundamentally shifted, describing the current landscape as a “buyers’ market”. 

Unlike the boom years, where companies relied on headhunters to negotiate with already-employed talent, there are now lots more sustainability specialists actively looking for roles. 

“Companies don’t need to rely on recruiters,” he says. 

“They can just post a job advert on LinkedIn, where everyone is keeping a very watchful eye.” 

Osman echoes Strelczak. 

“We’re not seeing as much work,” he admits.   

“Companies are trying to do more themselves, internally, to save money – albeit without the same level of expertise.”

While he hopes otherwise, Osman says recruiters are probably “still facing another flat year”.