With looming environmental challenges, companies will face increasing pressure from regulators, investors and consumers to evaluate their business practices and transition into lower carbon business models. This will in turn drive up the need for ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) talents. In the recent market report by Bridegspan, the estimated sustainability-linked jobs in Southeast Asia may amount to 30 million by 2030.
But, finding people with the right skills for ESG jobs is still challenging. Here’s why: It takes time for businesses to move from a profit-only mindset to one that incorporates environmental and social impact. A sustainable business model requires a more profound transition than simply complying with new regulations and legal requirements. It demands in-depth knowledge and skillsets to plan, strategise, and implement sustainable business practices. With the massive amounts of information on ESG, it is important to have a structured way of collecting, distilling, and sense making of data gathered.
Hence, having the right skill sets becomes a critical step for the transition into a sustainable business model. These days, people with such deep skill sets are few and are often headhunted. Individuals should recognize this phenomenon and seize the opportunity to learn new skills and enter the fast growing ESG sector.
The top business leadership should also make the critical decision to change their business strategies, and craft out clear needs for the specialized new talents or plans to upgrade and upskill the existing workforce for the imminent shift. They can start enabling their workforce to be abreast of new market trends and ESG knowledge through specialised training. There are also in-depth toolkits available for sustainable business operations, and investment and financial decisions available to help them level up, amongst others.
There is great future ahead for ESG. Start investing in continuous learning to champion the green economies.