Sustainability is one of the most upcoming topics currently on the market. However, it contains a wide spread of opportunities, there is one position that oversees almost all related departments. Sustainability Manager. But what does that entail? What are the responsibilities of a sustainable manager and how does she/he contribute to an effective and sustainable company operation? This article details all you have to know about this position.
What does a Sustainability Manager do?
Whether it is to analyze the company’s current environmental impact or implement sustainability goals, a sustainability manager’s responsibilities are spread across the company. One of the most essential elements of this role is to facilitate the company’s growth towards an environmentally conscious operation. A sustainability manager acts as a guide and helping hand for the company in reaching its sustainability goals, as well as continuously keeping in mind:
What more could the company do for the environment. Since sustainability is a constantly developing industry the eyes ought to be on the newest innovations and opportunities. The manager could help the company reduce its environmental impact.
What are the responsibilities of a Sustainability Manager?
Sustainability Manager is an ideal position for those who are looking for an always challenging work. The responsibilities of such a job contain various different tasks per day. A sustainability manager can have an effect on almost all departments of the company since sustainability can influence areas from finance all the way to marketing. One of the most essential responsibilities of this position is providing the company with a clear sustainability planning including execution and its influence all across the organization. If you end up working as a sustainability manager within a corporate environment you can expect the following responsibilities:
- Evaluate the company’s internal and external operations in order to assure effective sustainability growth and performance
- Identifying areas within the organization that can or must be improved in order for the company to reach its sustainability goals
- Producing sustainability reports about the improvement and changes accomplished within the company
- Ensuring that the organization complies with all legal requirements regarding environmental impact
- Continuously supervising and helping all departments across the company regarding sustainability tasks on a daily level
- Communicating and monitoring the progress and collecting feedback from employees in order to ensure all sustainability goals and policies are clearly understood and implemented
- Organizing additional training sessions for employees in order to update all departments on the newest sustainability goals, developments and planning
- Optimizing sustainability planning and goals in order to align them with company values
Which skills a Sustainability Manager should have?
Communication and Collabortaion
Since one of the responsibilities of a Sustainability Manager is to assure each and every member of the organization has a clear understanding of the sustainability goals and values of the company, effective communication skills are a must for this role.
Project Management
Such as all management positions, sustainability cannot be an exception either, from good project management skills. Building up a sustainability plan is one thing while executing it is another. In order to ensure that the company effectively and successfully reaches its targeted goals a good Sustainability manager knows how to get things done and finalize a project.
Complex Decision Making
Most projects have an effect on stakeholders and company owners. In order to satisfy all demands from all directions as well as stick to the plan and keep the environmentally conscious purpose in mind, a Sustainability Manager has to make critical decisions.
System Thinking
Since sustainability changes might have an effect on all departments of the organization, a Sustainability Manager has to have a clear vision of how will one change affect the entire system. Seeing through all connections within the organization and understanding the influence of each step on all levels, will help the Sustainability Manager lead the company to its sustainability goals.
In which industries a Sustainability Manager can work?
- Natural Life and Sciences
- Sustainability Manager within Engineering
- Sustainability Manager within a corporate – Chief Sustainability Officer
- Governmental institutes for environmental regulations and policies
- Educating stakeholders and the public regarding the importance of sustainable management practices
What qualification does a Sustainability Manager need?
Besides obtaining solid professional experience, to become a Sustainability Manager you must finish at least a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. Regarding the bachelor’s diploma, it is recommended to lean towards natural sciences, this is with the exception of careers in biochemistry and biophysics. In addition to that statistics and sustainable sciences are also highly required education in the field. It is not required that you earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree in sustainability management, but it may be a good idea to supplement your education with sustainable energy management courses. Lastly, it is recommended to acquire some sort of additional training such as:
- Sustainable management strategies
- The basics of economics and sustainable management software-use, for sustainability in financial management
- Leadership and Management
We hope we could give you a better vision of what a Sustainability Manager does. Do you feel like you have the skills and the motivation for this position? Take a look at Sustainablejobs.nl where we have a huge variety of available jobs for you! ♻️????