Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is a necessary framework, and with growing pressures from governments and regulators, a growing number of businesses are ramping up their investments and capabilities to reach their ESG goals and targets. Specifically, organizations need to address challenges around data and skill sets. This blog post addresses the data roadmap for successful outcomes and offers an overview of various ESG-related jobs vital for overcoming some of the issues.
On ESG and Organizations’ Focus On It
ESG is an abbreviation for Environmental, Social, and Governance. The term is a set of standards that encourages corporate responsibility and measures organizations’ impact on the environment and society, and it also shows how transparent governance organizations have.
Today, with increased scrutiny on corporations’ impact to the planet and society, more organizations are focusing on ESG as part of their overall strategy to deliver value for their stakeholders. And the ability to measure their impact on society and the environment becomes necessary as more customers demand greater transparency from the businesses they interact and do business with. This all then boils down to the kind of technology and data sets that they have within their organizations to be able to provide data-driven insights into how their business is performing in this area.
ESG Data Matters in Overcoming The Challenges
Many organizations are pressured to make informed decisions regarding the allocation of budgets, improvement of performance and meeting consumer expectations. Also, many countries adopt legislation pushing organizations to be even more transparent when reporting ESG. However, organizations face issues regarding ESG goals and data. According to the latest study by IBM Institute for Business Value, these are the challenges organizations face to their ESG progress:
- Inadequate data (41%)
- Regulatory barriers (39%)
- Inconsistent standards (37%)
- Inadequate skills (36%)
Organizations from different industries approach ESG data differently – the energy sector may focus on carbon emissions, while the technology sector on data privacy and cybersecurity. But many organizations admit that they have challenges with data (data gaps and data holes) that impact their ability to progress and meet consumer demands. Almost 3 in 4 surveyed executives say their organizations struggle to manage an overload of manual data, while 7 in 10 say they have difficulty consolidating or manipulating data.
Organizations that have overcome data-related challenges see several benefits, such as higher revenue, improved profitability, and customer engagement. Their data and technology roadmap to success like that includes:
- Defining a data strategy
- Adjusting data architecture
- Combining data sets from multiple sources
- Establishing a data governance model to manage ESG data successfully
- Automating processes and reporting capabilities to keep data current
- Applying responsible AI to turn insights into performance and results
- Aligning with ecosystem stakeholders on mapping data gaps and holes and defining metrics and standards
- Transitioning towards better ESG analytics and more standardized and metrics-based reporting
- Addressing climate adaptation as part of the risk mitigation strategy
- Creating green IT environments
- Developing and nurturing ESG data talent by creating better diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategies and program
What holds the ESG Future?
As more organizations recognize the value of sustainability and socially and environmentally responsible practices, the need and demand for ESG professionals are increasing across various industries and sectors. The ESG job market is more diverse, with new roles and job titles emerging.
Here are some examples of specific ESG jobs titles:
- Sustainability manager, responsible for developing and implementing a company’s sustainability strategy.
- Environmental engineer, responsible for designing, developing, and implementing solutions to environmental issues.
- Social impact analyst, responsible for assessing a company’s social impact.
- Corporate responsibility officer, ensures compliance with laws and regulations about sustainability and corporate responsibility.
- ESG analyst/specialist, responsible for analyzing a company’s portfolio or industry sector’s environmental, social, and governance performance
- Sustainability consultant, responsible for assisting organizations in identifying and addressing sustainability issues
- Renewable energy project manager, responsible for the development and execution of renewable energy projects.
- Analyst for energy and sustainability, responsible for analyzing energy consumption and identifying opportunities to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions.
- Supply chain sustainability manager, responsible for the organization’s supply chain sustainability.
Finance, marketing, human resources, operations, technology, energy and retail can also have ESG-related jobs. Those wanting to enter this field or advance their ESG career and wanting to make a difference should have the following:
Understanding of ESG principles and practices
Knowledge of environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and ethical governance
Relevant skills such as communication, analytical skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills but technical skills also, such as data analysis, investment analysis, visualization, portfolio management and others
Personal solid ethics, passion and desire to make a difference
Hands-on experience in the industry and ESG that can be acquired through interning or volunteering in organizations
Key Takeaways
Being committed to ESG is beneficial for organizations in the following ways:
- Improving reputation
- Attracting new customers
- Reducing costs
- Becoming innovative
Since data is the lifeblood of ESG, organizations need to act sooner rather than later with the implementation of strategies, plans, and sustainability roadmap. At the same time, as more organizations recognize the value of sustainability and responsible practices, the demand for ESG jobs is increasing.
The knowledge, skills and other qualifications can be acquired through different courses and certification programs. For some data-related certifications, check out She Loves Data‘s workshops, courses, and programs.
