Key insights to emerge from the report include:

• RAPIDLY EVOLVING REMIT: More than 40% of sustainability and environmental professions say they experienced responsibility shifts in the past year, reflecting the rapidly evolving nature of the sustainability profession. Over 70% of all respondents have a focus on waste management, climate change mitigation and energy efficiency, which clearly maps to regulatory and cost control pressures.
• CREATING v PROTECTING VALUE: The sustainability function within organisations is increasingly creating as well as protecting value, with 30% of professionals now contributing to Product and Service Innovation while 66% influence Strategy and Research. However, most focus remains on disciplines that support value protection, such as Reporting and Disclosure (79%), Compliance (76%) and Risk Management (68%).
• REMUNERATION: Only 6% of sustainability and environmental professionals say they work in organisations where remuneration – for relevant roles – is directly linked to performance on sustainability and environmental targets.
• SUSTAINABILITY BUDGETS: Fewer than 2% of organisations cut sustainability budgets in the past year, with almost half actually increasing their spend. This is in spite of current macro-economic and geopolitical influences putting pressure on businesses to deprioritise sustainability.
• LEADING FROM THE TOP: 80% of the organisations with the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions reduction are led by CEOs regarded as “leading, visible champions or proactively supporting sustainability”.
• WATER & NATURE: More than 40% of survey respondents report that their organisation does not currently measure water consumption for sustainability purposes, while over 70% of relevant organisations don’t measure biodiversity net gain or believe it is not a material issue.
• CARBON EMISSIONS: More than a quarter of sustainability professionals (28%) are working in organisations that still do not measure and report on greenhouse gas emissions. But of the 72% that do, more than two-thirds measure Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions such as those in supply chains) in addition to Scope1 & 2 direct emissions.

State of the Profession author and ISEP Fellow, Laila Takeh, said the report paints a picture of a dynamic and rapidly evolving sustainability and environmental profession.

“Green jobs are growing at three to four times the rate of the rest of the economy and for sustainability professionals, their responsibilities and influence are growing. More than 40% of survey respondents have experienced a change in remit in the past year.

“This dynamism is driven by a combination of factors, from the acceleration of the net zero economy to the increasing pressure of regulatory reporting and compliance across emissions, waste, pollution and other environmental performance measures.

“Hitting those green targets is vital to the reputation of businesses. However, there is also a growing recognition that the role of sustainability and environmental professionals is about more than just protecting value and mitigating risk.

“They possess the knowledge, skillset and technical discipline to add value to business in all kinds of ways – from improving efficiency and future proofing supply chains through to influencing business strategy and supporting product and service innovation.”

A key insight from this unique survey is an emerging link between the role that business leaders play in being visible champions on sustainability and organisational success in delivering on sustainability.

ISEP CEO Sarah Mukherjee said: “Sustainability professionals often tell us that support from the highest levels of an organisation can be crucial to their success.

“The data seems to back this up and indicates that 80% of the organisations with the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions reduction also have CEOs that are regarded as ‘leading, visible champions or proactively supporting sustainability’.

“However, the data also tells us that very few organisations are linking staff pay to success on sustainability.

“It seems like a no-brainer, if we are going achieve our net-zero targets and other crucial environmental outcomes, financial incentives need to be playing a role.

“Businesses often link pay to sales targets, customer experience and operational metrics. Yet based on our survey, only 6% of organisations with sustainability professionals link remuneration to sustainability targets.”

[1] PWC - Green Jobs Barometer

[2] CBI Economics - The Future is Green: The economic opportunities brought by the UK's net zero economy