Top 10 emerging roles in sustainability, jobs you may not know existed

Role: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analyst

Description:

LCA analysts analyse and quantify the environmental impact of a manufactured product by considering factors such as energy usage and waste emissions. They work collaboratively across a company, including suppliers and customers, to build a picture of the full life cycle of a product, from raw materials, manufacture, transport, use and disposal and aim to quantify waste emissions at each stage.

Key responsibilities:

1. Data collection and analysis: They use data servers or knowledge across the company to map a products entire production process. This involves process mapping each individual stage of production and quantifying factors such as energy usage, water usage raw material input weights, by-products and accounting for any recycled materials.
2. Software proficiency: They use bespoke software to collate all collected data and link or match the data to known chemicals or processes in a database to convert weights or numbers into carbon footprint equivalents or other pollutants. They then often need to train other employees on how to understand the data once the mapping is complete. They also need to comply with and assist data auditing.
3. Reporting: They generate reports or presentations to feedback the findings to senior management and/or investors. The information presented likely highlights, the most polluting stages of production, where data is missing and how data collection could best be improved to allow for quicker and more reliable data processing.

Key skills for this role:

• Communication
• Data processing/analysis
• Collaboration
• Delegation
• Problem-solving
• Coaching/Training
• Teamwork
• Organisation

Further reading/useful links:

Life-cycle assessments - Product disposal and recycling - GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) Revision - OCR 21st Century - BBC Bitesize

Role: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) officer

Description:

A CSRs officer’s role revolves around building relationships with local organisations to create a positive impact on local communities and environments. CSR officers often become an internal and external representative of the company. CSR officers have an environmental responsibility and focus on opportunities for recycling or reducing waste in the business along with other business sustainability ventures such as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Key responsibilities:

1. Charity: They support local charities by raising initiatives both internal and external to the company. They also volunteer themselves and encourage others in the company to get involve with local events such as tree planting and litter picking.
2. Sustainability: They often work closely with ESG team members to help educate the community, employees and suppliers about climate change and discuss how processes could be made more efficient and contribute towards any ESG carbon net zero targets.
3. Outreach: They are closely linked to local schools and support both the teachers and students through topics such as career progression or mentoring. They often run networks internally to gather a community of employees that can help give back to local schools by educating students on the jobs that exist in their local community.

Key skills for this role:

• Interpersonal skills
• Public speaking
• Time management
• Presenting
• Persuasion and Influence

Further reading/useful links:

What is corporate social responsibility? - University of Lincoln

Role: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)/Sustainability analyst

Description:

ESG analysts work with the Head of Environment and Sustainability by aiding the delivery of their net zero and social impact plans through the provision of data, analysis and insight on their emissions and impact upon the community.

Key responsibilities:

1. Collaboration: They work with supply chain and/or production to collect, verify and analyse emissions data.
2. Training: They generate training material for the wider employee network, this can include topics such as carbon literacy, climate change and Life Cycle Assessments.
3. ESG management support: They provideESG management with information to help support the development of net zero targets and social impact metrics. They undertake market trend analysis to support setting strategic direction, reviewing and assessing low carbon technologies, provide environmental, social and governance data and insight to the business and support the delivery of annual sustainability reporting.

Key skills for this role:

• Communication
• Data analysis
• IT and data processing skills
• Attention to detail
• Research
• Report writing
• Presenting
• Teamwork
• Organisation

Further reading/useful links:

A Day in the Life of an ESG Analyst | ESG Career Advice (careersinesg.com)

Role: Environmental Sustainability Engineer

Description:

Environmental Sustainability Engineers work with product teams, suppliers and customers to deliver more sustainable products without compromising performance. Sustainable engineers focus on minimising waste, using renewable energy sources, reducing pollution and creating long-lasting, efficient systems that can be enjoyed by future generations. 

Key responsibilities:

1. Environmental strategy: They design and implement engineering solutions that minimise waste, pollution and resource usage to have a lower impact on the planet. They understand environmental legislation and perform regulation impact assessments and seek to identify opportunities to reduce environmental impact. They assist in completion of Life Cycle and Climate Impact Assessments.
2. Collaboration: Theywork with architects, urban planners, policymakers, and other professionals to promote sustainable practises in various engineering and construction projects.
3. Waste management: They develop waste management systems to reduce, recycle, and properly dispose of waste generated by industrial processes and communities. They look into circularity and how waste can be re-purposed or how an end-of-life product can be reutilised.

Key skills for this role:

• Verbal and written communication skills
• IT skills
• Accountability
• Drive and commitment
• Build relationships
• Multi-tasking
• Attention to detail but with big picture thinking

Further reading/useful links:

What is sustainable engineering? Career, role & education (strath.ac.uk)

Role: Electrochemistry/Battery Scientist

Description:

Battery scientists or electrochemists are focussed on exploring the art of the possible in regards to battery materials. This can involve the use of known technologies and understanding how efficiencies can be improved or how small-scale success and can be grown to large scale production. Alternatively this can involve developing new cells and understanding and developing a new field of electrochemistry.

Key responsibilities:

1. Electrode and electrolyte studies: They develop and design electrode and electrolyte material. This can involve looking at avoiding the use of toxic solvents for cell manufacture and looking at newer technologies such as slurry electrodes (a dispersion of conductive particles in the electrolyte).
2. Cell testing analysis: They use analytical, mechanical, optical, acoustic and electrical methods to characterise batteries. These methods can then be validated by post-mortem analysis, which includes cell opening, characterisation of cell components using microscopes, surface and chemical analysis.
3. Modelling: They use chemical/physical simulation models as well as statistical modelling to best understand the surface level chemistry and interacting variables in the cell design. This involves using surface design software and/or coding software to process data. This can also involve working alongside universities and research facilities.

Key skills for this role:

• Verbal and written communication skills
• IT and data processing skills
• Independent learning
• Research and experimental skills.

Further reading/useful links:

What does a scientist do? - CareerExplorer

Role: Safety engineer/officer

Description:

Safety engineers/officers are focused with resolving challenging issues to support the construction, commissioning and the safe operation of a production/operations plant. They are often required to engage with a variety of disciplines within the wider organisation, while also working with equipment designers/suppliers and internal/external regulators. They have a legal obligation to review and update legal registers as required.

Note that this is an existent role but is a role that is likely to see a lot of changes/updates with the rise of new infrastructures such as Hydrogen storage/transportation, Carbon capture and Nuclear Plant commissioning and de-commissioning. Safety officers/engineers will need to work with safety bodies to adapt safety measures and training to reflect any new inventions or regulations.

Key responsibilities:

1. Working with HSE (Health, Safety and Environment): They update HSE metrics and write and issue Health and Safety briefings. They liaise with HSE and other regulatory bodies when required, for example when a chemical/process is upgraded to a more dangerous level or when there is a new law or standard that the company needs to be compliant with.
2. Training coordination: They are responsible for organising and delivering training to relevant employees on topics such as risk assessing and mental wellbeing. They also manage first aiders on site and ensure training and awareness.
3. Contractor procedures: They oversee guidelines on dealing with contractors. This involves the permit to work system and ensuring the logging of permits and other related documents.
4. Audits: They carry out regular safety and environmental audits and tours across plants/manufacturing areas and ensure that other teams working in these areas are aware of carrying similar but smaller audits to constantly drive awareness and continuous improvement.
5. Accident and incident investigations: They are responsible for managing the risk assessment process and coordinating accident and incident investigations. They will report on accident statistics and drive for completion of actions in the investigations.

Key skills for this role:

• Verbal and written communication skills
• Organisation
• Investigation
• Decision making
• Analysis
• Observation
• Auditing
• Hazard/risk assessment
• Emergency response.

Further reading/useful links:

Roles and Responsibilities of a Safety Officer (safetymint.com)

Role: Green Building Engineer

Description:

Green Building Engineers will work closely with architects, engineers, and construction teams to design and construct environmentally conscious buildings. They may also work with local/national government to ensure compliance with environmental regulations and contribute to the development of sustainable building policies both within their company and more broadly.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Designing Sustainable Structures: They design buildings and infrastructure with a focus on minimising environmental impact throughout the entire lifecycle, including construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning.
2. Energy Efficiency: They incorporate energy-efficient systems and technologies such as solar panels, passive solar design, energy-efficient HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems (considering HVAC systems can be 60% of the energy use of a large building!), and advanced insulation to reduce energy consumption.
3. Material Selection: They select environmentally friendly and sustainable materials for construction, considering factors such as recycled content, renewable resources, and need for spares.
4. Waste Management: They develop waste management plans to minimise construction and business-as-usual waste and promote recycling and reuse of materials.
5. Indoor Environmental Quality: They design indoor environments that promote occupant health and well-being by optimising factors such as indoor air quality, natural lighting, and thermal comfort (linking back to HVAC considerations).

Key Skills for this role:

• Collaboration
• IT and data processing skills
• Engineering skills from an energy consumption perspective
• Interpersonal skills

Further Reading / Useful Links:

 What Is Green Engineering? (With Benefits and Examples) | Indeed.com

Role: Sustainable Agriculture Specialist

Description:

Traditional farming techniques are very extractive focused and have resulted in a significant deterioration of top-soil quality. This will lead to farms being unable to grow the same volumes of food to cater to demand as they have previously. Sustainable agriculture specialists are very much an emerging role but will help to pave the way to a future of sustainable farming that will ensure farmers are able to meet demand in a manner that will ensure the longevity of supply.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Advising Farmers: They provide guidance and support to farmers on implementing sustainable agricultural practices, including organic farming methods, crop rotation, integrated pest management, and soil conservation techniques.
2. Research and Development: They conduct research to develop innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture, such as new crop varieties and methods of co-planting crops and methods for reducing pesticide use.
3. Environmental Conservation: They work to minimise the environmental impact of agriculture by promoting practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water resources, protect biodiversity, and prevent soil erosion.
4. Community Engagement: They collaborate with local communities to promote sustainable food systems, support small-scale farmers, and improve access to healthy, locally grown food.
5. Policy Advocacy: They advocate for policies and regulations that support sustainable agriculture at the local, national, and international levels, including incentives for farmers to adopt environmentally friendly practices and subsidies for organic farming.
6. Education and Outreach: They raise awareness about the importance of sustainable agriculture through workshops, training programs, and educational materials for farmers, consumers, and policymakers.

Key Skills for this role:

• Collaboration
• Interpersonal skills
• Chemistry and biology knowledge

Further Reading / Useful Links:

Sustainable agriculture - Wikipedia

A beginner’s guide to sustainable farming (unep.org)

Food production and sustainable farming | Friends of the Earth

Role: Sustainable Transport Planner / Urban Planner

Description:

This is a professional role that focuses on the design, implementation and management of transport systems that minimise negative environmental, social and economic impacts. Whilst environment may be the stereotypical consideration – social aspects are incredibly important and can lead to greater social equity and help underprivileged communities thrive.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Research and Analysis: They conduct research on transportation trends, issues, as well as environmental and social impacts of transportation systems. They analyse data to understand current usage, congestion levels, emissions, and other relevant factors.
2. Policy Development: Sustainable transport planners help develop transportation policies and strategies aimed at reducing carbon emissions, improving air quality, promoting active transportation (walking, cycling), and increasing the use of public transit.
3. Infrastructure Planning: They plan and design transportation infrastructure such as bike lanes, pedestrian walkways, public transit routes, and facilities for electric vehicles. They also consider factors like land use, urban design, and accessibility for all community members, including those with disabilities.
4. Public Engagement / Community Outreach: Planners engage with stakeholders, including government agencies, community groups, and the general public, to gather input, address concerns, and build support for sustainable transportation initiatives.
5. Simulation: They use computer models and simulation tools to predict the impacts of proposed transportation projects, such as changes in traffic flow, emissions, and travel times. This helps inform decision-making and prioritise investments.

Key Skills for this role:

• Analytical skills
• Problem solving
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking & spatial reasoning

Further Reading / Useful Links:

Sustainable transportation planning - Mott MacDonald

How transport planners are shaping sustainable cities (atkinsrealis.com)

Role: Engineer (Chemical / Mechanical / Electrical)

Description:

Engineers have a very broad range of potential careers, and they can be very much what you make of them from a sustainability perspective. Engineering encompasses all things to do with design, building, use of machinery/operations, engines, electrical equipment and chemical processes.

Note that this is an existent role but is a role that is likely to see a lot of changes/updates with the rise of new infrastructures such as Hydrogen storage/transportation, Carbon capture and Nuclear Plant commissioning and de-commissioning. Engineers will need to adapt to the emerging green technology and aid in designing and operating new technologies.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Process Design and Optimisation: Chemical/mechanical engineers design and optimise processes for manufacturing chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fuels, food products, and a wide range of other materials. They work to maximise efficiency, minimise costs, and ensure safety and environmental sustainability. By considering a lifecycle approach, engineers can play a critical role in a sustainable future.
2. Research and Development: Chemical engineers design and optimise processes for manufacturing chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fuels, food products, and a wide range of other materials. They work to maximise efficiency, minimise costs, and ensure safety and environmental sustainability.
3. Environmental: Chemical engineers play a key role in developing and implementing technologies to minimise pollution and reduce the environmental impact of industrial processes. They may work on projects related to wastewater treatment, air pollution control, and waste management.
4. Energy Production: They work on projects related to the production, conversion and utilisation of energy from fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear power. Electrical and mechanical engineers will develop processes for energy generation, storage, and distribution as well as technologies for energy efficiency and conservation.

Key Skills for this role:

• Analytical skills
• Problem solving
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking
• Mathematics, sciences

Further Reading / Useful Links:

What is chemical engineering? - IChemE

Institution of Mechanical Engineers - IMechE