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The rapid rise in sustainability career demand translates to the need for experts in safeguarding public health, ensuring economic productivity, and delivering long-term economic prosperity. No one should ever ignore sustainability, especially in today’s world, where environmental concerns are at the forefront of global discussion. The shift toward sustainability is not just a trend—it’s becoming necessary for businesses, organizations, and agencies to thrive long-term.
Sustainability is a broad field composed of engineers, scientists, educators, business professionals, and social activities. Sustainability jobs are not only required in government agencies that focus on the environment; these positions need to be filled in any sector.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, environmental scientists (one of the many careers for sustainability degree graduates) will enjoy a 6% job growth from 2022 to 2032. Other professionals like sustainable business consultants, renewable energy engineers, and sustainability coordinators are also in high demand across various industries.
The Lowdown
A sustainability degree encompasses environmental roles, and you’re sure to have several job opportunities. If you’re looking to take on an environmental management role, you’ve come to the right place!
10 Companies That Hire People with Sustainability System Degrees
Environmental Resource Management Group
ERM is a large company that helps businesses address environmental and sustainability issues. It works with organizations across various industries to address environmental challenges, manage risks, and improve sustainability performance.
If you’re a sustainability grad, ERM might be a great place to work because you’ll get to work on important projects and help companies be more eco-friendly. They’re well-respected in their field and offer many chances to impact the world positively.
Currently, ERM Group is searching for a Consulting Associate, Sustainability Advisory. As a Sustainability Strategy and Reporting Associate, you’ll help multinational clients with their sustainability goals. Your responsibilities include
- assisting with sustainability strategy projects
- analyzing environmental and social issues
- writing sustainability reports
- designing sustainability programs
You’ll also support project management and communicate with clients and colleagues to ensure projects are completed successfully and on time.
Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI)
Plants, animals, and people are all threatened by the effects of global climate change. Global temperatures rise due to too much atmospheric carbon, causing disastrous flooding, devastating storms, and protracted droughts.
The Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) of The Salk Institute provides a visionary, scalable approach that can be quickly implemented.
HPI is hiring Research Assistants for various molecular biology laboratories and research initiatives. Specific duties will differ depending on which lab you’ll be assigned to. But in general, as a research assistant, your tasks will involve:
- Conducting experiments and research in molecular biology laboratories.
- Assisting with data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
- Collaborating with other team members to achieve research goals.
- Maintaining laboratory equipment and supplies.
- Following safety protocols and procedures.
- Contributing to the development of research methodologies and protocols.
- Presenting research findings at meetings or conferences.
- Supporting the overall objectives of the research initiatives within HPI.
- Adhering to ethical standards and guidelines in research conduct.
McKinsey Sustainability
McKinsey Sustainability is a sustainability consulting unit by McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm founded in 1926 by UC professor James O. McKinsey. The McKinsey Sustainability unit aims to provide professional help to other companies, including climate, energy transition, sustainability, social, and governance (ESG) green initiatives.
McKinsey Sustainability is constantly in need of sustainability graduates and professionals to help them expand their goals and help the world heal from traumas. Their career openings are vast, ranging from consulting roles to research positions, offering opportunities to tackle pressing environmental and social challenges.
All available positions are focused on achieving sustainability goals and reducing carbon emissions. You’ll be working on various sustainability-related projects and initiatives with the team. You will collaborate with a team of McKinsey consultants and partners actively addressing strategic issues in the energy business.
At McKinsey, you actively assist clients, build and acquire exclusive tools and expertise for McKinsey, and guide less experienced coworkers toward corporate sustainability. You will be in charge of seeing fresh chances and creating plans for renewable energy to benefit customers.
Examples of the work you will do for the company include:
- Helping a government develop a roadmap for the economy’s decarbonization,
- Assisting the oil and gas industry with the launch of a new electric vehicle venture,
- Identifying opportunities for portfolio reshaping for a sustainable financing institution or
- Advising a steel company on creative ways to decarbonize its operations.
You will have a significant transformational influence by directly collaborating with senior client executives or sharing your extensive knowledge with other colleagues. You will have several chances to advance and focus on a particular area of sustainability that aligns with your interests.
Business for Social Responsibility
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) is a company founded in 1992 by people from the business sector to create an organization that helps companies go green. Today, BSR works with over 300 companies to build better environmental health.
You’ll find several job opportunities by scanning through Jobs at BSR Member Companies. As of writing, there are three open US positions:
- Senior Sustainability Specialist
- Analyst, Sustainable Product and Packaging
- Senior Program Manager-Supplier Decarbonization
While the job openings do not specify that you need a bachelor’s degree in sustainability, the job descriptions are clear that a background in sustainability or related fields is preferred.
BSR offers various roles in corporate sustainability for national and global companies. It’s a chance to make a difference and grow your career. Keep an eye on their job board for opportunities that match your interests and skills.
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy, or NTC, has been protecting the natural landscapes that support the variety of plant and animal life on earth since 1951 by collaborating with individuals, local communities, governmental organizations, and private corporations.
This company conserves land by buying it outright, putting easements on it, and collaborating with other organizations and municipal agencies. Aside from focusing on sustainability, this company also focuses on creating a diversity of experience that will build skills and talents that helps motivate employees to stay in the company.
To quote The Nature Conservancy staff members, “you’ll join for our mission, and you’ll stay for our people.”
The TNC company hires a Senior Ethics & Compliance Director to manage The Nature Conservancy’s Ethics and Compliance Program. They ensure everyone follows rules and policies and help create a culture of compliance. Responsibilities include:
- Lead and guide implementation of the Ethics and Compliance program.
- Establish training priorities and coordinate training programs efficiently.
- Maintain and update the organization’s Risk Assessment program.
- Oversee organizational policies and procedures.
- Manage investigations of noncompliance allegations and oversee the Ethics and Compliance Hotline.
- Establish and oversee a reporting and accountability system to prevent illegal or unethical conduct.
They ensure everyone follows rules and policies and help create a culture of compliance. They also act on behalf of the CECO when needed and make important decisions, even when the CECO is away.
AECOM
Architecture, Engineering, Consulting, Operations, and Maintenance, or AECOM, is a respected trade and professional organization. It is consistently selected as one of the top companies in the sector, enhancing its already stellar reputation. The company works on significant environmental initiatives centered on transportation, energy consumption, and water.
An ongoing initiative involves assisting international organizations in finding solutions to PFAS-related issues, as these substances don’t degrade naturally.
Environmental engineers with little work experience but sufficient knowledge of biological and ecological processes can apply as Entry Level Environmental Engineers at AECOM. You will be tasked to perform sustainability initiatives and environmental field tasks, such as:
- gathering information about remediation systems,
- measuring soil and groundwater,
- gauging fluid levels,
- supervising subcontractors,
- record-keeping of operations, inspections, and compliance documents,
- preparing field documents, gathering, analyzing, and interpreting field data,
- helping with office duties, including data analysis and report writing,
- interpreting and recording data, analyzing, and comparing findings to pertinent studies and local, state, and federal rules.
AECOM professionals work in the AECOM office, a distant location, or a client site. For more information on their job openings, visit AECOM careers page.
Kimley-Horn
Kimley-Horn is one of the most known companies that hire people with sustainability degrees to help promote world-class planning, engineering, and design across the United States.
Sustainability professionals at Kimley-Horn are known to combine rigor and creativity to produce excellent results. The company has a lengthy history of creating solutions that save clients money and time and work to lower client risk and boost success.
Kimley-Horn has a vacant position for Environmental Engineering & Planning with a particular set of abilities seeking to enhance the well-being of people and the environment in all communities.
The company’s sustainability job prospects provide generous benefits, including high wages, technical software, consulting training, and developmental programs that will advance the skills and knowledge earned with your sustainability studies degree. Additionally, Kimley-Horn provides mentorship opportunities and mental health resources for all employees to help them succeed in their fields.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC
Shell is one of the most sustainable gas and mining companies and spends $2–3 billion annually on its Renewables Solutions and New Energies division, which started in 2016. Shell invested in the American company Inspire Energy in 2018, which offers clean energy programs in some regions.
Additionally, it bought Greenlots, a firm that specializes in providing electric vehicle charging options. Shell began providing 100% renewable electricity to its British residential customers in 2019.
Hired applicants will be responsible for contributing to the offshore platform goals of all machinery submerged and above the mud but not a part of the real offshore platform structure. The position requires a great deal of expertise that only people who have handled projects of similar technical capacity experience can perform.
Other job duties include:
- Contribute to the creation and application of relevant KPIs for the discipline.
- Encourage uniformity and development throughout Shell’s Gulf of Mexico portfolio.
- Establish and uphold an inclusive atmosphere that honors and values individual diversity and is consistent with Shell’s fundamental values.
- Performs additional activities, initiatives, or duties as directed.
The Williams Sale Partnership Limited (WSP)
William Barclay Parsons established the business that would become Parsons Brinckerhoff in New York City in 1885, where WSP USA started.
The company has designed numerous highways, bridges, and tunnels, provided consulting services for energy, water/wastewater, and community development projects, and has worked on many of the major transit systems in the United States, including those in San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Seattle.
WSP is hiring people who can fulfill civil engineering duties. Several of their openings do not require applicants with much experience; however, they must be proficient enough to successfully complete each fundamental work duty. You’ll find several job positions for different locations.
Some of their available positions include:
- Early Career Biologist
- Senior Water Resource Engineer
- Environmental Due Diligence Specialist
- Early Career Environmental Scientist
Turner Construction Company
Turner Corp is one of the most sustainable building and construction companies that uses simple and robust designs favored by the United States and abided by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
Turner Corp works harder to ensure that the work is sustainable since there are more standards, more state and local regulations, international environmental law, and more sophisticated owners who know what they want or need.
There are several job openings for sustainability degree holders. However, the position of Project Safety Manager is the most popularly applied position.
The project’s Project Safety Manager first manages the project’s occupational health and safety issues. They are in charge of any modifications to the choices made about the health and safety procedures before and after the project.
In this position, Turner Corp. professionals will partner with the BU EHSD, PX, PM, and Superintendents to ensure the project site fully complies with the company’s risk control, environmental, and health regulations.
Other job duties include:
- Organize, oversee, and enforce safety on a single large-scale or many smaller projects.
- Determine, eliminate, and manage dangerous situations
After years of trial and error, Turner Corp has finally found a way to create a more sustainable construction process that will reduce air and water pollution. The corporation pledges to cut back on-site construction operations’ greenhouse gas emissions and water use by 50% by 2030.
Turner has the chance to have a real, observable effect on the environment by focusing more intently on the elements of construction that the company can manage—the actual building process.
Reasons to Enter Sustainability Careers
Natural resources are mainly why we’re still breathing and able to create things. Thus, as humans, we are profoundly impacted by our surroundings. Everyone must ensure that their surroundings are healthy and secure and don’t negatively affect their lives.
Sustainability professionals focus on improving ecological conditions that make it more livable for people. It aids in the development of sustainable solutions to environmental issues.
Here are the top reasons why you should consider a career in sustainability.
You can change the world while earning.
There is a high need for jobs in environmental engineering, green building, water engineering, science, and many more. The US Department of Labor Blog says careers in the solar industry and renewable energy sustainability field are expected to grow much faster.
However, if you want to enter this career field, you must be naturally concerned with environmental, economic, and social issues.
Focusing on sustainability improves the environment, which benefits people’s quality of life. One person can have a significant impact and, in the process, motivate others to act morally. Learn that everything is possible with perseverance, discipline, and a passion for protecting the environment.
Prevent Animal Extinction.
Animals are essential to the interaction they maintain with plants in the cycle of life, which would end without them. Deforestation, endangered plant species, litter, and other harmful substances left on highway shoulders and nature paths are only a few of the elements that contribute to destroying their way of life.
Even though working with animals is not necessary, understanding how sustainable jobs affect them is crucial. People who love the outdoors frequently have a special affection for animals and strive to make their living conditions safer for them. After all, animals make up a sizable portion of the ecology.
Major Public Sector Environmental Employers
While we have listed these companies that hire graduates with sustainability systems degrees, you might still be unsatisfied and feel like none fits your career goals. So, we listed the most popular public sector that hires graduates with sustainability degrees. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, federal, state, or local governments employ around 44% of environmental scientists.
National Parks Service
The NPS works with environmental specialists from all backgrounds to conserve natural resources, including reducing the effects of pollution and natural disasters. The NPS hires park rangers with park security and law enforcement expertise, wildland firefighters, biologists, and conservationists.
US Geological Survey
The US Geological Survey, one of the biggest organizations in the country, focuses on earth, biological, and water science as well as civilian mapping. Resource managers, urban planners, and other interested parties conduct research and provide data on natural hazards that impact the environment, ecosystems, and climate change.
It works with many environmental experts, such as wildlife biologists, geologists, ecologists, and hydrologists. It also provides chances for students and volunteers.
Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA runs six major research programs and is home to several research institutions. The EPA has notable initiatives in community health, safe and sustainable water resources, air and energy research, and risk assessment for human health and the environment. The National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory is located within the EPA.
Specialists in mechanical engineering, geology, biology, chemistry, and other fields can find professions emphasizing the environment at this sizable agency.
US Forest Service
The Forest Service works with eco-driven technologies, land management, firefighting, and forestry experts to maintain American forests’ diversity, productivity, and health. Additionally, they provide a range of temporary jobs that support their initiatives for resource preservation, forest health, and the prevention and suppression of fires.
Local Government
The fight against climate change can benefit greatly from the involvement of local governments. For instance, the Local Governments for Sustainability Network includes about 1,750 local and regional government organizations.
State and local governments are implementing environmentally friendly regulations and renewable energy programs like cutting-edge transportation projects and low-carbon structures. To continue their work one site at a time, these governing entities require trained engineers, scientists, constructors, and researchers.
What Are The Factors of Sustainability?
Climate change
There is a reason why climate change tops so many lists of sustainable practices. The biggest crisis now affecting our planet is probably climate change. One primary source of it is the planet’s steady warming brought on by greenhouse gases created by the combustion of fossil fuels.
Environment
How well we protect the integrity of our environment may be a definition of environmental sustainability. This could entail creating more environmentally friendly ways to obtain and utilize more ephemeral resources like electricity and more tangible natural resources like wood, metal, or water. As a species, we must practice moderation in everything.
People
Although it is not inherently possible for humans to be sustainable, it is nevertheless within their power to become so. True sustainability will never be attained if we as individuals do not work toward it and if we do not accept our responsibility as earth stewards. We must acquire the skills to feed, clothe, and amuse ourselves sustainably. Otherwise, we run the risk of failing on all fronts.
Innovation
We must work as a species to develop ideas that increase our sustainability. These advancements don’t necessarily have to be technological; they might be economical or philosophical. To solve the issues many of us choose to ignore, we must alter how we view the world and one another.
Technology
Our only hope in recent years has been sustainability through technology. Many nations have already started adopting new renewable technologies, displacing outdated and environmentally damaging energy production techniques.
The Iowa Agricultural Literacy Foundation reports that several businesses have begun implementing recent agricultural technological advancements to assist in crop growth and consume fewer resources.
How Can Average People Contribute To Sustainability?
The increasing frequency of natural disasters, the widespread nature of diseases, and the mass extinction of species are just a few examples of mounting evidence that our planet is approaching its breaking point. So, more and more people are asking what they can do to help the environment remain sustainable.
Here are a few ways everybody can help maintain natural resources without working sustainability jobs.
Reduce Consumption Of Processed Goods
Recently, the United Nations warned about the need for us to consider new issues when we purchase and even mentioned a new diet trend called the climatarian diet.
We must alter our eating habits to adopt more sustainable diets, going beyond simply taking the cost and quality of what we purchase into account:
- fewer meats, particularly beef
- increased seasonal produce
- local goods
- avoid using single-use plastic bags
Aim For A Newly Revitalized Life
One of the fundamental teachings of responsible consumption is correctly sorting garbage to aid in recycling. However, it would be best to take household appliances to a domestic waste recycling facility where you may also recycle items.
However, recycling alone is insufficient; you also need to reduce your use of unnecessary goods. You can utilize “hacks” like establishing a list of your needs before sales. This act will not only help the planet but your wallet as well.
Another thing that will help your wallet is saving water and electricity. In other words, turn off the tap and appliances when you’re not using them.
Say No To Plastic
Almost everyone uses reusable cloth shopping bags instead of single-use plastic ones. However, you may reuse containers, fix your worn-out clothing and accessories, irrigate your plants with leftover cooking water, and many other things. Think creatively!
Minimize Vehicle Use
The biggest contributors to CO2 emissions are vehicles that use gas. You can try walking, using a bicycle, or taking public transportation instead of driving!
Summary Points
- With a job in sustainability, you can contribute to preserving the environment, halting the current climate disaster, and creating a better future for all.
- Sustainability is more than just a job function; it’s a way of thinking and living. Find a job that could have a lasting impact rather than merely looking for one.
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