Meaningful sustainability jobs

“The company will, by its nature, always have a negative impact. No sustainability work can neutralize that”

What made Andreas chose the sustainability path? “I thought it would allow me to contribute to reduce environmental impact,” Andreas says. Andreas wanted meaning in his job. “Doing good.” He adds that the choice also had to do with learning something new and interesting.

But then there can be a difference between what one expects and what one experiences. To the question “Do you think your work contributes to sustainability?” Andreas quickly answers “no.” He sees his work more as damage limitation. That he can contribute to making a product less harmful, but that that does not solve the real problem. Industry still produces plenty.

Andreas has tried to do something about his failed expectations. He changed workplace, to a similar role in a similar company. Maybe things would be different there? “The job advert looked great,” Andreas says. “And the interview really sold the job. They made it sound like I had the opportunity to make real impact.” The company highlighted that they do things differently than other companies in the same industry. And that they focus on what matters more than the production of the product itself: the business model.

The new workplace has, however, not lived up to Andreas’ expectations. He thinks the problem lies in that they are too optimistic and that they do not really realize what is possible and how to achieve it. “The previous workplace at least had somewhat more control over their value chain. There were also more sustainability professionals working in the company, and the ‘ordinary employees’ generally had more sustainability knowledge and aspirations.” Would it have been better to stay where he was? Andreas does not think so. He had come to a dead end there as well. He experiences a trend where the impact of sustainability professionals in the whole industry decreases. During the last couple of years, with the growing financial depression, cost has become an ever-increasing driver. Materials have gotten a lot more expensive. “The whole focus is on where to save cost. Sustainability is the first to be kicked out.”

I ask Andreas if there is anything that, if changed, would make his work more sustainability impactful or meaningful. Himself? The workplace? The system? Colleagues? Andreas answers that all people involved must be enlightened. That if more people understood how mad the situation is and the scale of the environmental impact the product has, they would make decisions that really matter. “If people understand the gravity of the situation we are in and still choose not to do anything it is actually suicide… I cannot believe that it is actually the case.” 

This lack of enlightenment is also why Andreas does not think there is any role or workplace a sustainability professional can have or work in that really can contribute to sustainability. He believes that as long as the people in charge do not realize the severity of the situation and which strategies that are necessary “it does not matter what the sustainability professionals do.”

But is there nowhere where working as a sustainability professional has somewhat more meaning or contributes somewhat more to a better world? Andreas is pessimistic. Working in industry? Industry only exists to make profit for shareholders. Working in research? It is all theoretical, not real impact.

Andreas has a clear understanding of which type of workplace where a sustainability professional has the least positive impact. “Being the sustainability manager in any corporate company. The company will, by its nature, always have a negative impact. No sustainability work can neutralize that.” Andreas thinks that a sustainability professional in such a role is either lying (if he/she knows science and the truth of the matter) or being ignorant and not knowing what he/she is talking about. “Both are cause to cry.”

Already guessing the answer, I ask Andreas if he believes there is hope that global warming will be kept under a critical level. “No. 0 % chance that we will keep to the climate goals.” Andreas is tired of buzzwords such as “net zero”. They do not make sense to him. “As long as we do not speak about less consumption, nothing will happen.” In his personal life, Andreas takes great care to act sustainable. He only consumes what he really needs and tries to avoid flying at all cost. In his professional life, however, he finds no outlet for his will to contribute and change.

Seeing the sustainability professional career so pessimistically, does Andreas regret having chosen it? Would he have chosen another path if he knew then what he knows now? “No,” Andreas answers firmly. “It allows me to see the world from a very different perspective. It has forced me to question what is important in my life. How we all to a certain degree have a responsibility.”