Jenny works in a consulting firm. Engineer by education. She has worked as a sustainability professional for more than fifteen years and is in her mid-forties.
“If I give a presentation and receive no questions it is tremendously frustrating. But the knowledge can continue to grow in the costumer mind. Like a seed”
“When I graduated as an engineer, there were few relevant jobs on the market. That is how I got introduced to life cycle assessment. Through an internship.” Eventually, Jenny got an engineering job, but she wanted back to sustainability. She had always been interested in the environment but did not think that one could actually work with environmental issues as a job. To get into she field, she dived into a PhD.
Many years and several different workplaces later, Jenny works as a consultant in a consultancy firm. She does life cycle assessments and environmental product declarations commissioned by industry. “I tell the costumers that the most important thing is that they learn from the results. But I don’t know if they do. If someone does, then it helps.” For those costumers, Jenny believes that her work has sustainability impact.
Before her current job, Jenny worked as an environmental manager for a company. But she soon discovered it was not right for her. She describes herself as a “somewhat introvert person who likes to do calculations,” traits that fit her current role much better. She also likes that she can work with so many different companies and learn about different processes, materials and products. Even products she did not know existed. “I want to make a difference in as many places as possible,” Jenny says. In her earlier research career, the projects were much longer and she got to work with fewer companies. “Then again, through the research projects I felt like the companies learnt more and became more receptive. And that was in spite of sustainability not even being the main focus of the projects. Sustainability was rather an add on to technical issues.”
Over the years, Jenny has seen that life cycle assessment has gained massively in interest. But she does not know if companies in general have become more progressive. “It can be hard to know if the companies commission life cycle assessments because they want to or because they have to. Do they really want to change or is it only a compliance or marketing thing? If I would guess I would say the ratio is 50/50.” Jenny is not in a position where she can decide what the costumers should do with her results. Is that frustrating? “If I give a presentation and receive no questions it is tremendously frustrating. But the knowledge can continue to grow in the costumer mind. Like a seed.”
Jenny also uses the ecosystem analogy in her way to think about sustainability professional contribution. She thinks the sustainability expertise is needed everywhere. ”Without researchers we have no methods for assessing environmental impact. Consultants use the methods to help companies. NGOs are needed to push politicians. And so on.” Jenny thinks that politicians and the ones with power in really big companies have the most to say, but that “everybody needs to do something”. She does, however, think that there are certain positions where sustainability professional impact is limited. “Research in fields with limited societal relevance is such an example. Or working for dirty industries where one does not have the possibility to change. In such industries, sustainability professional work as a greenwashing façade.”
I ask Jenny whether her work contributes to systemic change. “My work has no impact on a systems level,” she answers. “I can improve the environmental performance of products. But some of the products are completely unnecessary.” I ask Jenny whether it is not demotivating to work with what one believes are unnecessary products. “There are extremely many products that are not needed. Most of them actually. But that is how society is, and those are the frames that we have to work with.” Jenny wants to do what she can within the current societal system boundaries. And even though she is not hopeful about the future global environmental state, she does not let that demotivate her work efforts. “I still want to do my best,” she concludes.
Meaningful sustainability jobs 