Vera works at a state owned enterprise with public service function. She has a social science educational background. Very is approaching forty and has worked as a sustainability professional for thirteen years.
“Being so conscious about the causes of environmental damage, I have moral issues when I fly or eat meat. It would be nice to live somewhat more in oblivion”
Vera ended up working with sustainability by chance. She had never been particularly engaged in environmental issues, but took some environmental courses during her university degree and found them interesting. She likes the combination of social and natural science. “I find it interesting to understand how the clash of ecological and societal interests creates challenges. I like engaging with it in a work context. That suits me better than to engage politically or with activism.”
Vera works with coordinating environmental work, setting strategies, reporting, and having close interaction with management. She believes that her work has sustainability impact, and that the impact definitely has increased over the years. ”But the increase is not thanks to me. The enterprise is state owned and the government has become very proactive.” Vera says that the situation was very different ten years ago. “Then we really had to work with persuasion to get action.” New strict and universal EU rules on which sustainability indicators companies should report on also promote proactive action. The largest hinder towards creating impact today is to employ enough qualified sustainability professional to take on the work.
Before her current job, Vera worked with sustainability research at a university. “But I wanted to work more hands on. I did not have the patience to work in research, to describe phenomena in retrospect.” Vera does not think research contributes much to sustainability unless it is commissioned. “But universities also teach, and education is important.”
Vera thinks operative sustainability roles and working with sustainability management contribute most to sustainability. “The ones who work operative are the ones who discover the challenges and amend them. Management roles are also needed, for coordinating operations and setting long term strategies.” Vera thinks that working for organizations that are willing to heavily finance sustainability efforts, in combination with being organizations that produce something physical, has the most potential for impact. No matter if the employer is a state owned or private company, or a public service provider.
When I ask her in which sectors a sustainability professional has the least impact on sustainability, Vera answers those that produce “nonsense consumables.” “Everything that has to do with fast fashion. Clothing. Interior décor. Such companies do not have a role to play in a future world where planetary boundaries are respected.” Vera believes that working as a sustainability professional with reducing the environmental footprint of such items is a waste of talent. “Would the item be produced anyway? Or is the work of the sustainability professional providing the item with legitimacy which gives it a longer time on the market than it would otherwise have?”
When it comes to the oil and gas sector, Vera is more unsure. “Oil and gas do not have a role to play in the future, but so many workplaces are tied up to that industry. It has a huge infrastructure, and therefore it will take a long time to shut it down. Maybe it is good to improve the environmental impact of the production in the meantime?” Vera would like to discover other sectors as workplaces in the future, but oil and gas is not one of them. “I do not want to work with activities that the EU taxonomy deems unsustainable.”
Vera is happy that she chose the career as a sustainability professional. “I experience that the working hours are generating something positive in addition to salary.” On the other hand, Vera also thinks it would be easier to have a more “conventional” career. With the knowledge she has gained through her career she sees and understands how the planetary boundaries are being transgressed, and is worried about the consequences. “Now that I am so conscious about the causes of environmental damage, I have moral issues when I fly or eat meat. It would be nice to live somewhat more in oblivion.”
Meaningful sustainability jobs 