2024 Sustainability, Energy Transition & Circularity leadership review

Having spent two decades working in recruitment and executive search, I discovered a passion for sustainability when working with an energy business to establish a Future of Energy team several years ago. I found it incredibly exciting and rewarding to help the client on their journey towards net zero – so much so that I haven’t looked back since. Moving towards circular business models powered by clean energy is essential for our economy, and for the planet, so I was delighted to build on this passion byjoining Venari Partners in January 2024to lead the company’s Sustainability, Energy Transition & Circularity practice.

As the year draws to an end, it’s the right time to reflect on what has certainly been an interesting period for those working in this space, consider what this has meant for talent in the sector, and to look at what 2025 might have in store. So, without further ado, here is my end-of-year report for 2024.

While it’s safe to say that the hiring market at leadership level across all functional areas has been challenging in the last 12 months, I’m pleased to note that we have had a great first year of business. We’ve partnered with several leading airlines to appoint sustainability leaders; supported investors with leadership appointments to drive growth both in fund and into portfolio companies; and with market-leading technology companies looking for technical specialists to drive sustainable innovation.

In a nascent industry characterised by rapid change and cutting-edge science, we have developed a supportive offering with a focus on three core markets:

Sustainability leadership and specialist appointments into large corporates.

Leadership, and specialist senior appointments into energy transition, and circularity solutions providers, and investors, into these industries (typically PE- or VC-backed growth companies)

Leadership and specialist appointments into technology-first, sustainability and ESG solutions providers, and investors into these industries (as above, typically PE or VC backed growth companies)

It’s been hugely exciting to have hit the ground running across these three sectors and, with conditions set to improve, we look forward to further developing our proposition by working with clients who need leadership talent to drive sustainable change.

No industry operates in a bubble, and sustainability and ESG agendas are arguably amongst the most sensitive to volatility. Macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions impact on hiring activity – and this has been a year of huge change. Anunusual number of electionstook place in 2024, and despite a gradual, generally improving economic picture, business leaders have been understandably reluctant to commit to investment strategies ahead of an unclear policy environment.

For many, it’s been a bruising year, with a controversialCOPsummit in Azerbaijan reflecting the challenges ahead. Leaders will need to navigate thereal-world impactof COP29 – andTrump 2.0– on net-zero targets, regulation and investment. This comes at a time when many sustainability leaders are, increasingly, feeling overwhelmed by the levels of expectation and pressure to deliver that don’t match the investment into their functions. Further, the upcoming avalanche of regulation, governance, and reporting will likely drive attention, and funding, away from sustainable transformation, strategy, and performance.

Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see that industry leaders are emerging with strengthened resolve and a willingness to work harder to boost sustainable growth and the energy transition. This was certainly something I noticed during the conferences I’ve attended this year, (and that was particularly acute in the autumn when the likely conclusion of the US election became increasingly apparent). The highlight of these events was theroundtable Venari Partners hostedin collaboration with sustainability consultancyedensevenat The Gherkin in London. A range of industry sectors was represented by attendees from both sustainability-specific and broader board leadership roles. It was a fascinating discussion and the key takeaways were:

Collaboration across value chains and industries is critical to solve our biggest challenges around climate change – and the big problems are what we should be focusing on. Many quick wins have been realised, but serious obstacles remain, and we need to be more ambitious as a society to achieve further progress.

Capital has a choice of location. As such, policy must be shaped on this basis, derisking investment in areas of the economy that, until now, have not had the level of focus required.

The regulatory environment needs to be managed appropriately for corporate leadership to spend more time and resources on sustainable innovation and value creation. We’ll get more people on the bus (electric of course) by talking about clean growth opportunities, not clean audits.

So, what has all this meant for hiring trends? The main theme for 2024 has been about strategy implementation. Many organisations have a net-zero plan but need people who can make it happen. We will see more demand for these skillsets looking forward and, in response to the incoming regulatory burden, governance roles for corporate sustainability and ESG will be in considerable demand.

In the scaleup space, candidates who have been in growth businesses previously, those who know what leads to success – as well as how to learn from past failures – are likely to have plenty of job options in the next 12-18 months.

Other areas of demand are expertise in science, digital and tech for innovation. People that can help companies to realise innovative solutions, and who can also work with businesses and commercial partners to develop these, will be key to many organisations’ talent strategies. Examples would include candidates with STEM PhDs who understand the science that’s driving technological innovation, combined with the capability to grasp the business context as well as requirements from investors, will be in high demand.

Technical specialists working at critical areas of overlap in innovation will also be highly sought-after. We recently worked on a brief for a market-leading technology company to help them understand the talent landscape at theintersection of ESG and AI.It’s been exciting to collaborate with organisations that want to find candidates who can really turn the dial on innovation – and we’re going to see even more of it in the years to come.

In the dynamic and ever-changing world of sustainability, a lot of what companies are trying to achieve is very new and hasn’t been done at scale before, which can make creating a talent strategy tricky. In many conversations with clients, I get the sense that they know substantial changes are coming but they don’t know how to lay the groundwork for these developments. It’s important to understand that finding talent to tick every box is rare; it is best to focus on candidates with core competence in essential areas, with the capability to grow and adapt to the needs of the organisation as their sustainability strategy takes shape.

Looking ahead, despite doom-filled headlines around what the US election result might mean for sustainability initiatives worldwide, we should focus on the fact that there is still significant investment taking place. Corporates and investors alike understand the need to move to less extractive and more circular models for future growth, though more urgency is required at state level to push business into following suit.

In the UK, Keir Starmer recently unveiled his ‘Plan for Change,’ advocating for95% clean electricity generation by 2030whilst there is concern that the US, meanwhile, will remove itself from theParis Agreementand start to unpick theInflation Reduction Act. Corporates will need to ensure they have sustainability leadership in place that can navigate what is likely to become an increasingly complex geopolitical environment: one with less consensus on the sustainability, energy transition and circular agenda.

Regulatory reporting will likely take up more of ESG leaders’ time in 2025. As sustainability continues to become more mainstream, I think we’ll also see ESG-driven hiring to drive change across entire organisations, and not just into central sustainability functions.

As for Venari Partners’ Sustainability & Energy Transition practice, well, you can expect to see plenty more of us. During the summer, I was delighted to release ourwhitepaperon chief sustainability officer appointments and representation at board level, which highlighted a continuation of trends that we have observed in the industry in recent years. We plan to contribute more research for our network in 2025 and host more events.

I’d like to wish a very happy and restful holiday season to my entire network. I’d also like to say a particularly big thank to contacts old and new who’ve supported the development of our practice through introductions and referrals. My main learning from this year is that collaboration is essential for important and ambitious sustainability goals to be realised. To have experienced such a strong sense of community and support for what we’re building at Venari Partners has been hugely encouraging.

If you would like expert advice on appointing the sustainability leaders needed to transform your business in 2025, pleaseget in touch– I’d love to hear from you.

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