How to attract and keep green talent: five insights for sustainable leadership

The sustainable transition is picking up pace. Ambitious leaders are therefore looking to attract, nurture and hold on to the talent they need to embrace and harness green tools and concepts.

When managers are armed with the skills and confidence to lead on sustainability, they’ll be more likely to draw like-minded talent to their cause – and keep them for the long term. That’s why CMI has developed Sustainability Leadership Qualifications to support managers in critical areas like sustainable strategy, the circular economy and integrating ESG. 

• Read more: Green management is in demand – do you have the skills to make a difference?

At a recent live-streamed event, ‘Attracting green talent: Building high-performing teams’, we invited an expert panel to explore how to stand out in the race to hire professionals with rich sustainability experience.

Here are our five top takeaways from that inspiring conversation. 

1. Leaders have to walk the talk

Edwin Ehiorobo, co-founder of Energyz Black, a non-profit supporting black talent in the UK energy and sustainability space, homed in on a key moment early in his career when he worked for TotalEnergies. The company was piloting solar lamps throughout Africa – and showed a clear commitment to helping people across the continent access sustainable energy. 

Dedication is a very powerful thing to see. And it’s not just Edwin who’s been won over.

“Talented people want to work for organisations that are actively shaping a better world,” said Edwin. “It's not just about CSR reports or saying we’re sustainable.”

He stressed that leaders should be developing sustainability KPIs for things like energy and carbon reduction. And that leaders need to show their personal commitment: if you’re extolling the virtues of electric cars, you can’t be driving a diesel. 

2. Attractive companies marry values with performance

David Jones CMgr MCMI, CMI’s policy and innovation manager for the green transition, highlighted a marked rise in demand for professionals who bring both green values and high performance to the table. 

“Attracting green talent and building the kind of high-performing, sustainability-driven teams that deliver long-term value isn’t just about hiring people with the right technical skills,” he said. 

But he added that those people demand the same of their employers.

“It's about creating a culture where purpose and performance go hand in hand, where leaders are equipped to integrate sustainability into strategy, decision-making and team development,” said David.