The sustainability profession is at an existential crossroads. Here’s how it can survive

Key takeaways

• The sustainability profession needs to decide if it’s to raise the bar and become a trusted profession or be co-opted to sanitize increasingly destructive corporate and political activities.
• If professionals decide to raise the bar, they must do so via four core qualities: knowledge, competence, ethics and accountability.
• One defining feature of trusted professionals is their higher duty of care to society.

For many sustainability professionals, these are disorienting times. Between the rollback of climate policy and environmental protections to the erosion of evidence-based truth and science itself, it’s difficult to rise to the challenges associated with creating a long-term sustainable society.

While we still believe in the potential of the sustainability profession, it’s time to reevaluate its purpose. We need to consider why the profession has failed (so far) to usher in the needed course correction. 

That’s why we’ve drawn on lessons from more established professions that have earned the public’s trust to help the sustainability profession find its next iteration.

The role of professionals in society

Our most trusted professions have developed to fulfill widely recognized societal needs. The Hippocratic Oath, for example, states, among other things, “do no harm.” To wit, we’ve seen the medical profession improve people’s health, well-being and life expectancy. Similarly, professional engineers apply science to create infrastructure and technologies that improve human well-being, safety and, in some cases, environmental protection. While imperfect, most people agree that these and other professions benefit society in major ways compared to a world in which they don’t exist.

Our most credible and trusted professionals distinguish themselves through higher levels of knowledge, competence, ethics and accountability. They consistently demonstrate these qualities amid high uncertainty, challenging power dynamics and potential conflicts of interest. 

A core, defining feature of professionals is their higher duty of care. For some of the most respected professions such as doctors and engineers, that duty of care is widely expected and legally mandated. For example, a clinician makes decisions based on advanced understandings of human systems (respiratory, circulatory) and unique patient needs. While most of us are concerned with health, we’re not all qualified health professionals. The same could be said of sustainability. With our most trusted professions, the public expects a higher duty of care from professionals because, in many ways, their lives depend upon it. 

Four qualities to professionalize sustainability 

Today, sustainability professionals run the gamut from chief sustainability officers to “green” marketing experts to procurement specialists. The multitude of sustainability qualifications, standards and certifications often focus on making an impact in a particular context, but not on the profession itself. Professional associations such as the International Society for Sustainability Professionals and Association of Climate Change Officers focus on knowledge, competencies and community-building – but not on ethics, duty of care or accountability.

At the same time, the profession is increasingly influenced by companies and politicians obstructing meaningful progress in favor of short-term business, economic or political goals. Instead of being asked to consider broader systemic change, sustainability professionals are tasked with positive marketing stories, stakeholder relations or reporting.

At the same time, the massive energy footprint required by AI tools has exposed the inadequacy of relying on voluntary corporate action without strong public policy to drive rapid systemic decarbonization.

What’s more, criticism of sustainability professionals is growing, damaging the credibility of the nascent profession with accusations of “creating the illusion of progress” or “sanitizing the destruction.” 

If the profession is to become credible and trusted, elevating these four core professional qualities is necessary:

Knowledge: One of the biggest differences between professionals and non-professionals is the depth and breadth of their knowledge. Sustainability professionals are systems thinkers who understand peer-reviewed and evidence-based sustainability science, planetary life support systems and limits. They also understand humanitarian principles related to intra- and inter-generational equity and human rights along with procedural principles for co-creating regenerative solutions with diverse communities.

In practice, sustainability professionals typically complement fundamental knowledge with “instrumental” tools, such as renewable energy technology, corporate sustainability reporting or economic analyses. Credible professionals can distinguish between what’s instrumental and fundamental; a surgeon may use advanced surgical tools but never forgets how the circulatory system works. Similarly, sustainability professionals may develop a business case, while also understanding that contributing to fit-for-future planetary systems is fundamental. 

Competence: Professionals apply knowledge; they not only know something but can do something. They use leadership qualities, skills and integration capabilities that create new, fit-for-future realities, such as facilitating multi-disciplinary networks to transform energy systems into net-zero emissions. 

Ethics: To earn credibility and the public’s trust, sustainability professionals must also follow robust ethical principles. In practice, this means that at a minimum, sustainability professionals are empowered to provide informed, well-reasoned, diplomatic advice to employers, clients and governments without fear of reprisal.

Unfortunately, employers and/or powerful corporate lobbies and government actors can unreasonably restrict or punish sustainability professionals for speaking and acting ethically while those who engage in misinformation are sometimes rewarded. This underlines the importance of strengthening a professional community that’s willing and able to “speak with the voice of its members” to protect individual professionals. Conversely, when professionals act unethically, associations can carefully adjudicate and potentially sanction their members.

Accountability: While professionals’ primary responsibilities are to their clients and employers, those who earn widespread credibility and trust also demonstrate an ethical commitment to the health, safety and well-being of society.

On the path to professionalization 

Sustainability professionals are at a crossroads: either raise the bar or be co-opted to sanitize increasingly destructive corporate and political activities. To further advance their standing, sustainability professionals can strengthen their professional qualities as described; organize strong and principled professional associations; and advocate for the highest standards of professionalism, including a higher duty of care to society. 

[Join more than 5,000 professionals at Trellis Impact 25 — the center of gravity for doers and leaders focused on action and results, Oct. 28-30, San Jose.]