Sustainability Professionals in Asia Seek To Bolster Sustainability Teams With Specialised Skillsets

​A total of 49 per cent of respondents from Asia who took part in The 2023/24 Sustainability Census expressed a desire to acquire specialised skills as the sustainability domain continues its rapid growth.

This section of the survey looked at where ideal increased spending budgets for each region should be directed, with the data highlighting Asia’s significant variations in preferences compared to North America and the UK.

These professionals were asked “If you had an increase in budget for sustainability/ESG/impact within your business, where would you want to focus your spend to deliver the most impact?”

Despite these diversified spending preferences, a common denominator among organisations across the globe was the aspiration to invest in specialised skills, demonstrating the acute awareness of the expanding sustainability landscape.

Pat Dwyer, Founder & Director, The Purpose Business, contributed her insights for this section of the report (p. 18), noting: “Most tellingly, 49 per cent of respondents have also expressed a desire to augment their teams with specialised skillsets. Clearly then, there’s a greater need than ever, for continued sustainability resourcing. But, how? What is the optimal way of skilling up, when we have to right-size it for an organisation?

“There’s no ‘one size fits all’ to capacity and skills-building. Get the right help at the right time. Make it local – and demand value from your partners.”

Paddy Balfour, Executive Director, Acre APAC, said: “We have undoubtedly seen an evolution from first-generation generalist sustainability hires to a focus on specialists with the ability to add value in a more sophisticated corporate sustainability landscape.”

For further information about this and other findings from the sustainability survey, including how 65 per cent of organisations worldwide have made public commitments to sustainability, please click here to download a free copy of the full Acre Census 2023 report.

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