{"id":30162,"date":"2023-12-26T10:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T18:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weinrebgroup.com\/?post_type=greenbiz-articles&p=30162"},"modified":"2024-07-31T15:24:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T22:24:29","slug":"how-to-invest-in-sustainability-education-for-corporate-boards-execs-and-employees","status":"publish","type":"greenbiz-articles","link":"https:\/\/weinrebgroup.com\/greenbiz-articles\/how-to-invest-in-sustainability-education-for-corporate-boards-execs-and-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"How to invest in sustainability education for corporate boards, execs and employees"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 24 million new \u201cgreen jobs\u201d will be created globally by 2030. Finding and training the people to fill those jobs is a multipronged task that involves recruiting and engaging a new pipeline of talent. The Biden administration\u2019s\u00a0American Climate Corps<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Green Skills Passport<\/a>, a free program from EY and Microsoft, are two examples of programs designed to engage younger people, providing them with training to develop sustainability skills. And earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in sustainability is possible at 421 U.S. colleges, which also helps build a pipeline.<\/p>\n

But multiple reports, including Microsoft\u2019s\u00a0Closing the Sustainability Skills Gap: Helping businesses move from pledges to progress<\/a>\u00a0and LinkedIn\u2019s\u00a0Global Green Skills Report 2023<\/a>, indicate focusing on youth alone will not address the need for the nearly 4,000 corporations that have committed to be net zero by 2030.<\/p>\n

Chris Boone, a professor at the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, said, \u201cWe\u2019re not graduating enough students in sustainability to meet the demand. We need to provide alternative pathways for people who may not have the time, resources or inclination to spend two or four years going through a regular degree program. That\u2019s where executive education comes in: How can we change the mindsets of people who are already in these positions or moving into these positions?\u201d<\/p>\n

Making the investment<\/h3>\n

An increasing number of companies are recognizing that investing in sustainability education for employees, leaders, suppliers and boards is critical to achieving aggressive climate and social goals. One of the key findings in Microsoft\u2019s report, for example, is that \u201cvirtually all workers will need basic sustainability fluency.\u201d And LinkedIn\u2018s research shows that between February 2022 and February 2023, its job postings requiring at least one green skill grew by a median of 15.2 percent. Investing in sustainability education will help everyone \u201cown\u201d sustainability at a corporation, increasing the potential for success.<\/p>\n

An early example of a corporation educating and engaging employees comes from\u00a0Walmart\u2019s \u201cMy Sustainability Plan\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(MSP) a decade ago in which employees were asked to make a single change to reflect the company\u2019s goals \u2014 ride a bike to work, volunteer, clean a beach. The ripple effect was palpable: Walmart employees began taking more ownership of sustainability within the stores and their communities.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s approach, however, is increasingly more formal. Author Andrew Winston, for example, has partnered with BCG to help develop The Climate & Sustainability Accelerator, an executive education class powered by\u00a0BCG\u00a0U<\/a>\u00a0that is \u201cdesigned to cover business essentials in climate & sustainability, equipping leaders and change-makers with the know-how to take advantage of this rapidly changing world.\u201d Specific to the highest levels of an organization, Helle Bank Jorgensen runs\u00a0Competent Boards<\/a>, which offers courses on ESG, biodiversity and climate. And for people with no sustainability experience who want to get in on the action, a program such as\u00a0Grow with Google<\/a>\u00a0offers an online training.<\/p>\n

How to get started<\/h3>\n

Here are four steps to jump-start sustainability training for corporate boards, leaders and employees:<\/p>\n

1. Identify and prioritize your audiences.<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, ultimately you want to provide education for all employees and key stakeholders, but who comes first? You can determine this based on where the bulk of knowledge lies today. If your executives are already engaged, perhaps investing in the board of directors will provide the most return.<\/p>\n

2. Identify needed skills.\u00a0<\/strong>For corporate leaders, according to Microsoft\u2019s study, the most critical sustainability skills include data collection and management, carbon accounting and reporting, climate change fundamentals and broad stakeholder management. A board of directors needs to be fluent in all things ESG, with an emphasis on governance, as well as the financial risks associated with sustainability. An engineering firm, however, may require more technical skills, such as solar installation, to fulfill its pipeline of green collar jobs.<\/p>\n

3. Clarify internal and external resources.<\/strong>\u00a0With the target audience in mind and the gaps in knowledge or skills identified, you can then focus on the available resources, be it BCG U or another pre-packed program, or developing your own program, as companies including Gap and McDonald\u2019s have done.<\/p>\n

4. Be cognizant that this is a journey.<\/strong>\u00a0Remember that education is an ongoing process. The issues will continue to evolve, so it will be important to establish a continuous cycle of learning for all your audiences. One way to maximize this investment is for the students to become the teachers over time, so consider integrating a \u201ctrain the trainers\u201d approach into your curriculum.<\/p>\n

Sustainability is here to stay and as the field becomes more regulated, more sophisticated and more strategic to the success of a business, education at all levels will be needed to ensure skills and knowledge keep up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-30162","greenbiz-articles","type-greenbiz-articles","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to invest in sustainability education for corporate boards, execs and employees<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Companies that prioritize sustainability education at all levels increase their potential to achieve climate and social goals.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weinrebgroup.com\/greenbiz-articles\/how-to-invest-in-sustainability-education-for-corporate-boards-execs-and-employees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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