Some notes about what jobs on offer we’ve noticed and what they tell us about the market. Also some observations on the green sentiment, here, China, the US and in New Zealand as well as job appointments.
Just as we’re about to launch our next masterclass, Buildings as Batteries – offices sheds and sustainability, we noticed DHL one of the big tenants in industrial property looking for sustainability specialists. Bang on cue.
This job is based in Rhodes in Sydney and it’s a consulting role. This giant logistics company is proving part of our scope of inquiry that the big distributors are pressuring owners to help them electrify and go green, as they have their own ESG reporting to take care of – not to mention their social licence and so on.
The job in question seeks sustainability and/or ESG and experience in sustainability carbon reporting such as NGERS. It will also help if you’ve got a background in facilities management and energy efficiency in existing operations (desirable).
Landcom too is looking for someone in sustainability for its team to help deliver the big housing agenda on its books – And that’s kind of bang on cue too with our Let’s Hack Housing v2 event on 26 September at the of Warren and Mahoney studios in The Rocks, Sydney. More details to come here – but heads up it’s going to be one of really exciting Surround Sounds we do. Details to come soon.
Cushwake
Interesting to see Cushman and Wakefield hiring a new sustainability specialist as other commercial property consultants are shedding some of their staff.
Of course, the position is in sustainability, which has to be the strongest pillar in the commercial world and one that will only get bigger and stronger.
It’s a replacement position for someone who’s moved up the tree but good to see Cushwake didn’t take the opportunity to shrink the team.
We’ve noticed loads of other jobs in sustainability across the board, including one in the beef industry. Yep.
Harvey Beef says it’s Western Australia’s largest processor of high-quality beef for local and international markets.
The job is reporting to the technical manager. Check it out here.
The supermarket giants seem to be holding good on promises to race to net zero as Aldi is now looking to hire a sustainability analyst for the notoriously difficult to measure scope 3 emissions. The role includes helping the supermarket establish baseline data to help meet its scope 3 nature and biodiversity targets. Salary ranges from $134,000 to $153,000 a year, along with five weeks of annual leave, a range of other benefits and access to hybrid work.
The weird thing about the economy and the job market right now is that it’s so diverse. Times are very bad for some people with job cuts and mortgages under threat – not to mention ridiculous rents – but for others, it’s coming up roses.
Some observers fear that sustainability jobs may be up for review – reverting from a “must have” to a “nice to have” to have, though hopefully, this is short term. Especially vulnerable we hear are those who report directly to the chief financial officer.
According to the people we speak to around the traps there’s a massive discrepancy in funds available to different cohorts. For now, the commercial market is sagging but then again, it’s had it good for a long time
At the local level, the downturn in the economy, especially in the commercial property market that has seen jobs cut, has some observers fearing that sustainability jobs may be up for review – reverting from a “must have” to a “nice to have” to have, though hopefully this is short term. Especially vulnerable we hear are those who report direct to the chief financial officer.
According to the people we speak to around the traps there’s a massive discrepancy in funds available to different cohorts. For now, the commercial market is sagging but then again, it’s had it good for a long time.
Recruiter Stephen Moir of Moir Group says he’s seen worse out there in the corporate world and in the finance sector which is where he specialises.
In a recent conversation, Moir painted a picture that you could only describe as pockmarked.
Some parts of the net zero/sustainability transition are doing just fine – energy in particular. But in the property sustainability space there’s a lull. That’s understandable given the commercial property world’s buoyant run over the past many years has finally petered out.
With colleague Lisa Tracy who runs ESG division of the company Moir has a good handle on the broader sustainability landscape.
“If I look at the employment market as a whole it’s not terrible and it’s not great. It’s somewhere in between. The last few years have not been normal.” You could say it’s getting back to normal, Moir says. “People are still getting jobs; we’ve still got work on.”
He can understand younger people are more concerned because they’ve probably not experienced a downturn before.
“The downturn of the early 90s was much harder than this.”
In fact, Moir suspects the market will bounce back by the end of this year, “quite quickly”.
On the sustainability front Darren O’Dea from Speckle notes another area that’s struggling is compliance with the National Construction Code.
He says compliance is unreliable because the “fuse” of compliance is so long.
There’s the long consultation period and then the adoption period that can be put off for years and later still the certification process, which can itself include a number of snags to delay things. In the end it can take five or even six years before you get the new standards enacted.
Which might cause some hair raising if you look at South Australia’s recent decision to freeze take up of the NCC for 10 years in for its most vulnerable new housing occupants – effectively stalling energy efficiency at the 2019 level. See the full story here
Globally, things is another mixed bag
On the possible scenario that Donald Trump will assume the presidential mantle again in the US – it’s neck and neck with Kamala Harris – the mood among those who keep a close eye on things is that if it happens it won’t derail the transition much thanks to locked in legislation that will be hard for him to dismantle. Try as he might with the “dig baby dig” mantra.
China, meanwhile, is not so caught up in dogma and ideology as those who criticise it might suggest. The country is deep into success and that means looking cooly and calmly at the ingredients of success.
Anyone who’s caught the recent docos on China’s rampaging technology advances will be impressed.
So, too, will those who caught the surprising news that China’s emissions looked to have peaked.
Say what?
According to Carbon Brief, “A 2023 peak in China’s CO2 emissions is possible if the build-out of clean energy sources is kept at the record levels seen last year.”
Tim Buckley, founder of Climate Energy Finance, told The Sydney Morning Herald at the time that on a tour of a solar module manufacturing factory in China he saw production was at full pelt and fully automated. “I saw a long wall, half a kilometre long, of manufacturing lines and not a worker in sight. It was all robots.”
Experts say momentum is now so strong for the clean energy revolution in China and in Europe that a Trump victory in the US, which is still a possibility – he and Kamala Harris are neck a neck – is unlikely to derail the trajectory.
We’re not so sure about that. Parts of the European community want to turn back the clock but there are also nuggets of optimism.
In the UK the Labour Party that’s just won power is spotlighted in the king’s speech, as ambitious on climate.
A recent summary in Reuters said
With the wind of British business at his back, Keir Starmer now has the chance to rebrand Labour in the long term as the new party of business, working in partnership to get the green economy “done”.
The party’s climate agenda, spotlighted in the king’s speech, is ambitious, with more than 35 bills announced. Planning reforms will be central to economic strategy, making approval of onshore wind farms and transmission links easier. It reiterated commitment to a clean energy transition, announcing a bill to set up a new company, Great British Energy, headquartered in Scotland. There was also a promise of new legislation ‘to help the country achieve energy independence and unlock investment in energy infrastructure’ and to support the production of sustainable aviation fuels.
Meanwhile, New Zealand goes the other way
New Zealand looks like it’s definitely on the sustainability downswing judging from what our sources tell us.
After being our regional star, the new conservative government is chopping and changing – for the worse, from what we can gather.
The conservatives, it seems, are looking for any efficiency at all – code for cutting sustainability and saving dollars by doling out minimum compliance as just fine and dandy. This makes us wonder if the SA government has been taking a leaf out of our cousins across the ditch at entirely the wrong time.
As they say, the fight for rights is never done.
Job Appointments
Eco-Markets Australia has appointed Wilfred Finn as its interim chair until its next annual general meeting, while is inaugural chair Jo Sheppard steps down after four years.
The not for profit charity organisation developed the reef credit scheme under the leadership of Sheppard, becoming Australia’s first voluntary water quality administration scheme. Farmers and landowners who implement sustainable land management practices with the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef catchment in mind were awarded reef credits. There are currently more than 50,000 reef credits generated to date, representing more than 50 tonnes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen that were prevented from entering the catchment.
Sheppard will continue to act in her role as the chief executive of the Queensland Farmers’ Federation and has recently been appointed to the Queensland Energy System Advisory Board.
Meanwhile, Finn had been a member of the Eco-Markets board as non-executive director for three years and has a repertoire of involvements in a number of other boards, including being the general counsel and company secretary of Verity Nature, non executive director of the Mulloon Institute as well as the environmental markets advisor for the Digital Finance CRC. He has an extensive background in sustainability related corporate and legal consulting for companies such as WaterNSW, Xpansiv, Inland Rail, Aither and Norton Rose Fulbright.
Infrastructure Victoria has appointed Jill Riseley as its new deputy chief executive, succeeding Allison Stewart.
Riseley will be departing her current role as partner, leading the climate, circular economy and sustainability team at Deloitte in late September to move to her new role with the state government. She has spent more than 20 years in a number of sustainability and infrastructure related roles including being the chief executive of Recycling Victoria as well as general manager of Vicinity Centres as well as chief sustainability roles at REA Group and Telstra.
Meanwhile, former deputy chief executive Allison Stewart has been appointed as the Victorian state manager for engineering and development consultants Mott MacDonald. Stewart has previously led a number of multibillion dollar projects working in industry, government, consulting, and in academia. She was previously an executive at the Suburban Rail Loop Authority prior to her role at Infrastructure Victoria.
-with Bevin Liu