Lately many companies and buyers have began to acknowledge the significance of addressing biodiversity loss alongside international warming. Halting species’ decline and restoring ecosystems is turning into a part of enterprise objectives and funding methods — and assembly these objectives requires including new experience to their groups.
In consequence, quite a lot of nature-specific jobs are actually rising. We’ve reached out to trailblazers in these roles to know what’s distinctive about engaged on biodiversity and to share insights with future hiring managers and job seekers.
I spoke with Thomas Viegas, who joined the U.Okay. insurance coverage firm Aviva as its inaugural nature technique lead in April. On this function, Viegas is a part of Aviva’s central sustainability staff and helps lead the corporate’s local weather and social influence methods. On the coronary heart of his function lies the objective of embedding nature into each determination the agency makes, whether or not associated to its investments, insurance coverage portfolio, direct operations or provide chains.
From economist to nature lead in 4 years
Skilled as an economist, Viegas first received uncovered to biodiversity whereas engaged on an interdisciplinary staff with ecologists and earth scientists in 2020 for the Dasgupta Overview, an unbiased international research on the economics of biodiversity commissioned by the U.Okay. authorities.
Earlier than Aviva, Viegas labored on the Taskforce on Nature-related Monetary Disclosure, a standards-setter for company nature motion, the place he led capability constructing and regulatory engagement actions. That function concerned serving to companies and monetary establishments handle their nature-related dangers and reap the benefits of respective alternatives.
The work was fulfilling, however Viegas needed to go a step additional. “I needed to place myself in an establishment and attempt to do it myself as a result of I believe that solely there you actually see the hidden challenges and alternatives.”
Embedding nature on the core of company sustainability
In his first six months on the job, Viegas realized a big lesson: understanding the enterprise and successfully participating stakeholders throughout the group is key. “If I need nature to be embedded throughout each single determination that the enterprise makes, I would like to know how the enterprise makes each single determination,” he mentioned. “That takes time, and it takes constructing relationships.”
He frolicked attempting to know totally different groups’ priorities and determining methods to translate his objectives into their language and processes. “It’s not about me coming in and blazing a path, saying that is what must occur. It’s about first doing due diligence to know what goes on on the within.”
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It additionally turned clear that offering nature-specific coaching and upskilling is a key space for influence. Many colleagues nonetheless must be taught concerning the relevance of nature-related dangers and alternatives to Aviva’s enterprise technique.
Lastly, he’s been investigating methods to combine new nature initiatives with present sustainability applications on the insurance coverage agency that concentrate on local weather and social impacts, moderately than constructing a nature program that’s disconnected from the work his colleagues are already doing. For instance, this might imply optimizing the social elements of a biodiversity venture that Aviva is investing in. On this manner, he mentioned, the corporate’s sustainability pillars — local weather, social and nature — can work in unison to strengthen the general sustainability program.
Making certain that nature stays within the planning, strategic pondering and governance of a company he touches is Viegas’ final objective. “That’s my job nicely accomplished versus simply hiring lots of people after which having the ability to say we’ve received the largest staff engaged on this.”
Discovering the correct nature lead and setting them up for achievement
For chief sustainability officers seeking to create a nature lead function, Viegas shared two items of recommendation:
- Prioritize engagement abilities: Whereas discovering a candidate with sustainability technique and subject material experience can be very best, he’d prioritize the previous: “You want somebody who can have interaction, who can mobilize, who can get stuff going. I believe that’s actually the important factor.”
- Foster staff connectivity: Construction the staff in a manner that allows shut collaboration of the character lead with different concern managers reminiscent of local weather change and social influence to facilitate an built-in sustainability strategy. “Don’t simply take a look at the job description,” Viegas mentioned. “Have a look at the construction they’re coming into, as a result of in the end, that can decide how impactful they are often.”
His journey exhibits a method for individuals fascinated by transitioning right into a nature-focused function however who haven’t labored on the subject earlier than.
“It doesn’t matter if you happen to haven’t labored in an environmental-facing function earlier than,” Viegas mentioned. “Everybody has their very own actually significant expertise, abilities and data. And you’ll convey one thing that’s in all probability wanted as a result of we in the end want totally different views, opinions and actions to maneuver to a sustainable future.”