{"id":4579,"date":"2024-11-15T16:21:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T16:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/verso.de\/blog\/trend-job-sustainability-managerin-skills-tasks-and-further-training\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T07:46:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T07:46:05","slug":"trend-job-sustainability-managerin-skills-tasks-and-further-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verso.de\/en\/blog\/trend-job-sustainability-managerin-skills-tasks-and-further-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Trend job sustainability manager: Skills, tasks and further training"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Nachhaltigkeitsmanager:innen\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t
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15.11.2024<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Trend job sustainability manager: Skills, tasks and further training <\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLet’s take a closer look at this up-and-coming professional group. What are the tasks of sustainability managers, what training and further education is available and what does their day-to-day work look like? \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\t\n\n\n\t

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What distinguishes sustainability managers? <\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sustainability managers, also known as CSR managers, sustainability managers or ESG managers, are usually passionately committed to the topic of sustainability and have set themselves higher goals: a fairer world, environmental and climate protection. They exemplify sustainability and motivate their colleagues for ecological and social issues. At the same time, sustainability managers are confronted with the comprehensive ESG regulations<\/a>. They act as business strategists and cross-functional interfaces within the company to guide it through the sustainable transformation.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\t\n\n\n\t

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Why are sustainability managers important? <\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

In over 14 years of experience in sustainability management, we at VERSO have learned that the sustainable transformation of a company can only be achieved through an effective strategy and clear responsibilities. Why? Sustainability affects all areas of the company. That’s why someone is needed to bring it all together. Sustainability managers take on this interface function. They analyze business processes, implement sustainable business practices and aspects such as environmental protection, employee and human rights. They help medium-sized companies in particular to differentiate themselves massively from the competition. And for some years now, they have also been ensuring ESG compliance in companies.<\/p>\n

What does that mean? Sustainability managers are responsible for compliance with the CSRD<\/a> and are also involved in other regulations such as EUDR<\/a>, CBAM<\/a>, CSDDD<\/a> and LkSG<\/a>, at least in a supportive capacity. They are also responsible for preparing a sustainability report, including data collection \u2013 which many companies now do in accordance with the complex CSRD. They are therefore jointly responsible for the future viability of companies \u2013 both from a sustainability and a business perspective.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\t\n\n\n\t

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How is the profession changing? <\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sustainability managers often have to deliver a one-man or one-woman show. This is now slowly changing: with the well-known regulations CSRD, EUDR, CSDDD, CBAM and many other ESG-related tasks, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to build a strong sustainability team: A team that is fully committed to minimizing the company’s negative impact as far as possible, implementing sustainability campaigns and positioning the company for long-term sustainability. This is the only way for companies to survive in the long term. And not just survive: Those who take sustainability seriously can also generate real business value from it \u2013 more on this in our blog post on the opportunities of CSRD<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new and complex ESG requirements have also changed the scope of tasks and the skills required of sustainability managers. In the past it was still very much about internal communication, driving ideas for more sustainability and writing reports as a means of communication. Nowadays, ESG managers often find themselves dealing with complicated legal texts, compliance requirements and time consuming data collection. To ensure that there is still time left to implement sustainability measures, it is worth investing in ESG software such as VERSO. In any case, sustainability managers are now required to have a very broad set of hard and soft skills.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\t\n\n\n\t

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What skills do sustainability managers need? <\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

First of all, the so-called \u201chard skills\u201d \u2013 i.e. technical skills or professional competencies that can be learned and are in demand. Below is a selection of some of the skills that are becoming particularly important in view of ESG regulation:<\/p>\n