How To Become A Sustainability Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sustainability consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Maritza Jauregui Ph.D.

"Greed is good" is no longer a very popular slogan. Instead, most people expect businesses to pay attention to the effects of their work on others, including the environment. As corporate responsibility becomes more and more important, businesses are hiring sustainability consultants to help them go green instead of focus on greed.

Sustainability consultants are experts in environmental policy and eco-friendly business practices. They advise businesses on ways to decrease their environmental footprint, for example by making manufacturing processes more efficient or finding ways to use less energy. They also find other ways that sustainability can benefit a company, like improving their reputation among consumers or by getting tax rebates.

Sustainability consultants work hard to develop the skills and know-how to advise companies, often by getting master's degrees in sustainability or a related field. All that hard work has a good chance of paying off--the demand for sustainability consultants is set to increase by 6 percent by 2028.

What general advice would you give to a Sustainability Consultant?

Maritza Jauregui Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Sustainability, Website

Sustainability Specialist is a fairly new type of position, so individuals who like routine, are not good communicators, are not independent, or prefer a lot of training at the workplace will not like this position. What most individuals like about this job is the feeling of making a difference and changing companies for the better from within.

ScoreSustainability ConsultantUS Average

Salary

5.0

Avg. Salary $64,240

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.4

Growth Rate 8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.43%

Asian 8.83%

Black or African American 6.36%

Hispanic or Latino 9.39%

Unknown 4.56%

White 70.43%

Gender

female 46.00%

male 54.00%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

4.4

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.9

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sustainability consultant

Explore sustainability consultant education requirements

Most common sustainability consultant degrees

Bachelor's

65.6 %

Master's

29.4 %

Doctorate

2.2 %

Start to develop specific sustainability consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Renewable Energy	18.52%
Sustainability Projects	14.98%
Architecture	14.15%
Sustainable Design	10.45%
Sustainability Programs	9.34%

Complete relevant sustainability consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sustainability consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sustainability consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sustainability consultant resumes.

Research sustainability consultant duties and responsibilities

Lead leadership conferences with groups of entry-level representative and other Jr. consultant to improve management skills.
Develop and manage campus organic gardens and greenhouse.
Manage several SDLC phases for enterprise systems used by state government agencies to perform environmental and environmental management.
Organize policy mini-conferences on distribute renewable energy systems and climate action planning.

Apply for sustainability consultant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a sustainability consultant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams