In this October 2011 edition of the Turning Green E-Newsletter, we launch the full report of the Sustainability Salary Survey and feature a number of engaging articles. Subject areas covered include Mitigation versus Adaptation by Kate Bennett, also by Kate the Power of Public Private Partnerships: a Microfinance success story, and we cover Katja Bührer’s story; a finance journalist who found herself working in Bangladesh collecting opinions about finance – but from people whose daily salaries do not contain any zeros.
As for Turning Green it has been a busy year with an abundance of career consultations and a wide variety of recruitment activity. The amount of internal movement is also high across industry, a fact we are privy to in confidence through our networks. As one trusted industry friend observed last month, you wouldn’t want to be in any other area than sustainability, in any other country in the world right now. Whilst there is still a long way to go, it does feel that the tide is slowly turning. One interesting finding from the survey was that 22% of participating sustainability professionals operate in a stand alone capacity. This was closely followed by 19% operating at Executive Management level (including CEO), 17% reporting in to Operations and 7% as part of the Marketing and Communications function. This tells us that the sustainability networking circuit will continue to remain active, as sustainability professionals seek comraderie and debate from peer connection through appropriate networking groups. We also cannot ignore the power of online networking, with one senior sustainability executive citing the establishment of a key LinkedIn group which now has more than 570 members from more than 55 countries.
Additionally, the Environmental Professionals Forum (EPF) boasts a membership in excess of 900 professionals. Just this week EPF, in conjunction with Stockland, hosted an event that offered members the opportunity to converse with Siobhan Toohill, General Manager, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S) for Stockland, to hear about why Stockland value sustainability and how they continue to develop and refine their strategy. Passionate about creating great places for people to live and work both today and in the future, Toohill joined Stockland as National Urban Design Manager, and her interest in social and environmental impacts led her to create a new role focused on corporate sustainability. For the past seven years Siobhan has been responsible for creating and embedding Stockland’s sustainability strategy. As testament to their committment and success, Stockland was recently recognised as the most sustainable property company
globally by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).
Accolades aside, what I took from the presentation was a testament to Siobhan’s personal approach to her work. Both uplifting and inspiring Siobhan demonstrated an emotional maturity that is essential when dealing with multiple stakeholders to overcome potential barriers to sustainability. Siobhan has been able to breakthrough a variety of management practices (stemming from sense making patterns) and internal organisational concerns. As a result she has helped to obtain a more commercial outcome than an inflexible and egotistical approach might have.
One final interesting point this month has been the volatility of markets which is forcing boards to rethink the way senior executives are remunerated, and many are considering linking incentives to internal company targets instead of shareholder return. It is therefore pleasantly surprising to learn about some innovative compensation schemes a few companies are using to weave sustainability into the fabric of their businesses. Intel links employee compensation to sustainability results and is doing this for its entire workforce. Since 2008, every employee’s annual bonus is calculated on the basis of the firm’s performance on sustainability measures like product energy efficiency, completion of renewable energy and clean energy projects, and the company’s reputation for environmental leadership.
National Grid’s compensation model shows how to embed sustainability practices into a company’s DNA. Like Intel, National Grid has tied CEO and other executive compensation to performance on the company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals – and these are aggressive goals: an 80% reduction by 2050, with 45% by 2020.
Xcel Energy’s compensation for executive officers is tied to GHG reductions but they go further by disclosing details of the targets and compensation in its annual report, and not just in sustainability reports. Important here is getting the key information directly to the investment community and secondly, it demonstrates that Xcel sees sustainability as a core business issue.
This is demonstrating smart practice that will no doubt empower employees throughout the organisation.
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