Sustainability Specialists

What the job really is

Address organizational sustainability issues, such as waste stream management, green building practices, and green procurement plans.

At a glance

• Sector: Business & Financial
• O*NET-SOC code: 13-1199
• O*NET job zone: 4 — considerable preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Develop sustainability project goals, objectives, initiatives, or strategies in collaboration with other sustainability professionals.
• Monitor or track sustainability indicators, such as energy usage, natural resource usage, waste generation, and recycling.
• Assess or propose sustainability initiatives, considering factors such as cost effectiveness, technical feasibility, and acceptance.
• Provide technical or administrative support for sustainability programs or issues.
• Review and revise sustainability proposals or policies.
• Develop reports or presentations to communicate the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives.
• Create or maintain plans or other documents related to sustainability projects.
• Collect information about waste stream management or green building practices to inform decision makers.
• Research or review regulatory, technical, or market issues related to sustainability.
• Identify or investigate violations of natural resources, waste management, recycling, or other environmental policies.
• Identify or create new sustainability indicators.
• Create marketing or outreach media, such as brochures or Web sites, to communicate sustainability issues, procedures, or objectives.

Tools and technology

Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Revit, Bentley MicroStation, Extensible markup language XML, Google Analytics, JavaScript

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Chief Sustainability Officers
• Wind Energy Development Managers
• Industrial Ecologists
• Energy Auditors
• Project Management Specialists
• Climate Change Policy Analysts
• Energy Engineers, Except Wind and Solar
• Management Analysts

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 4 (considerable preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Sustainability Specialists — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.