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

What is a sustainability internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

If you're interested in knowing more about how to save our earth, then this internship is for you. Sustainability internships provide students with the opportunity of learning about the resources we use, and how to conserve them for future generations. Participating in a sustainability internship also earns students college credits and helps them gain employment once they graduate.

Sustainability interns are required to work within the sustainability department of an organization. Their responsibilities include finding ways to lower costs through reduced resource use, capital investments in more efficient infrastructure, and maintaining a healthy and less wasteful work environment. They monetize resource use reduction and turn waste streams into revenue streams, among other things. Since it's an internship, no prior work experience is required. Accepted participants are usually in the process of completing a bachelor's degree.

Some employers may require applicants to have a certain grade point average (GPA). Luckily, this internship isn't all work without any reward. The average hourly salary for a sustainability intern is $15.01. That's higher than the pay for most internships. Plus, you'll also be gaining insight into the professional world.

ScoreSustainability InternshipUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,586

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.59%

Asian 5.42%

Black or African American 9.59%

Hispanic or Latino 12.64%

Unknown 5.16%

White 66.59%

Gender

female 55.04%

male 44.96%

Age - 40

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 - 40

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sustainability internship

Explore sustainability internship education requirements

Most common sustainability internship degrees

Bachelor's

79.7 %

Master's

12.3 %

Associate

3.9 %

Start to develop specific sustainability internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Renewable Energy	15.79%
Sustainability Intern	9.39%
PowerPoint	8.55%
Climate	7.87%
Data Collection	4.58%

Complete relevant sustainability internship training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sustainability interns 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 internship based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sustainability internship resumes.

Research sustainability internship duties and responsibilities

Manage global sustainability forum for universities and corporate campuses.
Compile and manage data for annual reports on greenhouse gas emissions and campus sustainability ratings.
Research, compile, co-wrote, edit the first GRI compliant CSR report for drugstore.com.
Post publications on website and Facebook page.

Prepare your sustainability internship resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sustainability internship resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sustainability internship resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable sustainability internship resume templates

Build a professional sustainability internship resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sustainability internship resume.