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Sustainability manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Eva Rocke,

Eva Rocke

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical sustainability manager skills. We ranked the top skills for sustainability managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 9.2% of sustainability manager resumes contained project management as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a sustainability manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 sustainability manager skills for your resume and career

1. Project Management

Here's how sustainability managers use project management:

Used real time tie into planning, project management, and related financial programs across separate departments.
Support monthly Integrated Project Management Team (IPMT) Reviews and periodic Program Estimate-At-Completion reviews.

2. Sustainability Initiatives

Here's how sustainability managers use sustainability initiatives:

Develop, implement and effectively manage sustainability initiatives and ensure federal, state and local compliance.
Develop and coordinate sustainability initiatives in operations, academics and co-curricular functions for a private university.

3. Renewable Energy

Here's how sustainability managers use renewable energy:

Initiated renewable energy pilot projects utilizing internal assets and expertise.
Reviewed and implemented renewable energy projects such as and solar, wind and fuel cell systems.

4. Climate

Climate refers to the climatic conditions that generally prevail in a particular region, such as temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, sun, cloud cover, and winds, throughout the year for a longer period.

Here's how sustainability managers use climate:

Coordinate the creation of the Climate Action Tactical Plan and guide the subcommittees in achieving plan goals.
Facilitated partnership between the Bank and Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps program.

5. CDP

Here's how sustainability managers use cdp:

Contributed to company sustainability reporting, including CDP, ESG investor requests, and GRI Report.
Manage all measurement and reporting methodologies- Resource Advisor, GRI and CDP.

6. Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing process of improvement of products, services, and processes with the help of innovative ideas. It is an organized approach that helps an organization to find its weaknesses and improve them.

Here's how sustainability managers use continuous improvement:

Collaborated with a team of 6 multi-disciplined professionals to integrate a continuous improvement philosophy in all faucets of the organization.

7. Logistics

Logistics is a complete organization and implementation of a problem. Logistics are often considered in a complex business operation, as some works need detailed plannings. Logistics are also used in military action.

Here's how sustainability managers use logistics:

Worked to build a Sustainability Department for a medium sized, national, less-than truck load logistics provider.
Communicate clearly within SWCS, NAVSEA, and WARCOM Logistics team environment.

8. Greenhouse

A greenhouse is an enclosed structure - a wall and a roof, generally covered mainly with glass, plastic, or fiberglass, and provides regulated climatic conditions - temperature, humidity, ventilation to protect tender plants or out-of-season plants against heat or cold.

Here's how sustainability managers use greenhouse:

Perform activities associated with quality, environmental and health/safety management systems; greenhouse gas emissions; and sustainability programs.
Developed the site Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Plan and associated reduction plan based on the carbon footprint analysis conducted annually.

9. Sustainability Strategy

Here's how sustainability managers use sustainability strategy:

Developed and executed Naked Juice's first business sustainability strategy to become the most sustainable beverage brand in the world.
Developed and implement a sustainability strategy for a $1.5 billion business unit.

10. Environmental Compliance

Environmental compliance means to fulfill official environmental requirements. It comprises environmental rules, laws, and regulations, and permits regarding which sites to operate. Environmental concerns have raised compliances across the globe. Environmental compliance includes managing and monitoring the required permits for correct parameters, performing and processing calculations, generate daily compliance reports, and record data with compliance to any risk alert

Here's how sustainability managers use environmental compliance:

Executed environmental compliance, inspection and reporting to Mexican authorities for a retiree real estate development.
Delivered training presentations locally and nationally on environmental compliance and sustainability topics.

11. Environmental Sustainability

Here's how sustainability managers use environmental sustainability:

Created tool and process to integrate environmental sustainability into new product development process.
Managed the corporate environmental sustainability department for electricity generation and distribution assets.

12. External Stakeholders

Here's how sustainability managers use external stakeholders:

Formed the Green Chemistry Team of internal and external stakeholders to replace traditional process chemistry with environmentally benign alternatives.
Collaborated with internal and external stakeholders to align sustainability programs on campus and in the community.

13. Sustainability Issues

Here's how sustainability managers use sustainability issues:

Assess the organization's current sustainability performance and identify and prioritize the organization's key sustainability issues.
Develop the business case to address sustainability issues with focus on products and services.

14. Management System

A management system is a set of policies, processes, and procedures taken by an organization or a business to ensure it can fulfill its tasks and achieve its objectives. A management system makes sure that the company excels financially and improves the user experience. The management system also takes care of the worker's and employees' needs and manages their workload and oversees their performance. Apart from interior matters of the company, a management system also deals with exterior matters like legislations, tax matters, and law issues.

Here's how sustainability managers use management system:

Redesigned inventory management system to ensure high levels of rapid order fulfillment, processing and tracking.
Joint Strike Fighter Training Management System Deputy Program Manager and System Engineer

15. EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a US-based organization established to sustain and improve the environmental and human health standards across the United States. EPA was established by US President Richard Nixon by executive order in December 1970. The EPA formulates laws and releases guidelines to promote the health of individuals and the ecosystem.

Here's how sustainability managers use epa:

Coordinated food donation program with student and community organizations to ensure the EPA's food recovery hierarchy was implemented.
Facilitated stakeholder meetings between various divisions of the agency that included EPA and private sector representatives.

What skills help Sustainability Managers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on sustainability manager resumes?

Eva Rocke

Sustainability Director, University of Montana

I would say that regardless of the position (sustainability-related or otherwise), hands-on experience, work experience, and evidence of project completion are all really valuable. Demonstrating that you can apply a concrete set of skills to work with diverse teams and navigate organizational culture is helpful regardless of the role you're hoping to fill.

What soft skills should all sustainability managers possess?

Eva Rocke

Sustainability Director, University of Montana

In sustainability fields, communication skills (writing, speaking, meeting facilitation, and telling the story of sustainability) are critical. Sustainability professionals who work within organizations (universities, healthcare, municipal govt, etc.) find ourselves regularly needing to convince our colleagues that it's worth their time to do the "extra" sustainability thing. This entails building relationships of trust (having integrity and following through on what you SAY you're going to deliver), effectively communicating the benefits to them and their team, and knowing just how hard to push or advocate for a strategy or change. Change can take a while, so it's important to meet others in terms of sustainability, literacy, and openness and convince them that they stand to benefit in all sorts of ways if they collaborate w/ the sustainability staff.

What hard/technical skills are most important for sustainability managers?

Eva Rocke

Sustainability Director, University of Montana

Sustainability professionals find themselves doing a TON of tracking and data collection, both qualitative and quantitative. Survey design and administration, greenhouse gas emissions accounting, effective marketing, and social media strategy, basic calculations of ROI (return on investment)...all of these things are really helpful and skills I use almost daily.

What sustainability manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Robert Sroufe

Falk Chair of Socially Responsible Business, Chatham University, Website

Using the word maximize is a bit tricky, right? A maximum to some can mean wealth creation, yet for some tradeoffs, and minimizing other things. A traditional approach would probably sound like this, look for big companies with good salaries and goals for being more sustainable that align with your degree and interests, but do not compromise by taking the first job that get an offer for. Decades ago, this could get you into a stable company where you can look for innovative projects, do interesting work, and work your way up. More and more graduates and job seekers I talk to today, see the gig economy, constant change, and people not wanting to be in the same company of same job for decades, as providing a different approach to maximizing your potential. I have purposefully left the word salary out here. Think about it this way, what are you doing today that will payoff a decade from now? The payoffs are more than a short-term focus on a paycheck. Why not try to maximize happiness. With this view of the long-term, I try to advise those starting in the field in this way, do not take a fifty-year-old US centric approach, i.e., "where you live to work". Instead "work to live" and fully explore the value of a career doing meaningful work integrating sustainability into products and systems in a way that excites you, with a balanced approach to life, time working in the office or at home, family options, family support, gender equality in pay, and the importance of being connected to networks of engaged agents of change making a difference in the world. This network and the kind of work you choose to do, can be a goal to maximize with payoffs for decades to come. Work for good companies really pushing the envelope for more sustainable business practices.

Do you want to know more?

List of sustainability manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a sustainability manager resume and required skills for a sustainability manager to have include:

Project Management
Sustainability Initiatives
Renewable Energy
Climate
CDP
Continuous Improvement
Logistics
Greenhouse
Sustainability Strategy
Environmental Compliance
Environmental Sustainability
External Stakeholders
Sustainability Issues
Management System
EPA

Sustainability Goals
DOD
Waste Reduction
EHS
OSHA
GHG
Sustainability Projects
Employee Engagement
ISO
External Communications
Performance Metrics
Internal Stakeholders
Cost Savings
GRI
CSR

Energy Efficiency
Business Cases
Sustainability Programs
EMS
Product Development
Retrofit
DOT
Sustainability Efforts
Construction Projects
Combat
KPI
RFP
Sustainable Practices

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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