The Future of Working in Sustainability with Gus Bartholomew

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In 2025, sustainability teams are under pressure like never before. The boom years of ESG headlines and net-zero pledges have given way to budget and staffing cuts, regulatory uncertainty, and rising expectations to deliver results.

But the sustainability recession is not a collapse, it’s a recalibration.

Gus Bartholomew, Co-founder of Leafr, believes we're entering a phase of “radical pragmatism,” where execution matters more than ambition. In this Deep Dive, Gus shares his front-line view on how companies are restructuring their teams, what skills are in highest demand, and why the future belongs to those who can turn strategy into action.

1. You have a front-row seat at Leafr, seeing how sustainability teams are evolving. What’s the biggest shift you’re seeing in how companies are structuring their sustainability functions in 2025?

The harsh reality is that three-quarters of sustainability teams in medium and large enterprises still have three or fewer people. Every team is underpowered relative to the scale of the challenge.

A few years ago, there was perhaps hope that sustainability teams could grow big. But right now, no company can afford to hire every niche skill full-time, but all teams still need credible access to those skills. 

Now, more teams are adopting an agile model. They have a small strategic core team that sets priorities, manages trade-offs, and embeds sustainability into commercial strategy. They then bring in specialists, on demand, to help with the execution of specific initiatives.

One very promising shift we are seeing is from sustainability being “just a reporting function” at the margins to becoming a core strategic driver. The reporting line shifts tell the story well. The Chief Sustainability Officer is increasingly reporting directly to the CEO or CFO, and in the most progressive cases, directly to the board. In 2025, it feels like sustainability is working its way closer to the center of corporate decision-making.

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2. There’s been a lot of talk about a “sustainability recession.” What are you seeing on the ground? Are the types of roles being hired for changing?

The talk of a sustainability recession really misses what is happening inside companies. There is definitely political noise and regulatory uncertainty, but what we are actually seeing is not a collapse but more of a recalibration. The era of splashy announcements and easy headlines is fading, and companies are now shifting into the far more difficult work of delivery.

The gap between ambition and execution has been brutally exposed. Many companies set bold goals without a credible pathway to achieve them. The tolerance for empty promises has run out, forcing companies to turn inward, roll up their sleeves, and focus on doing the work.

Hiring tells the same story. The roles being prioritised are less about reporting and more about operational change. Companies want people who take targets and make them real by engaging suppliers, shifting procurement, and cutting emissions. 

We think the market has entered a phase of radical pragmatism. Projects that deliver both climate impact and commercial value are the ones being prioritized, even when they are the hardest to deliver.

3. Leafr sits at the intersection of climate jobs and talent. Based on your platform’s data, what roles or skills are in highest demand right now — and which ones are oversaturated?

Supply chain decarbonisation is at the top of the list. Scope 3 dominates most corporate footprints, and companies need professionals who can work directly with suppliers, redesign contracts, and create incentive models that actually drive reductions.

Climate risk and resilience is another area of fast growth. Regulation and investor pressure mean companies are under pressure to quantify the physical risks to their assets and develop credible adaptation strategies.

Finally, life cycle assessment and product carbon footprinting (LCA/PCF) is surging. As product-level claims become mainstream, businesses cannot lean on averages to make credible statements. LCAs are becoming integral to product design, procurement, and compliance as regulators and customers alike expect product-specific data.

By contrast, there is an oversupply in broad generalist roles, especially at the entry to mid-level. Communications and reporting is especially crowded, partially driven by the huge improvements in technology.

The real shortage is at the intersection of depth and influence: people with strong technical competence who can also make change happen inside organisations. That is where the market is thinnest, and where the biggest impact will be made.

4. We’re hearing a lot about companies moving from ‘ambition to action.’ What skill sets are most urgently needed for companies to deliver on their sustainability goals? How should sustainability generalists be upskilling?

Now that reporting and measurement tools have matured, the challenge is delivery at scale. The skill sets companies need most urgently are practical and people-focused. It’s about persuasion, negotiation, and execution. Knowing how to redesign procurement specifications, run supplier workshops, or present a business case that convinces finance to invest in specific solutions.

For sustainability generalists, this means broadening into the skills that cut across the business. Learning the language of procurement, operations, and finance makes you indispensable. Building competence in facilitation and change management is equally critical because many barriers are cultural rather than technical.

Execution beats ambition, and depth beats breadth.

5. For those looking to break into or stay in sustainability during this uncertain period, what advice would you give?

We often put it this way: you either have a wide generalist skillset that you sell into a niche, or you have a niche skillset that you sell to a wide audience. Both approaches create differentiation, but drifting in the middle creates little value.

Don’t limit yourself to jobs with “sustainability” in the title. Some of the most impactful work is happening in procurement, operations, and logistics. Functions where the real levers of change sit. A procurement manager who understands carbon can often drive more impact than a sustainability report writer.

And finally, sustainability is increasingly about influence. The professionals who combine technical credibility with communication, negotiation, and business case development are the ones who will thrive in the long run.

6. You work with both companies and job-seekers. What roles should companies be looking for in 2025? And how can sustainability leaders build resilient teams?

Resilient teams are not built on headcount. Too many companies think resilience means hiring more people, but it is actually the opposite. Resilience is about clarity of mission and a structure that can flex as priorities and pressures shift.

The strongest leaders are treating sustainability as a complex transformation program. They bring in specialist expertise as they need it. That gives them flexibility to ride out economic swings without collapsing the function.

The leaders in 2025 are treating sustainability as a transformation program: strategically led, flexibly resourced, and relentlessly delivered.