Sustainability-related jobs signal ESG growth

The green building industry, as a sunrise industry in China, has become so popular that ESG (environmental, social and governance)-related positions are springing up like mushrooms after rain.

With demand in the green building field skyrocketing, occupations like green building consultants, sustainable construction managers, sustainable trainers in human resources, sustainable trainers in legal compliance department, green building engineers, and carbon neutrality business analysts are vying for attention.

If you typed "green building" to search jobs under the real estate category in Beijing on Zhaopin.com, one of China's major recruitment portals, on May 12, the listing showed that there were 232 jobs available.

The one with the highest monthly salary is senior green building engineer, with monthly salaries ranging from 29,000 yuan ($4,035) to 40,000 yuan. Green building consultant is also a hot position, with monthly salaries ranging from 5,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan.

They offer professional consulting, certification, and management services in every link, including the selection of building materials, construction techniques, energy consumption component testing and certification, emission control, facility updates, equipment management, and low-carbon management in the construction and usage processes.

"As the era of carbon constraints fully arrives, carbon emissions may have a more direct impact on asset performance. In the field of commercial real estate, green buildings have become a new norm. Green building consultants have been playing a critical role in the process of promoting the green transition of buildings," said Alan Li, president of CBRE China, a global commercial real estate services and investment firm.

Speaking of the reason why ESG-related positions are gaining popularity, Li noted that in addition to the widely recognized advantages of reducing operating expenses and being offered green financial support, the advantages of green buildings in terms of rental income are also very much evident.

According to the latest survey from CBRE, one-fifth of tenants said that they will consider applying for a rental discount if a building does not have a green certification.

At present, investors' allocation of ESG assets has shown a rapidly increasing trend. Latest statistics from CBRE showed that 91 percent of the respondents have or plan to include ESG into their investment decisions, while 71 percent of the investors are willing to offer a certain premium on ESG assets.

Then, how can a green building consultant help an occupier or landlord in decarbonization?

The report outlines that for occupiers, a green building consultant helps them in improving energy efficiency, decarbonizing their energy chain by transitioning to renewable energy, optimizing their workplace strategy planning, decarbonizing the supply chain, as well as exploring carbon offset opportunities.

For landlords, on the other hand, green building consultants help them in using intelligent building systems and adopting green leases, which enables clarifying the obligations and rights of landlords and occupiers in leasing terms where both parties can share the costs and benefits of green retrofitting and operation and participate more actively in decarbonization.

Li noted that with the development of the green building industry, in the next three to five years, more demand is expected to emerge.

For industry practitioners, they are advised to grasp basic knowledge of green building, including commercial real estate carbon footprint, to be familiar with national and local policy standards and energy-saving transformation technologies and promotion lists, and understand green financial instruments.

As an international property consultancy, CBRE manages more than 46,500 buildings around the world. So far, CBRE has provided green building certification services to more than 20 million square meters of properties on the Chinese mainland, data from the company showed.