Why You Should Hire a Sustainability Consultant

A sustainability consultant, essentially, is a professional who specializes in advising organizations on sustainability practices. 

If you’re a sustainability manager, it might seem as if a consultant would be stepping on your turf. But really that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

You’ll understand better than anyone how complex the world of sustainability is. And we both know things aren’t going to be getting simpler any time soon!

By hiring a specialized sustainability consultant to assist with particularly challenging aspects of sustainability, you can free up crucial time and space for yourself. Allowing you to focus on the bigger picture. 

In this article we’ll examine the key benefits of hiring a sustainability consultant. But first, let’s discuss the different types of sustainability consultants, and consider when you should think about hiring each one. 

When Should You Hire a Sustainability Consultant? 

All quality sustainability consultants bring specialized knowledge and experience that the hiring organization is unlikely to possess internally. By taking on several key responsibilities, sustainability consultants make it much easier for organizations to achieve their sustainability goals. 

Sustainability consultants also stay constantly aware of the latest sustainability trends, regulations, and best practices. This helps the organizations they work for stay a few steps ahead within the rapidly evolving sustainability landscape. 

But as sustainability has become more complex, most sustainability consultants have chosen to focus in on particular aspects of it. 

So today, you can hire different types of sustainability consultants, depending on the particular area of sustainability you need help with. (Isn’t it great to live in a world where even sustainability consultants come in all sorts of exciting colors and flavors!?) 

Here’s a look at each main type of sustainability consultant, and when you should consider hiring each one. 

Corporate Sustainability Consultants

What do corporate sustainability consultants do?:

Corporate sustainability consultants focus on an organization’s business strategy as a whole. In a nutshell, they help companies integrate sustainable practices into their business operations. Through actions such as assessing sustainability performance, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, and creating and implementing tailored sustainability strategies, corporate sustainability consultants help organizations achieve their sustainability goals. 

When should you hire a corporate sustainability consultant?: 

On a more urgent level, you should consider hiring a corporate sustainability consultant if you feel your current business strategy does not comply with the latest sustainability regulations. The right consultant can quickly point out what changes you must make to ensure that you are following the rules. Beyond merely following the rules, corporate sustainability consultants can improve your chances of long-term success. If you feel your current strategy isn’t designed to eventually make you a sustainability leader within your industry, hiring a consultant is also a good idea. 

Environmental Consultants

What do environmental consultants do?: 

Environmental consultants focus entirely on assessing and managing organization’s environmental impacts. They conduct environmental impact audits, develop and implement environmental management systems (EMS), and take on several other key responsibilities related to environmental impacts. By doing this, they help organizations manage and minimize their impact in the long term. 

When should you hire an environmental consultant?: 

Maybe you’ve got most of your sustainability strategy figured out. Generally, you know what actions you need to take and you’re very nearly ready to take them. But how in the world are you supposed to measure and improve your environmental impact? Good question. Thankfully, you can hire an environmental consultant in this situation, and they can provide you with all the answers.

Energy Efficiency Consultants

What do energy efficiency consultants do?:

Energy efficiency consultants are even more specialized than environmental consultants in that they solely focus on energy usage. By conducting energy audits, implementing energy-saving strategies, and taking on other key tasks, they help organizations use energy as efficiently as possible. 

When should you hire an energy efficiency consultant?:

This one is quite simple really. If you feel that you could be using energy more efficiently, but don’t know exactly how, you should probably hire an energy efficiency consultant.

Social Responsibility Consultants 

What do social responsibility consultants do?: 

In sustainability, having a positive social impact is just as important as having a positive environmental impact. Social responsibility consultants help organizations achieve this in a number of ways. They conduct social impact assessments, create and implement social performance strategies, and offer advice about ethical business practices, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and community relations. 

When should you hire a social responsibility consultant?: 

If you feel like your environmental performance is strong, but your social performance is lagging behind, it might be time to hire a social responsibility consultant. They can help you strengthen this crucial sustainability pillar, and turn your organization into an impressive sustainability all-rounder. 

Sustainability Communications Consultants

What do sustainability communications consultants do?: 

In simple terms, sustainability communications consultants help organizations inform key stakeholders about their sustainability initiatives, in the most effective way possible. They build tailored communication strategies, create compelling content, and help companies share it in all the right places. By doing this, these consultants ensure that companies derive maximum value from their sustainability actions. 

When should you hire a sustainability communications consultant?: 

If your sustainability performance is strong, but you don’t know how to get the word out, a quality sustainability communications consultant will work wonders for you. They will help you craft an engaging, transparent message, that fits with your brand and resonates with your stakeholders. If you’re not effectively talking about your sustainability journey right now, we recommend hiring a sustainability communications consultant immediately!

Regulatory Compliance Consultants

What do regulatory compliance consultants do?: 

Regulatory compliance consultants focus entirely on the serious business of, you guessed it, complying with regulations. Their key responsibilities include actions like conducting compliance audits, developing compliance programs, and monitoring and communicating the latest regulatory changes. Overall, their job is to ensure that organizations are always aware of, and in line with, any sustainability-related regulations that apply to them. 

When should you hire a regulatory compliance consultant?: 

If you’re struggling to understand all the latest sustainability regulations, and you’re worried about complying with them all, you should definitely consider hiring a regulatory compliance consultant. They can help you make sense of each applicable regulation, and put steps in place to ensure compliance.

As we have seen, there is a time and a place for hiring each type of sustainability consultant. And as the field of sustainability continues to evolve, new specialties are also emerging. CSRD consultants, Green Claims Directive consultants, and EU Taxonomy consultants are just some of the latest types to gain popularity. 

But regardless of the particular type in question, all sustainability consultants offer some very important benefits.

Benefits of Hiring a Sustainability Consultant

Why should you hire a sustainability consultant? We have probably already answered that question above by detailing how each type of consultant can help. 

More generally, hiring any kind of sustainability consultant will likely deliver the following benefits.

Regulatory Compliance

Every competent sustainability consultant, no matter their particular area of focus, should be intent on guaranteeing compliance with relevant regulations. Once brought on board, they should promptly help you understand and comply with any regulations related to their focus area. They should also prepare your organization for upcoming regulations, reducing future risk of non-compliance and potential penalties.

Cost Savings and Efficiency

Generally, sustainability consultants help you improve your sustainability performance. This almost always involves identifying operational inefficiencies, and improving them. In the long term, this will lead to financial benefits and increased efficiency. 

Improved Brand Image/Competitive Advantage

Pretty much everything sustainability consultants do is also a huge positive for brand image, and helps to give you a competitive advantage. After hiring a consultant, consumers and potential employees will soon see that you are strongly committed to sustainability. Helping you to differentiate yourself from competitors. 

Risk Management

Risk sounds kind of exciting and all, but in the business world, risk is probably best kept to a minimum. Wouldn’t you agree? Sustainability consultants certainly do. That’s why they help to identify potential environmental and social risks, and show you how to proactively address and minimize them. 

Innovation and Growth

Sustainability consultants also generally promote innovative approaches and sustainable technologies. They may even help to identify new market opportunities related to sustainable products and services. All of this helps to drive business growth, while pushing your organization to become an innovation leader within your industry. 

All in all, if you put all these benefits together, it becomes clear that hiring a sustainability consultant will likely increase your chances of long-term success. 

At Dazzle, our main aim is to make this happen, by setting you up with your perfect consultant.

Dazzle Can Help You Find Your Perfect Sustainability Consultant 

Hiring a sustainability consultant is a no-brainer if you need help with certain aspects of sustainability. With Dazzle, you can do so with added flexibility, and a guarantee of quality. 

Dazzle is a platform that offers the world’s best sustainability freelancers on-demand. You can work with our freelancers on a project-based, on-demand, or interim basis, so it’s very flexible. And due to our extensive pre-screening process, all of our freelance sustainability and ESG experts come with proven track records. 

Amongst our wide array of seasoned sustainability gurus, we have all types of sustainability consultants available, ready and waiting to help you achieve your sustainability goals. 

Contact us today and we can help you find your perfect match in no time. 

(Feel free to check out our complete sustainability consultant guide to find out everything you need to know!)