A sustainability specialist is a professional who focuses on advising and assisting organizations during the process of becoming more sustainable.

These consultants have often developed specific expertise in certain areas of the broad field that sustainability has become. Common areas of specialization include:

• - Life Cycle Assessments
• - Sustainability Communications
• - Climate change
• - Social impact
• - Regulatory compliance (CSRD, CSDDD, etc.)
• - Certain ESG ratings, like CDP, EcoVadis, etc. 
• - ESG reporting standards & frameworks, like GRI, ISSB, etc. 
• - Industry specialization (the built environment, food & beverage, waste, packaging, etc.
• & many more

Sustainability specialists provide expert advice and guidance throughout the entire strategy formation, reporting an optimization phase. This often includes the determination of a baseline, sustainability goal setting, ESG KPI selection, employee engagement through training, and general consulting on sustainability topics. 

With Dazzle, we give you access to the best freelance sustainability talent. In this overview, we will talk you through: 

The skills & and qualifications of freelance sustainability specialists 
How they can support your organization in becoming more sustainable
How your collaboration with freelancers will look like

The freelance sustainability specialists on our platform usually have a background in a specific area of sustainability. This experience often comes from working in-house within a company or for a consulting firm. Many of them have since moved to the freelance community, either to have more freedom or to be able to serve more organizations with their sustainability skills. 

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The freelancers on our platform have gone through our assessment process, where we evaluate their skills through an interview and case study. Afterward, the Dazzle freelancers complete a skills inventory that feeds our matchmaking algorithm to match you to the best specialist. 

Sustainability specialists will have worked with many organizations throughout the years. For specialization, they will have completed projects in the past. That means that an experienced sustainability specialist is able to hit the ground running very fast, without a long onboarding period compared to a full-time employee. On our platform, we have a wide range of specialists, to be able to match your organization, budget, and ambition level. 

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Juniors

Junior Sustainability specialists (with 2-3 years experience in sustainability consulting) can provide valuable legwork to understand how sustainability fits into your organization - whether it's researching the specific regulations that apply to your organization, or supporting the implementation of actions that have already been determined by your sustainability strategy. 

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Associates

Associate-level sustainability specialists (with 3-7 years of experience as a sustainability professional) can identify the gaps between your current ESG initiatives and those necessary to be a sustainable organization. A more experienced sustainability specialist can advise you on best practices within your industry or the specific area of specialization, and offer concrete implementation support. 

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Seniors

Senior sustainability specialists (with 7+ years of experience as a sustainability professional) can support you completely from becoming compliant to moving beyond basic requirements. They can guide you with A-Z support from the ideation phase down to the implementation of specific initiatives, programs, and projects. 

Sustainability or ESG specialists are flexible alternatives to working with traditional consulting firms. Given the breadth and depth of sustainability, it could be helpful to have specialists available. Most sustainability managers are generalists, but when topics as biodiversity, regulatory compliance and LCAs arise, they could use a bit of support. With Dazzle, you can tap into a pool of in-depth experts when needed, for as long as you need the support. ​

Time pressure and urgency

Recruiting employees for a fulltime position in your sustainability team can be a timely process. With Dazzle, you can get started in as little as 48 hours. Simply book a discovery call, complete the scoping form and we'll match you to the best possible sustainability specialist. When annual sustainability reports are due, ESG assessment deadlines are lurking around the corner, and data collection is delaying your progress, working with sustainability freelancers can fast-track your actions and help you bridge the gap in your team. 

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Understaffed ESG department

The beauty and challenge of sustainability is that it is an extremely broad topic, with more and more sub-topics. Especially in organizations that don't have a fully staffed ESG department, it's almost impossible to expertly cover every single specialty. Sustainability freelancers are a convenient solution to bridge the skills gap that inevitably exists within your organization and get expert advice or implementation support in peak times. 

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Skill gaps and topic-specific expertise

Some extremely complex legislation might be coming your way, which could fall outside of the comfort zone of your core sustainability team. We also regularly see sustainability being covered by HR, Marketing or Operational departments. Especially senior sustainability advisors can deliver much-needed specialist expertise, for example for complex biodiversity scans, LCAs or reporting requirements. 

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Local expertise 

If the ESG department has no expertise in a local market, but needs to comply with local regulations, it's difficult to find a sustainability advisor to support those cross-border activities. Experienced local sustainability freelancers can supply guidance for local legislation, and reporting requirements, but also culturally sensitive advice on engaging employees in your sustainability efforts.

Flexibility

Freelance sustainability specialists can deliver punctual support, with more availability during peak times and on-demand standby during more quiet times in your sustainability roadmap. Tap into a pool of experts to close the skills gaps.

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Cost-effective

Traditional ESG consulting firms sell the time and rate of a consultant and a group of analysts, or off-shore freelancers from low-income countries who deliver the work. That is neither transparent nor fare to the team members working on the project. Working with a sustainability freelancer ensures full transparency as you'll be working directly with the individual and there is clear commitment to the project. 

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Compliance and reporting expertise

Working directly with the individual ensures the level of expertise and experience needed to successfully deliver the project. Compare resumes and work with freelancers that are experienced in your industry. You can also rest assured that all Dazzle freelancers have successfully completed our vetting system, meaning you'll be working with only the best sustainability freelancers. 

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Working with, not for you

Traditionally, sustainability consultants take the work out of your hands and do the work for you. Our sustainability specialists will work with you on the project, and ensure knowledge transfer along the way. Dazzle is about making progress, on the sustainability front but also for the individual. Our freelancers learn from working with each other and the organization that we serve, and that goes both ways. We want the leave our clients better than they were when we started, not overwhelmed by a 30-page report. 

Specialists knowledge

If you're looking for specialist knowledge, it's likely that you already understand the gaps within your organization and have a specific goal in mind. 

At Dazzle, we follow a 4-step process to match you with the best specialist. 

1. Discovery: In an introduction call, we will discuss your needs. Afterward, we will send you more information about Dazzle along with a few profiles for your consideration. 

2. Scope: If you like what you see, we will spend time on the exact scope of the project so we can use our matchmaking algorithm to identify the best sustainability specialist for your company. 

3. Offer: Based on your preferences, we will plan one or multiple introduction calls with the freelancer(s) Dazzle recommends. Following this meeting, you will receive a tailored proposal from the specialist of your choosing. 

4. Match: Once all the details are clear and confirmed, you can start working with the Dazzle freelancer who's been matched on your case! 

Contact us if you're like to know more