ESG REC
CSOs and CFOs want people who can build rapport, communicate with clarity, empathise and influence. These aren’ t new, but they’ re essential. Even if you’ re not at the cutting edge of tech you still bring a lot.
What are the different roles between humans and AI within sustainability teams? From heads of department I hear similar AI uses to other sectors. There’ s still a lot of talk and I bet in six months there’ ll be more real examples that made a material difference. People are finding their way.
The obvious uses are navigating long documents and producing summaries to save time. From a reporting point-of view, AI can look at data and produce meaningful reports, but it still needs human oversight to sanity check.
The pace is fast. In six months we’ ll likely have different examples.
How can businesses strike the right balance between humans and AI? People empathise with people. If you’ re trying to drive transformational change to decarbonise or adopt new processes, AI can help you understand what might need to change, but effecting change still needs a human.
On a factory floor, it’ s hard for AI to convince someone to change a working practice. A person can see what they do, understand it and explain the impact empathetically.
Automate what you can in data collection and report production, but when you want to act, people make the impact. We’ re moving from reporting to action, which makes humans more important than ever.
What does a successful sustainability recruitment campaign look like today? Should hiring managers adapt? AI can help with hiring, but people still want to talk to someone about their career. The hiring manager is crucial. We ran some surveys and the interviewer’ s passion was the fourth most important factor to candidates.
98 October 2025