At Ever, we act as an extension of our clients, aiming for upskilling rather than outsourcing. We are critical friends of the business, challenging where necessary, understanding the nuances of your team and ways of working, and supporting you to deliver against your long to-do lists.
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Not every organisation has the extensive sustainability resources they might dream of. Many of our clients have small sustainability teams of three, two or even just one person.
In a recent Edie survey, only 9% of interviewed companies had a team of more than ten. Over 50% of sustainability teams believe they aren’t “adequately resourced” to meet the mounting reporting and disclosure requirements.
In a recent Edie survey, only 9% of interviewed companies had a team of more than ten. Over 50% of sustainability teams believe they aren’t “adequately resourced” to meet the mounting reporting and disclosure requirements. How do sustainability teams balance resource pressures against the ambition to drive change?
We’re constantly asking our clients: “What keeps you up at night?” so that we can support them better.
Here are the top challenges that we hear back from small sustainability teams, along with our tips to address them.
1. Budget and time constraints
Challenge:
With limited budgets, every penny spent on research, engagement and communications (and auditing/assurance) must be justified and impactful. Regulatory requirements can force key activities to the top of your budget must-haves, when you may rather spend elsewhere. Administrative tasks and internal discussions can also consume your time, leaving little room for strategic planning.
Solution:
Making the business case (sneak a look below at our worked CSRD example) and looking at ROI for every project can be exhausting, but can speed up the approval of workstreams. If you can, prioritise initiatives that align with your core business strategy and offer the highest return on investment, giving careful consideration to short-term inputs and long-term outputs. There are more and more tools for automating the parts of your work that feel like admin rather than impact – use them!
A worked example: CSRD short-termism
While some companies need to report on CSRD in 2025, the majority of companies have a little longer. Those with a later deadline might feel they can afford to wait, but starting preparations early will save both time and money as you can understand what’s required and set up intuitive tech tools to make life easier when it comes to reporting. The challenges are getting ahead of your data collection and being better positioned to handle any last-minute issues.
2. Compliance vs innovation
Challenge:
Your dream may be to supercharge your strategy, and to spend time digging into goals and targets that can be rolled out to the wider business – and to set about achieving them ahead of time. With ESG regulations increasing by 155% in the past decade, are sustainability professionals being slowly turned into accountants and data specialists? How do you walk the line between delivery and data?
Solution:
We’re biased, but if you’re finding this challenge coming up in your daily work, it may be time to save money by outsourcing. Hiring an external consultant to work with your team on sustainability data collection and analysis allows you to allocate more of your time to the bigger picture.
3. Role impact
Challenge:
We found that legal and finance teams don’t fully understand why a disproportionate amount of resource is being allocated to ESG reporting compared to other areas such as risk management. It’s important for sustainability teams to demonstrate their value to other departments and improve visibility.
Solution:
Regularly communicating your successes to stakeholders ensures they see the ongoing value of your work. Many sustainability teams have small budgets and limited visibility within their organisations, so proactive communication – especially focusing on quick wins –can help you gain the support needed to expand your initiatives. Use data and storytelling to highlight the positive impact of your initiatives. We have seen short internal sustainability newsletters work well – not to add to your workload!
4. Burnout risk
Challenge:
Burnout amongst sustainability professionals is real. It’s hard to be a small team championing new things in a larger business, and sustainability leads can put pressure on themselves to be high-impact with low resources – the world is at stake!
Solution:
Be aware of the problem and don’t treat it as a small one – burnout is pervasive and can be a long-term issue. Juggling multiple, and increasing, responsibilities increases burnout risk, which can diminish effectiveness and impact mental health. Keeping senior team members and those in the wider business informed about your workload and expectations can help share around the responsibility, fostering collaboration and helping to manage workloads more effectively.
Support you can rely on
Despite the required output of these teams growing at an exorbitant rate, the size of these teams has remained static over the past ten years. Many companies hire external consultants, rather than prioritise hiring and training more sustainability professionals in house.
If you don’t have the budget to hire your own team, spending money on outside help from consultants can seem counterproductive. At Ever, we act as an extension of our clients, aiming for upskilling rather than outsourcing. We are critical friends of the business, challenging where necessary, understanding the nuances of your team and ways of working, and supporting you to deliver against your long to-do lists.
Get in touch to hear more about how we support small sustainability teams to go a long way.