Consulting Director – Corporate Sustainability & Climate Change (Director Level) at Environmental Resources Management (ERM)

You will be based in our South African office as part of ERM’s Corporate Sustainability & Climate Change Europe & Middle East & Africa (EMEA) team. This is a team of management consultants focused on helping companies to create long-term value by managing the opportunities and mitigate the risks tied to ESG.

Responsibilities

• As a Consulting Director joining our team, your key focus will be on helping our clients to define strategies to address climate change as part of their corporate sustainability journeys. Technically, the consultant should have experience in some or all of the following areas, for example:
• Ability to complete GHG assessments and carbon accounting in line with good international practice, e.g., ISO 14064 and the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
• Exposure to various climate change disclosures such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) or Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and potentially experience in assurance of climate change related sustainability data as part of company’s annual reporting in line with GRI/SABS
• Understanding of the South African regulatory regime for climate change, including carbon tax, pollution prevention plans, energy management plans, carbon offsets, carbon budgets and energy reporting
• Other potential skills related to Life-cycle assessment (LCA) and related cradle to grave assessment tools, energy (resource) efficiency assessments and management systems in line with ISO 50001, Science Based Targets development, and Marginal Abatement Cost Curves (MACC)
• The role is likely to be focused on mitigation though additional experience in terms of adaptation and physical risks resulting from climate change will be beneficial, as well as experience in relation to renewable energy/ hydrogen development processes from strategy, opportunity identification and assessment to development.
• As a Consulting Director within the team, you will be responsible for:
• Managing or coordinating medium to large size projects or whole elements of larger multidisciplinary or global projects – as ERM works closely with some of the world’s largest organisations, we anticipate that this role will require close collaboration with our European Corporate Sustainability and Climate Change team
• Delivering multiple project tasks or components, including proposals
• Supervising project team(s) and coaching and mentoring more junior staff
• Understanding the interrelationships between ERM services and policies and how these are applied within the clients’ business model
• Establishing strong working relationships with clients through project delivery
• Developing Corporate Sustainability and Climate Change services in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa
• Advising our key local, regional and global clients and finding solutions for their ESG and climate change related challenges
• Making use of effective working relationships with business unit and participate in global technical communities to ensure strong network of resources
• Remaining up to date with external market and client industry trends
• Sharing expertise and knowledge within the business unit and/or global practice area
• Understanding how work of the project team and or practice community contributes to ERM’s success
• You will be part of our interdisciplinary and international team and will collaborate with ERM offices in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa regions.

Requirements

• Postgraduate degree (preferably a Master’s-level degree) in a technical climate change field (e.g., environmental management, energy engineering, climate change), as well as experience and/or qualifications in a business management-related field (e.g. financial, legal, change management, strategy etc.)
• Minimum of 8 - 10 years of experience in ESG/ climate change consulting
• Strong technical climate change experience linking to ESG management
• Experience in climate change aspects of mergers and acquisitions, divestment, project finance, private equity, liability assessment and transaction advisory, is also desired
• Commercial acumen, business development and project management skills
• Commitment to excellence, and to health and safety
• Excellent leadership and communication (both verbal and written) skills
• Experience with using data and technology to solve clients climate change and ESG challenges
• Willingness to travel
• Ability to work under pressure