In this year’s summer series on PA Future, we have asked junior members of ESG/sustainability teams to answer our questions on career paths, red flags and personal passions, to showcase the ‘Next Generation‘ of talent coming through.
Candidates needed to be a member of a fund management, ESG/sustainability or stewardship/engagement team with less than five years’ experience.
Here, Charlie Young ethical, sustainable and impact researcher at Greenbank, discusses environmental debates with friends and sustainability as a core belief system.
How did you start your career and what led you to focus on ESG/sustainability? Is this a personal passion?
My interest in sustainability started in school studying human geography and the interrelationships between people, place, and environment. I remember learning about the Millennium Development Goals and being fascinated with what the future could look like if the world could travel in an equitable and sustainable trajectory. Fast forward to university and I managed to secure a place on one of the first Global Sustainable Development degrees of its kind. This was my opportunity to take on an innovative and transdisciplinary field and allowed me to think both creatively and critically about the world around me. Whether it’s at work or with my friends, my favourite thing to do is to debate social, environmental and economic dilemmas and look at the state of the world impartially while considering a diverse range of perspectives – it’s a devil’s advocate’s dream job!
You joined the industry around five years ago, when appetite and launches in this area of investment soared. What was that like to experience as a relatively new starter to the industry?
Maybe this appetite was new to many a couple of years back, but not to me or Greenbank. I count myself lucky to have joined a team that had been pioneering for ethical, sustainable and impact investment for practically as long as I have lived. Off the back of studying Economics and Global Sustainable Development at university I got to hit the ground running and at a pace that certainly hasn’t slowed. As I have stepped into my role and my responsibilities have increased, the space I have to fill in various areas of research is expanding, and exciting. As the wider market continues to turn its attention towards sustainable investment, my passion has kept me ahead of the curve and allowed me to lead numerous areas of company assessment, engagement and thematic research.
And what has it been like for you over the past few years where appetite has waned, and we have experienced the anti-ESG backlash in some areas?
I think if you consider sustainability to be part of your core belief system as a person, client, or for Greenbank as an organisation, then your fundamental values don’t change overnight. So, in my view, any anti-ESG backlash has only spotlighted those who have been riding short-term trends. This has only fuelled my ambition to continue the work I am doing at Greenbank to support financial flows that support sustainable development, regardless of the external noise.
What has been a career highlight for you?
It’s a cliché but it really is difficult to pick a single aspect of my experience as an ethical, sustainable, and impact researcher thus far as a career highlight. I love where I’m at because, from school until now, I’ve followed my passion and been able to explore so many different avenues of personal interest. What I didn’t initially anticipate but have thoroughly enjoyed is the opportunity to share my knowledge to promote better understanding of sustainable investment across the wider market.
For example, I have presented on how Greenbank integrates animal welfare into our decision-making and stewardship activity at one of our Green Shoots webinars. Another exciting opportunity was publishing a sector-specific guide in collaboration with Finance for Biodiversity to support other investors to conduct meaningful nature-related engagement with electric utilities. I take great pride in sharing the expertise I have gained over the years.
What is a red flag you in terms of greenwashing? Are you happy to hold companies or individuals accountable for greenwashing?
This almost feels like a redundant question because that’s what I do at Greenbank, day in, day out. As part of our stewardship and engagement work, it is important that my team holds companies accountable for any risk of greenwashing. It’s of paramount importance to direct financial flows to support companies that truly and transparently are making sustainability a genuine and integral part of their corporate identity and mission.
Fast forward to five years from now – where would you like to be in terms of career aspirations? And how do you think the industry will have evolved by then?
Five years ago none of us would have foreseen the state of the world today and I struggle to believe next year is 2025, so thinking about the end of the decade is even more mind-boggling to me. We’ve already seen clear evidence of the world overshooting 1.5C on climate, and we cannot afford to stall beyond 2030 for so many different sustainability-related aspirations, so the role of sustainable finance will be as important to me, and critical for the world, as it has ever been.
What I hope will happen for me is a natural progression from where I already am in my career, leading conversations surrounding the correlation and integration of the nature and climate nexus, particularly with those who aren’t already paying attention. I intend to follow in the footsteps of my colleagues and use my personal power to continue to champion the possibility, power and pay-off of corporate responsibility and sustainable finance to enact a better world for us all.
