UK consultancy Salterbaxter has appointed Helen Rushton in the newly created role of head of sustainability transformation.
- Salterbaxter has appointed Helen Rushton has head of sustainability transformation.
- The new board level role was created specifically to focus the company’s efforts on sustainability.
- There is increasing recognition that sustainability strategies must be integrated throughout the company, with governance at board level.
Salterbaxter is a UK-based consultancy focused on supporting companies in making their business strategies more sustainable. It covers areas such as ESG reporting, net zero roadmaps, behaviour change and employee action.
Salterbaxter is building board level competencies
It has appointed Helen Rushton to its new role as head of sustainability transformation. She joined the company in 2021 and will now sit at a board level and focus on the connection between sustainability issues and business strategy.
Rushton was previously director of sustainability at marketing company Chime Group and has nearly three decades of experience in the sustainability sector.
She said: “All too often, consultancy work is technically competent but uninspiring, or alternatively it looks amazing but is not robust. Salterbaxter embeds creativity from the outset, investing research and deep thinking into their strategies and concepts.”
There is an increasing need for skills and experience
Sustainability, and ESG, strategies are one of the biggest growth areas in the market. PwC recently projected that its sustainability practice would grow 10x in the next three years. Consultancies around the world are skilling up and implementing training programmes in order to meet market demand. Yet there is growing concern that skills are not matching demand.
Kim Schumacher, Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance at Kyushu University coined the phrase ‘competence greenwashing’ in 2020 to warn when the interest and awareness of the topic doesn’t match the necessary skills and experience.
There is no substitute for experience, and specialist expertise is required if sustainability transformations are going to be successful. In the short term that means more pull on third parties to support change. Salterbaxter looks as if it positioning itself well.
