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Sustainable Finance Advisor

The role of a Sustainable Finance Advisor is to provide advice on all aspects of financial sustainability strategies and devising sustainable finance frameworks. The role ensures businesses are aligned with global standards, providing advice on risk frameworks, and measuring impact.

A Sustainable Finance Advisor collects and analyses sustainability data, identifies trends, and interprets, advises, prepares and presents reports to convey investment recommendations to a sophisticated clientele such as financial institutions, asset and fund managers, development finance institutions, consultancies, and private fund managers.

The salaries for Sustainable Finance Advisors with 0-5 years’ experience range from £30,000 to £60,000. Responsible Investment / ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Specialist salary range:

£30k – £35k

Entry-level salary range

£50k – £75k

Early-career salary range

£75k – £110k

Experienced salary range

£110k+

Senior leadership salary range

Please note: the information in our job profiles aims to give a general overview of the role and a guideline to what it involves. The content is not intended to be exhaustive and roles will vary depending on the organisation and sector. The salary ranges are a guide only, as these are dependent on the size and location of the organisation.

How does this role align to the green agenda?

Sustainable Finance Advisors work with companies to develop strategies and solutions to enable a sustainable, lower carbon future. To increase long-term investments in sustainable economic activities and projects, sustainable finance refers to the process of taking environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into account when making investment decisions.

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Skills and capabilities

A mix of technical, interpersonal and analytical skills are required in the role of Sustainable Finance Advisor.

Technical knowledge

A Sustainable Finance Advisor will demonstrate knowledge and have one to five years of experience across the following:

  • Sustainable finance
  • ESG (environmental, social and governance), climate change, carbon accounting, net zero
  • Standards such as ISO 32210
  • Reporting frameworks, standards, and benchmarks such as TCFD (Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures), PRI, ISO 32210, GRESB, ISSB and CDP
  • Emerging regulation such as EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
  • Commercial acumen and ability to interpret complex qualitative and quantitative information, translating this to a simple message.
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A day in the life of a Sustainable Finance Advisor

What a typical day entails will depend on the size of the firm and the team you are working with. The following details will be consistent with an employee who is part of a small, new team within a large international organisation.

This employee regularly interacts with their small team of four, collaborating daily. As the team is small, it allows junior employees the opportunity to gain experience in areas they might not usually be exposed to this early on in their career. For example, an introduction to project management, partaking in the delivery of workshops and more exposure to clients. This often requires junior employees in the team to embrace challenges they may not face at larger firms and to take on more responsibility. As this is an evolving industry no day looks like the day before. Employees are required to be agile, dynamic, and keen to pivot and refocus their attention on other tasks when needed.

  • Developing a sustainable finance framework for a private infrastructure manager’s new impact fund
  • Conducting gap analyses for clients against ESG regulatory requirements, good practice, and peers to provide recommendations
  • Providing an external review of Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) reports

The role allows for some flexibility such as options for hybrid working, allowing employees the freedom to decide what works best for them and the wider team. A typical junior employee will spend 50% of their time in the office.

Entry routes

Relevant sectors

Sustainable Finance Advisors predominantly work in finance or consultancy, however they do advise across all sectors.

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Learn about the green agenda across different sectors

Information kindly supplied by:
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Pinsent Masons

Pinsent Masons LLP is a multinational law firm which specialises in the energy, infrastructure, financial services, real estate and technology, science and industry sectors.

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ISEP is the membership body for environment and sustainability professionals