The sustainability illusion: Loud noise, thin teams, and the fashion industry’s scope 3 problem

Anyone active in business today will have felt the ground shift beneath their feet quite dramatically over the last few months. The landscape for skills and leadership is changing at speed, driven by global uncertainty and the revolution in technology led by AI. Yet alongside these trends, climate and environmental action have quietly moved to the front of the agenda. Driving change means recognising that amid AI, geopolitical upheaval, and remote work, climate skills now define a new business frontier.

If you are responsible for hiring, developing, or managing people in Britain, skill evolution is now at the centre of business focus. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 lists climate change mitigation as the third most transformative trend expected to reshape UK workplaces by 2030, with climate adaptation also ranking in the top six. Nearly half of employers see environmental transition and adaptation as having significant business impact in the next five years. This shift is already making a real difference in workforce planning and recruitment.

There is rising demand for roles such as renewable energy engineers, environmental engineers, and electric or autonomous vehicle specialists, all of which are among the fifteen fastest-growing jobs globally. For the first time, environmental stewardship appears as a top ten fastest-growing skill. These trends are grounded in hard data and reflect the wider transition within every major sector.

This recent study confirms that the skills gap is now the largest barrier to transformation. Sixty-three percent of global businesses planning major sustainability investments cite this gap as their top concern. Closing the gap and delivering on climate ambitions depends on making green skills development a company-wide priority.

It follows a trend that we have seen internally at Leafr. Our team analysed anonymous and confidential responses from over 450 sustainability professionals on these areas for the 2025 True State of Sustainability Report. The findings are concerning. Ninety-one percent report being asked to work beyond their area of expertise. Two-thirds come from large organisations facing the most demanding reporting responsibilities, yet sixty-seven percent say their teams have not expanded and in some cases have even shrunk. These challenges are escalating just as new EU and UK regulations increase the complexity of the work. Budgets are tight, and capacity is not keeping up. There would be public outcry if financial reports were prepared by unqualified teams, yet multibillion-pound sustainability strategies are often delivered by under-resourced staff.

Not only is this a workplace challenge, but it is also a strategic risk. The latest figures from the United Nations show that a ten per cent drop in global emissions by 2035 falls far short of the sixty per cent reduction needed to avoid catastrophic warming. The divide between what is pledged and what can be delivered is widening, driven by a lack of focused investment in people.

Sustainability practitioners are now expected to be strategists, data analysts, compliance experts, and change leaders at the same time - an impossible task. Without the proper resources, delivery will not match ambition. On-paper progress and public commitment mean little if there is no practical empowerment behind them.

The challenge is not solved by hiring alone, and the current economic environment does not allow for it. For CEOs and people managers, strategic upskilling, cross-training, and ongoing professional learning must become central to resilience. There is a more agile way forward, one that’s already taking shape across leading organisations. When there’s a shortfall in specific expertise, the smartest move is to spread that expertise around. 

Instead of expecting every business to build a complete in-house sustainability department, we can unlock progress by connecting to on-demand specialists - people who bring deep, current experience in Scope 3, life-cycle analysis, regulation, or data systems, and who can transfer that knowledge as they go. Hiring them full-time is simply a misallocation of resources, because so much sustainability-related work is condensed, high-intensity, cyclical, or one-off work.

This approach creates a network effect for green skills. Each engagement strengthens the overall field: specialists move between sectors, refining their expertise and sharing what works, while in-house teams gain hands-on learning that lasts beyond the project. In a market where sustainability delivery capacity lags far behind ambition, fractional expertise is proving to be one of the few scalable solutions.

At Leafr, we’ve seen this shift accelerate. Project volume on the platform has risen more than 300 percent in the past year as companies move from static headcount models to dynamic, on-demand capability. They’re not just buying capacity; they’re borrowing wisdom, embedding experts who deliver and upskill internal teams at the same time.

The result is a more resilient, efficient system of delivery. Small teams stay lean but effective. Budgets go further. Knowledge circulates instead of sitting siloed. And sustainability starts to look less like a compliance burden and more like an operational advantage.

Boards and regulators should treat this as a signal for real change. Treating sustainability purely as a reporting obligation carries reputational and financial risk, but viewing it as a shared-capability challenge opens new pathways for innovation and progress.

With COP30 and future deadlines approaching, the call is clear: close the capacity and skills gap not just by training more people, but by connecting the ones who already know how to do the work. Align resources with goals, empower those charged with meeting net-zero targets, and build a system where expertise moves - quickly, flexibly, and with purpose.

When expertise circulates, progress compounds.

illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

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