Boardroom sustainability roles on the rise
93% of European financial services firms now champion sustainability at board level, up from 82% in 2024. A third of board member appointments in the last 12 months have brought ESG skills to the boardroom, according to recent findings by the EY Financial Services Boardroom Monitor.
The headline number demonstrates an increased appetite to appoint new board members with sustainability knowledge and expertise. Whilst C-suite experience continues to lead the way for most in-demand skills, sustainability and technology (AI!) continue rise, particularly across Italian, French and UK boards.
Banks and insurers are amongst the leading institutions across the sector to seek experienced leaders with sustainability credentials, whilst wealth and asset management firms lag marginally behind.
The report highlights the benefits of sustainability training for employees, making the argument for more alignment across senior leadership teams and organisational investment into ESG education. Companies are seeing the financial benefits, too. Research shows that innovation increases – through the development of new products, services and processes – when sustainability is actively built in, leading to better than forecast financial performance.
The findings come in a year which has seen increasing political debate and indeed pressure for large corporations to de-prioritise net-zero initiatives.
Following 12 months of significant departures from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the UN-Backed coalition announced that it will cease operations, adapting its guidance into a framework that – it hopes – can be more widely adopted across the globe. Other financial sector climate-focussed groups have also ceased their operations or undergone major restructures in the last 12 months.
But, positive attitudes towards ESG are far from retreating. Barclays announced its first ever carbon removal agreement with London based winner of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, UNDO. Daniel Hanna Global Head of Sustainable and Transition Finance at Barclays, said:
“Having reduced our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 95%, we are complementing our core net zero operations strategy by investing in permanent carbon removal. UNDO’s approach to enhanced rock weathering offers the potential for a scalable solution to permanent carbon removal, which is pioneering, and one we’re proud to support through this landmark offtake.”
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