2022 was a significant period across the Irish market when it comes to Sustainability & the Built Environment. In a year where the profound effects of climate change became more and more apparent, the pressure on available talent with regards to ESG & Sustainability in the Irish Workforce continued to grow significantly.

This was driven on multiple fronts and will continue into the year ahead. Firstly, there is the ongoing pressure from the demands at every point in a construction project’s lifecycle from Concept stages through to Handover. Sustainability is now starting to be meaningfully prioritized by all contributors to a project at all stages, from Designers through to Contractors, which puts a strain on an already tight market. And with the continuing success of Irish Construction companies across Europe and further afield, this has further compounded the issue at a local level.

We are also seeing Energy Management come more sharply into focus due to the general optimization of property assets being further driven by the fallout from Ukraine and the price of energy, as well as companies building out ESG Departments due to the rapidly growing requirement for in-use accreditation, and another trend to watch out for will be the retrofitting of existing Portfolios in order to avoid stranded assets.

To this end, we have seen the market for Sustainability, Energy & ESG candidates become highly competitive, with significant salaries being commanded by qualified experts in their area with local experience, and for those that have upskilled or secured further Accreditations.

With the current shortage of candidates across the Domestic market with expertise in EU Taxonomy & the impending Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation, Portfolio Decarbonization Strategies & LCA experience, Building Physics & Energy Management, as well as the lack of people with Accreditation in LEED, BREEAM & WELL, it will only lead to continued pressure in this space for 2023.

Even with the current cautious outlook across the Economy for next year, we do not see this affecting the ESG & Sustainability space and we expect to see demand for talent in this area to continue to be robust. People with experience in the Irish market will be well-positioned, however with the shortening of the timeline for Critical Skills VISA applications being processed, we also expect to see clients pursue qualified candidates from outside the EU in order to meet the shortfall.

At a Senior level we are starting to see some of the bigger players in the Mission Critical Construction space start to distort the market, with significant salaries being offered to candidates in Senior positions with MEP backgrounds in order to secure their availability. Additionally, the competition to secure Junior candidates is becoming more and more competitive due to so many different spaces competing for graduates coming from Mechanical, Electrical, & Energy backgrounds.

As such, there has been considerable movement across a broad range of positions as per below.

ESG & Sustainability Salary Scales	€ Dublin		€ Regional
	Min	Max	Min	Max
Design Consultancies
Director	95,000	115,000+	90,000	110,000+
Associate Director	75,000	95,000	70,000	90,000
Senior Sustainability/MEP/Energy Engineer	55,000	75,000	50,000	70,000
Sustainability/MEP/Energy Engineer	36,000	55,000	33,000	50,000
Real Estate & Developers
Director	95,000	130,000+	90,000	110,000+
Associate Director	80,000	95,000	75,000	90,000
Senior Sustainability Consultant	60,000	80,000	55,000	75,000
Sustainability Consultant	55,000	75,000	50,000	70,000
Sustainability Analyst	40,000	50,000	35,000	45,000
Main Contractors & Specialist Subcontractors
Head of Sustainability	90,000	130,000+	85,000	120,000+
Sustainability Manager	65,000	85,000	60,000	80,000
Senior Sustainability Engineer	60,000	70,000	55,000	65,000
Sustainability Engineer	45,000	60,000	40,000	55,000
Sustainability Coordinator	40,000	60,000	36,000	55,000
Environmental Consultancies
Director	90,000	110,000+	85,000	100,000+
Associate Director	70,000	90,000	65,000	85,000
Senior Environmental Consultant	50,000	70,000	45,000	65,000
Environmental Scientist	35,000	55,000	33,000	50,000
Environmental Consultant	33,000	50,000	30,000	45,000

If you would like to discuss some of the current ESG vacancies at Lumen Search, call Jake on 087 702 2195 or [email protected].