The plagues of an ESG career

Here’s an excerpt from this note by Matthew Sekol:

It started with purpose, but then…

People have worked on ESG-related issues for a lot longer than I have. I’ve heard that this work has never been particularly lucrative but, over time, has offered them financial stability and rewards in other ways, like aligning with their purpose and affording them the chance to do meaningful work.

You can see this alignment in a recent post by Mike Hower of Hower Impact. Mike asked a simple question:
Why do you / do you want to work in corporate sustainability?

The answers contain words and phrases about people, change, impact, belief, and love. For many, this career path is a quest to find meaning in their work.

But things have changed dramatically over the past few years, creating new opportunities with the potential to meet this purpose in the explosion of corporate and government attention to ESG. Still, it quickly morphed into something else entirely.