Hard skills most required by sustainability consultants include strategic planning, systems thinking, and project management. Communication with stakeholders, problem solving, and inspiring others are the soft skills most cited by the study’s respondents.

The International Society of Sustainability Professionals is a non-profit, member-driven association for professionals who are committed to making sustainability standard practice. Members share resources and best practices, and develop themselves professionally. Special reports, salary surveys, and the upcoming competency study are just a sampling of the rich content offered members.

The L3C stands for “Low-profit Limited Liability Company”.  It functions as a Limited Liability Company but allows for social enterprise.  Though this entity is not allowed to solicit charitable contributions, it can solicit investments from foundations or private funders allowing more flexibility to grow.

The B-Corporation (or Benefit Corporation) is designed to create social and environmental change by embedding values within the corporate structure.  A traditional C-corporation can become a B-corporation by meeting social and environmental standards and changing the by-laws to incorporate the interests of employees, community and the environment.

These corporate structures are designed to promote sustainability within organizations.