Why Sustainability and ESG Hiring Is Harder Than Most Organisations Expect, and What to Do About It

Net zero commitments are locked in. ESG disclosure requirements are tightening. Boards are asking harder questions about transition risk.

The people Australian organisations need to actually deliver on those commitments are in critically short supply.

This isn’t a future problem. It’s a 2026 delivery problem.

Australia has approximately 154 GW of battery storage projects in the national development pipeline. That’s enormous ambition. But ambition doesn’t commission a battery project. Engineers do. And right now, the engineers aren’t there.

The 2026 market theme is simple: execution capability now matters more than project ambition. Most Australian organisations are on the wrong side of that gap.

The Critical Shortage in Australian ESG Recruitment

The most acute shortage in Australian ESG recruitment sits with experienced electrical engineers who understand the NEM grid connection process end to end. Every developer, consultancy, utility, and equipment manufacturer is competing for the same small cohort of specialists.

These aren’t generalists. They’ve navigated AEMO grid connection processes. They have EMT modelling capability. They have real GPS compliance experience. That combination exists in a pool the industry has structurally underdeveloped for years.

The salary data reflects it:

• Power Systems Engineers: $150,000 to $280,000, with senior engineers exceeding that range
• Grid Connection Managers: $240,000 to $320,000 at the top of the market

If your organisation is benchmarking against 2024 numbers, you’re not in the conversation.

How the BESS Pipeline is Straining Commissioning Talent

Battery Energy Storage Systems now account for approximately two-thirds of the national project pipeline. In Q1 2025 alone, six large-scale projects reached financial close, representing approximately A$2.4 billion in new investment.

Battery projects build faster than wind. That’s exactly the problem.

The hardware moves quickly. The commissioning engineers who can take a battery project from testing through to grid registration don’t appear on the same timeline. Organisations that haven’t planned their commissioning resource ahead of construction are finding out what late-stage talent scarcity costs.

Current commissioning benchmarks:

• Commissioning Engineers: $140,000 to $200,000
• Commissioning Managers: $250,000 and above

We’ve seen organisations reach financial close without a commissioning lead in place. At that point, the project timeline is already at risk before a sod is turned.

The Roles in Demand vs the Pool Available

Beyond the engineering specialisms, demand is rising sharply across five areas:

1. Grid connection engineers with NEM and AEMO process experience
2. BESS commissioning engineers and commissioning managers
3. Senior development managers with Australian planning and stakeholder experience
4. Power systems engineers with EMT modelling capability
5. ESG compliance leads bridging technical risk and regulatory reporting

The candidate pool for each is constrained. Development and regulatory roles require local market knowledge that cannot be substituted with international hires.

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They’re not treating every critical role as a permanent hire. Transmission uncertainty and overlapping project timelines make rigid permanent headcount a liability. The most effective teams combine permanent strategic leadership with contract commissioning and delivery capability.

They’re starting the talent conversation earlier than feels necessary. By financial close, the pressure to mobilise is already intense. The organisations avoiding the frantic search are planning their resourcing six to nine months ahead of construction.

And they’re getting an accurate read on what 2026 actually costs before they brief a search, not after three months of failed attempts at 2024 rates.

The Cost of Getting This Wrong

Titles attract attention. Capability delivers projects.

A grid connection engineer without genuine NEM process experience won’t get your project connected faster. A commissioning lead brought in too late won’t recover a timeline that’s already slipped. A development manager who doesn’t know the Australian planning environment won’t navigate a complex approvals process on your behalf.

If you’re planning ESG, sustainability, or renewables hiring in 2026, we’ve put together a 2026 Australian Energy Market Report, covering salary benchmarks, candidate supply, and sector-by-sector hiring activity across the full energy transition.

To get the full report, reach out to Alex Slocombe.