Sustainability recruitment · pay evidence · checked 1 October 2026
Sustainability salary guide: how to read the pay evidence
Five published figures describe UK sustainability pay, and each measures something different from the others.
This page does not give salary bands: it shows what each figure counts, what it leaves out and how to compare your own salary with them without being misled.
No recruiter survey is used as a source, because none states a sample or method that can be checked.
Reading a figure
Five questions to ask of any pay figure
Pick a kind of source.
The ladder scores it on whether it states who was counted, how, whether it is specific to the role, whether it is dated, and whether it is independent of a hiring business.
A pay figure is only as good as the answers to five questions: who was counted, how, for which role, when and by whom.
Official statistics answer the first two and the fourth well, and fail on the third, because the Standard Occupational Classification groups jobs by duties, not by the titles employers use.
Professional-body surveys answer all but one: they state their sample, but the sample is members who chose to respond.
Averages of job adverts measure what employers offer, which is not what people are paid, and commercial guides often state neither sample nor method.
A figure that fails three of the five is not wrong by definition, but it is not evidence, and an offer should not rest on it.
How far can a pay figure be trusted?
4 of 5 questions answered well.
- YesStates who was counted
- YesStates how
- NoIs specific to the role
- YesIs dated
- YesIs independent of a hiring business
Strong on method and date, but covers an occupation group, not a job title or a grade.
Describes how each kind of evidence is usually built; it rates no publication.
Nothing you pick is stored or sent.
The five figures that exist
What each figure measures
| Figure | Value | What it measures | What it leaves out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Office going rate, SOC 2152 | £37,200 | ONS median, whole occupation group, 37.5-hour week | Does not describe a job title or a grade |
| IEMA 2022, sustainability or environmental manager | £54,601 | Average of 1,190 UK members in that role, 2022 | Self-selected members; three years older than ISEP’s |
| ISEP 2025, Graduate members | £37,069 | Average at the entry grade | Survey respondents only |
| ISEP 2025, Fellows | £91,911 | Average at the most senior grade | Survey respondents only |
| ISEP 2025, gender pay gap | 14.7% | Across respondents; 8.75% in 2022 | A gap in averages, not a like-for-like comparison |
The going rate is the only official figure, and it is a minimum for visa sponsorship across a whole occupation group, so it says more about the occupation than about a manager within it.
The IEMA figure is the closest to a role, but it is from 2022 and describes members who answered.
ISEP’s 2025 report adds the span: an average of £37,069 for Graduate members against £91,911 for Fellows, and an extra £15,000 to £20,000 on average at a large organisation compared with a small one.
The same report found pay rises slowing, with 64% of respondents reporting one in the past year against 72% in 2022, and a gender pay gap that had widened.
ISEP, IEMA’s successor body, changed its name and post-nominals in 2025, so a figure attributed to either body should be read with its year.
Compare, carefully
Where does a salary sit?
Enter a full-time figure and the panel sets it beside the four published salary figures.
It does not call a salary high, low or fair, because a comparison is not a market rate.
Hours matter: the going rate is stated on a 37.5-hour week, so a figure for a 40-hour week is not like for like.
Bonus, pension, location and employer size all move a total package, and none of the published figures splits them out.
Employer size is the one factor ISEP puts a number on: £15,000 to £20,000 more on average at a large organisation.
Where does a salary sit against the published figures?
- Your figure£48,000
- Home Office going rate, SOC 2152£37,200
- ISEP 2025, Graduate members£37,069
- IEMA 2022, sustainability or environmental manager£54,601
- ISEP 2025, Fellows£91,911
- £10,800 above the Home Office going rate, SOC 2152 figure. ONS median for the whole occupation group (every grade), on a 37.5-hour week.
- £10,931 above the ISEP 2025, Graduate members figure. Average of Graduate-grade members who answered the survey.
- £6,601 below the IEMA 2022, sustainability or environmental manager figure. Average of 1,190 UK members, in that role, in 2022.
- £43,911 below the ISEP 2025, Fellows figure. Average of Fellow-grade members who answered the survey.
A comparison, not a market rate: the figures measure different people in different years, none is for a London post or for one job title, and the professional-body figures are averages of self-selected members.
Nothing you enter is stored or sent.
Pitfalls
Six ways a pay figure misleads
The first pitfall is a title: “sustainability manager” covers jobs with almost nothing in common, so a figure for the title is a figure for no one job.
The second is a headline average: an average of members is not a median of the workforce.
The third is a date: pay surveys age quickly, and a 2022 figure is not a 2026 one.
The fourth is a hidden duty: a role carrying SECR, ESOS and, for a listed company, UK SRS reporting duties is a bigger job than the title suggests, and the guide to writing the remit shows how to make it visible.
The fifth is a fee: no agency may charge a work-seeker for finding work, under the law on agencies, so any “registration” charge should be queried.
The sixth is the unsourced range: if a page does not say where a range comes from, there is nothing to check.
ISEP 2025 respondents, per cent
- Involved in reporting and disclosure79%
- Compliance management and assurance76%
- Pay rise in past year, 202272%
- Pay rise in past year, 202564%
- Targets linked to pay6%
Source: ISEP, State of the Sustainability Profession 2025.
Respondents to the survey, not the whole profession.
Role by role
Where the figures are used
The full set of figures, with every official and professional-body source, is on the sustainability salary benchmarks page.
Role guides that use them include ESG manager, head of sustainability, sustainability director and sustainability manager jobs.
In this series the chief sustainability officer recruitment and ESG reporting manager guides take the senior and the reporting angles, and the hub lists the rest.
The Home Office table is the Skilled Occupations appendix, and ONS publishes the underlying Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
Frequently asked
Sustainability pay, answered
What is the average salary for a sustainability manager in the UK?
No official statistic gives one, because no official statistic reports pay by sustainability job title.
The nearest official figure is the Home Office going rate for SOC 2152, Environment professionals, at £37,200 on a 37.5-hour week, which covers every grade in the group.
IEMA’s 2022 survey of 1,190 UK members found an average of £54,601 for members in sustainability or environmental manager roles.
What is the going rate for SOC 2152?
£37,200 on a 37.5-hour week, the ONS median for the occupation group as the Home Office uses it in the Skilled Worker rules.
It is a minimum used for visa sponsorship decisions and describes the whole group, from graduate to principal, so it is not a salary band for any one job.
Can I trust a salary guide published by a recruitment business?
Treat it as a claim to test.
Ask who was counted, how, and when; whether the figure is for the UK or for a region; and whether the publisher sells hiring services.
If those answers are missing, the figure cannot be checked and this site does not use it.
How much do ISEP members earn?
ISEP’s 2025 state of the profession report found an average of £37,069 for Graduate members and £91,911 for Fellows, and that a large organisation pays on average £15,000 to £20,000 more than a small one.
These are averages of survey respondents, not medians of the whole profession.
Is there a gender pay gap in sustainability?
ISEP’s 2025 survey found a gender pay gap of 14.7% across respondents, up from 8.75% in 2022, and wider at senior management level.
It is a survey of members, so it describes them rather than the whole workforce.
Are sustainability pay rises common?
ISEP’s 2025 survey found 64% of respondents had a pay rise in the past year, down from 72% in 2022. That describes respondents in that survey, not all sustainability workers.
What do London sustainability roles pay?
No source this site relies on publishes a London figure for sustainability roles.
The Home Office going rate is a single UK-wide figure and the professional-body surveys do not report a London premium that this page can cite, so a London number without a stated sample is a claim, not evidence.
Why do salary figures for the same job differ so much?
Because they measure different things: an official median for a whole group, an average of self-selected members, an average of advertised salaries, or an unsourced range.
Different years, hours bases and job definitions widen the gap further.
The ladder above scores each kind on five questions.
Does this page give salary bands I can use in an offer?
No. It gives the published figures with their limits.
An offer is a business decision, and the figures here tell you only what each source measured.
Is it lawful to ask a candidate about pay or health when hiring?
Section 39 of the Equality Act 2010 bars discrimination in recruitment arrangements, and section 60 limits enquiries about health before an offer. This page does not give employment-law advice beyond naming the provisions.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- Home OfficeImmigration Rules Appendix Skilled Occupations
The going rate for SOC 2152: £37,200 on a 37.5-hour week.
- Office for National StatisticsStandard Occupational Classification 2020
Unit group 2152, Environment professionals.
- Office for National StatisticsAnnual Survey of Hours and Earnings
Earnings by occupation group, not by sustainability job title.
- ISEPState of the Sustainability Profession 2025 (short report)
Professional-body survey: roles, pay by grade, pay rises, gender pay gap.
- IEMA (now ISEP)IEMA Survey 2022
Pay by role among 1,190 UK members.
- Office for National StatisticsEstimates of green jobs, UK: March 2026
652,100 full-time equivalents in 2024, 10,800 fewer than in 2023; official statistics in development.
- ISEPSustainability Skills Map
The professional body’s competency map for sustainability roles.
- Society for the EnvironmentChartered Environmentalist
A professional-body credential, not a legal requirement.
- National Careers ServiceCorporate responsibility and sustainability practitioner
Official job profile and apprenticeship routes.
- legislation.gov.ukEquality Act 2010 s.39
Discrimination in recruitment and employment.
- legislation.gov.ukEmployment Agencies Act 1973 s.6
No fee to a work-seeker for finding work, with prescribed exceptions.
- legislation.gov.ukEmployment Rights Act 1996 s.1
The written statement of particulars.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19: Aligning listed issuers' sustainability disclosures with international standards
Comply or explain across UK SRS for UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, periods from 1 January 2027.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶20B
The SECR size test for unquoted companies: exempt if two or more “not more than” conditions are met.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2014/1643 reg 4
Who is a large undertaking.