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Houston’s challenges highlight opportunities for work in sustainability

Houston, energy industry, retail, clothing, communications, finance, transportation, software sectors, NASA, CSE, Human Resources, Operations, Sustainability Action Plan, Sustainability Indicators Project 
Research shows 87% of CSR/sustainability professionals are embedded throughout different departments within an organisation, ranging from human resources to operations

Houston is the most populous city in Texas.  In 2005, Houston accepted 125,000 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.  The city suffered from Hurricane Ike in 2008, faced historic flooding in 2015 and 2016, was devastated by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and this year the potential for severe flooding is a grave concern.

So, how do companies in Houston prepare for the inevitable?  Many fortune 500 companies, like those trained in sustainability by the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE), are based in Houston.  Dominated by the energy industry, retail, clothing, communications, finance, transportation, and software sectors are also represented.

More and more frequently, these major companies are hiring sustainability professionals: employees, managers, directors, and VPs to oversee Sustainability Strategy to deal with challenges locally and internationally.  Houston itself has a hard-working Office of Sustainability, a Sustainability Indicators Project and a city Sustainability Action Plan which includes emissions reduction, clean water, efficient infrastructure, and resiliency.

As the need in Houston expands, whether due to population growth or weather concerns, those trained in a focused sustainability methodology will be leading the way.  During its most recent Houston training, CSE partnered with NASA sustainability practitioners to present NASA’s commitment to and sustainability evolution at the Johnson Space Center.

Regardless of where you work, expertise or sector, being prepared to embed social responsibility within an organisation opens a wide range of job opportunities.

As companies are forced to rebuild from disaster, mitigate for the inevitable and design strategies to take Houston into the 2020s, training becomes key.  Module 1 of CSE’s Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program addresses the crucial business case for sustainability.  Modules 2 and 3 look at local and international legislation and standards.  By the time attendees reach Module 8, they are ready to apply important skills to the future trends identified by CSE’s field experts and ongoing research.

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