Welcome to Aden Group’s Career Insights blog, where we profile the people, trends and topics that drive our people and their career development. In this entry, we meet Phoebe Li, who joined Aden in 2022. With an advanced degree from the UK in sustainability and tech-related fields, Phoebe today oversees a range of ESG and sustainability -related projects on behalf of Aden. We spoke to her journey to Aden and about careers in this critical field.
Your job title is “Sustainability & Transformation Manager.” How would you describe your job in just one sentence?
Ha, that is tricky. But to understand it simply – I work to improve Aden’s ESG management, which means helping us participate in sustainability ratings and reports, and also building data systems that allow us to really track and manage our sustainability in all sorts of areas.
In your work life, do you have a motto or some “words to live by”?
From my experience, I have learnt that people come and go in a company, but “quality of work represents who you are and remains”.
Can you tell us a little bit about initiatives like the Greenhouse Gas Project and Carbon Profile, and what you have been doing for these?
In fact, these are very closely related projects, but we can summarize this way: the Carbon Profile initiative was about creating a baseline so we can measure the improvement we make over time. So it was an analysis of who we were – in 2022, specifically – in terms of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
And then there is the Aden-Akila Greenhouse Gas Project, which is a bit wider in scope – that is about applying our smart digital tool (the Akila platform) at our main offices in order to track ESG data relating to the production of GHG. The goal there is to have tools in place to guide our decision making in the future so that we can be as energy and waste efficient as possible.
I work as a PMO on both projects, but my role is also hands on – I am also sometimes digging in the details and getting involved in the calculations myself. And I also need to connect with a lot of people in HQ and regional offices, while doing peer analysis to see where we stand relative to other companies in the field.
What is the main lesson you’ve learned after finishing your studies and starting to work in the field of ESG/corporate sustainability?
The most important thing I’ve learned in working life is to be practical. It sounds straightforward, but successful implementation needs a lot of thinking and years of work experience. And you can’t rely on theory alone – you must know the local context. It is challenging to tackle real-world problems, but it is also what makes this work exciting!
Do you have any advice for people starting a career in sustainability?
Well, it’s a great field and there are more and more job opportunities around ESG and sustainability. I would say, first, that it is important to gain practical experience in the field. I would also say don’t get fixated on one specific role as you are building your career – ESG is a very multidisciplinary and cross-sector specialty, precisely because it is designed to be so comprehensive. So, if you want a career in this field, I think you can find a lot of opportunities, and they might not even have the word “ESG” in the job title.
What is the best reason to work for Aden?
Personally, I love the environment here. The office I am based at has a really lovely location with an inspiring working vibe. I love cycling to the office every morning in the sun, engaging with friendly colleagues in HQ and other areas, and managing projects from an international perspective.
But of course, as someone in ESG and corporate sustainability, I also love the fact that the whole group has the decarbonization of buildings right in its core mission. It’s such an important task, and I love knowing that me and my colleagues are not just doing some random job, but really contributing a make an impact.
