How to Hire an ESG Consultant for Your Private Company

Your investors or customers are asking for ESG work and you need someone to do it. Maybe your GP sent a questionnaire. Maybe a major customer like AstraZeneca added ESG requirements to their RFP. Maybe you are preparing for a transaction and need documentation in order. Whatever the trigger, you have decided to bring in outside help and you want to find the right person.

Here is how to think about it.

Start with what you actually need done

Before you look at anyone's credentials, get clear on what you are trying to accomplish. The scope of the work determines what kind of help you need.

If you have a specific deliverable, a carbon footprint, an EDCI data submission, a sustainability policy, you need someone who has done that exact thing before and can work through it efficiently. That is a project engagement with a defined output and a deadline.

If you have ongoing GP reporting requirements or regular customer ESG questionnaires, you need someone available on a consistent basis. That is a retainer or fractional arrangement where the consultant is accessible month to month as requests come in.

Most Green Buoy clients are looking for the second. Consistent support from someone they can call for both proactive and reactive ESG work. A typical annual engagement might cover:

• Completing a carbon footprint

• Reviewing RFPs and updating language to align with the current ESG strategy

• Submitting a target to the Science Based Targets Initiative

• Completing EcoVadis and CDP submissions

• Reviewing pitch decks and company collateral for ESG alignment

• Meeting with internal teams on ESG requests from their stakeholders

• Reviewing and updating policies

Knowing which of these applies to your situation narrows the field quickly.

What type of consultant fits your situation

ESG consulting covers a wide range. A few distinctions worth understanding before you start looking.

A fractional ESG consultant works with your company on a part-time or retainer basis without a full-time hire. This is the right fit for most private companies at this stage, enough work to need consistent support, not enough to justify a full-time role.

A specialist consultant focuses on a specific area like carbon accounting, SBTi target setting, or ESG reporting. Good for a defined project with a clear scope. Less suited for ongoing support across multiple areas.

A large ESG advisory firm offers breadth and scale but typically comes with higher fees, less senior attention, and more slide decks than implementation. If you need hands-on work done rather than a strategy document, a smaller or independent consultant is usually a better fit.

What to look for when evaluating candidates

Credentials matter but they are not the whole picture. Look for demonstrated experience with companies at your stage, in your industry, and facing the kind of request you are dealing with. An IFRS sustainability credential or similar qualification is a useful signal of technical grounding.

Ask for concrete examples. What carbon footprints have they completed? Which GP questionnaires have they responded to? Have they worked with EDCI, SASB, or SBTi frameworks specifically? Vague answers about "sustainability strategy" are a red flag if you need someone to actually produce deliverables.

Cultural fit matters too. You want someone who can work across your internal teams, communicate clearly with non-technical stakeholders, and operate at your pace. Ask how they prefer to work, how they handle competing priorities, and what their typical communication cadence looks like with clients.

What to ask for before hiring

Once you have identified a shortlisted candidate, ask for a written proposal that covers the scope of work, the timeline, the deliverables, and the fee structure. A strong proposal is specific — it tells you exactly what you will have at the end of the engagement and when.

Be wary of proposals that are heavy on process and light on outputs. You are paying for deliverables, not methodology discussions.

How to structure the engagement

Once you have selected someone, formalize the scope in writing. A clear statement of work should cover what is being delivered, by when, what the consultant needs from you to do it, and how you will communicate throughout.

The companies that get the most out of these engagements have one internal point person who owns the relationship and can get things done across departments. That person does not need to be a sustainability expert. They need to be organized and have internal credibility.

Real Projects

• Climate Strategy for a Private CPG Company: Baseline carbon footprint and decarbonization roadmap.

• Public Fintech Carbon Footprint Project: Multi-year Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions accounting.

• Fractional ESG Support for PE-backed Firms: Multi-year SASB-aligned ESG strategy with science-based targets.

“Eliza is experienced in managing private companies without a dedicated sustainability department.

Eliza is a pleasure to work with: she is focused, knowledgeable, organized and committed to assisting clients in defining and achieving carbon baseline, carbon accounting and carbon reduction goals.”

-Chief Legal Officer, PE-backed Pharmaceutical Services Organization

If you want to talk through what this would look like for your company, get in touch or learn more about consulting services like fractional ESG support and a carbon footprint.

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