Interview Series: Nick Valenzia

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Welcome to the Green Digest Interview Series, our bi-weekly feature showcasing conversations with the industry’s leading voices - CSOs, sustainability directors, and other senior professionals shaping the sustainability landscape. Each edition dives into their professional journeys, hands-on insights, and outlook on the challenges and opportunities defining corporate sustainability.

These interviews are designed to be quick, insightful reads, offering you actionable takeaways and a personal glimpse into the people leading the way. Stay tuned for stories, strategies, and lessons that matter to you.

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PROFILE

This week’s guest:

Nick Valenzia

Co-Founder of Leafr

Nick Valenzia is co-founder of Leafr, a global marketplace for independent sustainability consultants. Due to the rapidly growing green skills gap, most businesses don’t have the skills in-house to deliver on their sustainability goals. Leafr solves this by giving businesses on-demand access to fractional sustainability experts.

Nick spent years delivering impact consulting projects across 3 continents, where he saw how skills shortages repeatedly held back sustainability projects. He was given 4 scholarships to study a climate-focused MBA at Oxford University, and was also cofounder of Oxford's first climate angel investment syndicate. He is a regular speaker and writer on the future of sustainability work, and how businesses can take action on sustainability more effectively.

There’s a clear and growing sustainability skills gap. You built Leafr to help close it. Can you tell us what Leafr is, how it works, and what makes it different?

Leafr is a platform where you can find and work with top experts in any sustainability niche (circular economy, biodiversity etc.), in just a few clicks. 

If you’re one of the millions of companies who need to report and reduce their environmental impact, your choice is to either go to consultancies that charge extremely expensive rates: not an option for 99% of businesses. Or, you hire full-time for a role that is only needed for 4 months of the year. Again, expensive and risky. 

We offer a 3rd way: bringing in specialised, fractional expertise when you need it. You see ratings and reviews up front, and our stringent vetting ensures quality. Our platform infrastructure also means experts can spread their skills across multiple different companies, helping to reduce the skills gap.

Can you walk us through how a company typically uses Leafr - from project request to finding the right expert?

It’s pretty simple. You can browse consultants and offer to work with them directly, or create and share a project brief. Once you do you get a rated list of top applicants within hours - instead of sifting through 100s of CVs,or spending days asking around your network. 

We handle the low-value admin: you set up interviews, create and offer contracts, process payments and manage the project all within the platform. 

People have started work within an hour of posting, instead of waiting weeks or months. It’s all about our mission: get sustainability expertise where it’s needed most, quickly and cost-effectively.

What sets your vetting process apart, and how do you maintain quality?

It’s a constant source of attention for us. We have a proprietary sustainability vetting framework that we’ve developed with some colleagues from Oxford University, and we use that to vet in 4 stages: written applications, background checks, including referrals and testimonials, interviews (behavioural, competency, and sustainability expertise). Finally, we assess people as they apply to projects. 

We use AI, but there is always a human in the loop to make the final decision. We’re also constantly getting feedback from clients and ranking applications, so we can flag if the quality isn’t up to standard.

It takes time, but it means we have a 100% trial-to-hire rate on projects. Long may that continue!

You’ve now supported over 1,000 project inquiries at Leafr. What kinds of companies are turning to Leafr, and what sustainability skills are they most urgently looking for right now?

Primarily mid-market businesses: not large enough to be listed, but still large enough to report on sustainability - either because of regulations, or positive brand opportunities. Many supply large firms who are passing their own scope 3 reporting requirements upstream into their supply chains. 

In terms of skills demand: there is a high need for technical carbon accounting expertise. Businesses are being asked to measure their emissions on an unprecedented scale. Figuring out materiality, gathering data, and reporting accurately is a highly complex task, especially for companies with complex supply chains or wide product lines. 

Secondly, we’re seeing a lot of growth in biodiversity and nature, which is great to see. 

Finally, demand is high for the more strategic, future-facing consultative work. It’s a difficult question for companies: how do we set a 5, 10 year net zero plan? A lot of Leafr consultants are ex-Mckinsey, BCG etc., so it’s an area we excel in.

You’ve probably heard firsthand how sustainability professionals are navigating growing pressure, shifting expectations, and even pushback. What have those conversations been like, and how have they shaped your own perspective on where the profession is headed?

Sustainability teams have not traditionally been large, but now they are under increasing pressure: budgets are tighter, headcount and resources are limited, and expectations are higher. The complexity of sustainability tasks continues to rise, and businesses need specialised talent that can execute effectively without wasting resources or time. All this in a job category that barely existed 10 years ago.

The rise of AI also means a smaller core team can achieve a lot more, with the right tools. 

These 2 trends are driving a new model within sustainability: a core team sets strategy, while bringing in flexible specialists, on-demand. We see this model as leaner and more effective: meaning  companies can get the right expertise to execute on their sustainability goals, while moving quickly.

If you’re interested in learning more, find us on Leafr or reach out to me on LinkedIn.

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