Sustainability Skills Gap – Why Banks Must Train from Boardroom to Branch

At CeFPro’s Sustainable Finance Europe 2025 conference, the Origination Director of Sustainable Finance at a major international bank described a quiet revolution taking place inside global financial institutions. 

What began as a niche practice for a handful of specialists has become a fundamental requirement for every employee - from senior executives and board members to frontline relationship managers. 

The challenge now is not simply awareness, but fluency.

“When sustainability was a niche topic, you could just call the two or three people in the bank who knew about it,” the executive explained. 

“That’s no longer sustainable. We’ve moved to a point where every business function must be conversant in sustainability issues, and every relationship manager needs to discuss them intelligently with clients.”

This shift, he said, represents more than a training initiative. It reflects the evolution of sustainability from a compliance issue to a commercial imperative. 

“If your senior leadership and board aren’t upskilled, they can’t make the right strategic decisions - and that affects the entire organization,” he warned.

To address this gap, he said, his organization has created a tiered training program that reflects the diverse needs of its workforce. 

Board members and executive committees receive tailored sessions focused on governance, fiduciary responsibility, and long-term strategy, while client-facing staff undergo intensive sector-specific training. 

“It’s one thing to understand carbon accounting,” he said. “It’s another to know how the transition to electric vehicles or hydrogen will reshape your client’s business model.”

A senior sustainability officer from another large bank at the event agreed, noting that sectoral knowledge has become the new frontier of relationship management.

“If you’re dealing with a steelmaker in Germany or a major retailer in France, you can’t have the same conversation,” the officer said. “Your people need to understand regulation, technology, and regional realities to add real value.”

For the origination director, that sectoral depth also drives commercial outcomes. He described a recent effort to engage clients directly on their transition plans - an exercise that required collecting granular emissions data, often through complex surveys. 

“You can’t send a relationship manager into that discussion unless they’re upskilled,” he explained. “They need to understand decarbonization pathways, investment timelines, and regulatory pressures. Otherwise, it’s just a box-ticking exercise.”