ESG Investment Analyst
88% skill overlap
Your role
Sustainable Finance Analyst
Full profileYour role
- L3 salary
- Not published yet
- Upcoming dated changes
- 13 changes ahead
What the role does
A sustainable finance analyst in a bank supports green, social and sustainability-linked financing and the bank's sustainability disclosures. The role assesses whether loans and bonds meet frameworks such as the Green Bond Principles and the EU Taxonomy, analyses client transition plans and ESG (environmental, social and governance) risks, supports structuring and second opinion work, and provides data for disclosures such as the Green Asset Ratio and Pillar 3 ESG reports. It works with corporate banking, capital markets, risk and finance.
Read a day in the life
A day in the life
The morning may start with a request from the capital markets team: a client wants to issue a green bond and needs help checking its framework. The analyst reviews the list of eligible projects against the EU Taxonomy technical criteria and market principles, and notes which ones need more evidence. Next comes a sustainability-linked loan for another client, where the analyst helps set key performance indicators and targets that are ambitious and measurable, using the client's emissions data and sector benchmarks. After lunch there may be a call with credit risk on how climate transition risk is captured in the client's credit review. Later the analyst works with finance and data teams on disclosure data, checking how loans are classified for the Green Asset Ratio and whether counterparty data is complete. The day may end with a pitch slide on sustainable finance options for a corporate client, or a short note on a new regulatory publication.
Levels
- L1 Starting out
- L2 Independent
- L3 Senior or specialist
- L4 Leads a team or an area
- L5 Leads the function
Full level descriptions and job titles
The EFO level names are the common scale; job titles differ between employers.
| Level | What the work looks like | Typical years | Typical job titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Starting out | Collects client sustainability data, checks eligibility against taxonomy criteria and market principles, prepares pitch and disclosure inputs, and learns sustainable finance rules under supervision. | 0-2 | Banks: Analyst, Junior Analyst, Associate (asset servicing), Trainee, GraduateAsset servicers: Junior, Specialist (entry), Officer |
| L2 Independent | Owns eligibility assessments and key performance indicator analysis for a set of deals, is first contact for bankers on sustainable finance questions and trains new analysts. | 2-5 | Banks: Analyst / Senior Analyst, AssociateAsset servicers: Specialist, Senior Specialist, Senior Officer |
| L3 Senior or specialist | Structures complex green or sustainability-linked deals, handles difficult taxonomy and disclosure questions, advises clients on transition plans and represents the team in projects. | 5-9 | Banks: Senior Associate, AVP, Assistant ManagerAsset servicers: Senior Specialist, Expert, Team Lead (small team) |
| L4 Leads a team or an area | Leads a sustainable finance team, owns frameworks, product standards and controls against greenwashing, and is the escalation point for labelling and disclosure issues. | 8-14 | Banks: VP, Manager, Senior ManagerAsset servicers: Team Lead, Manager, Head of Section |
| L5 Leads the function | Accountable for sustainable finance in a bank or region, sets the strategy and product framework with risk and finance, and represents the bank with clients, supervisors and industry bodies. | 12+ | Banks: Director, Executive Director, Managing Director, Head of functionAsset servicers: Head of Department, Director |
Skills
Where the skill weights come from
Each role lists its skills with a tier and a weight. The weights of one role add up to 100 percent.
Source: the EFO role catalogue, built from the ESCO classification and reviewed by the editors.
The percentage is the skill's share of the role; the bars are drawn relative to the anchor skill, which is shown full.
Critical
- ESG frameworks and rating criteriaWeight 12.3%Relevant to you
- Sustainable finance and green instrumentsWeight 8.2%Relevant to you
- Portfolio construction and allocationWeight 8.2%Relevant to you
- Financial statement analysis and ratiosWeight 8.2%Relevant to you
- Trade lifecycleWeight 8.2%Relevant to you
- Sustainable finance regulation (SFDR, EU Taxonomy, ISSB)Weight 8.2%Relevant to you
Important and supporting skills 17
Important
- Sustainability reporting (CSRD/ESRS, ISSB, GRI)Weight 4.1%Relevant to you
- Emissions accounting (Scope 1, 2, 3)Weight 4.1%Relevant to you
- Assessing the quality of sourcesWeight 4.1%Relevant to you
- Professional written communicationWeight 4.1%Relevant to you
- Financial markets knowledgeWeight 4.1%Relevant to you
- Advanced Microsoft ExcelWeight 4.1%Relevant to you
- Descriptive statistics and distributionsWeight 4.1%Relevant to you
- Performance measurement and attributionWeight 4.1%Relevant to you
Supporting
- Company valuation (DCF, multiples)Weight 2.0%Relevant to you
- Fund regulation and structures (UCITS, AIFMD, US 1940 Act)Weight 2.0%Relevant to you
- Verbal communication and presentingWeight 2.0%Relevant to you
- Competitive analysis and benchmarkingWeight 2.0%Relevant to you
- Attention to detailWeight 2.0%Relevant to you
- Commercial acumen and business senseWeight 2.0%Relevant to you
Useful
- Querying data with SQLWeight 0.7%Relevant to you
- Bloomberg Terminal / market dataWeight 0.7%Relevant to you
- Persuasion and influenceWeight 0.7%Relevant to you
Processes
The work the role takes part in.
- Portfolio and investment management
- Securities settlement
- Sustainable finance and ESG
- Trade capture and booking
- Trade confirmation and affirmation
What each process covers
- Portfolio and investment managementMain
- Securities settlementMain
- Sustainable finance and ESGMain
- Trade capture and bookingMain
- Trade confirmation and affirmationMain
- Financial reporting and accountingSupporting
Where the role concentrates
How AI is changing the role
Generative AI and document extraction tools now read client sustainability reports, extract emissions and taxonomy data and pre-fill eligibility checks, reducing manual data work.
Read the full assessment
Generative AI and document extraction tools now read client sustainability reports, extract emissions and taxonomy data and pre-fill eligibility checks, reducing manual data work. The European Banking Authority has made ESG risks part of bank risk management and disclosure, which raises demand for reliable data. The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025 points to climate change mitigation as a driver of job growth. Value moves to judging credibility of transition plans, setting meaningful targets, preventing greenwashing and explaining choices to clients, auditors and supervisors.
Dated changes for this role
- ESMA guidelines on allocations and confirmations for T+1Relevant to you
- CSDR settlement discipline rules updated for T+1 in three stepsRelevant to you
- CSRD scope narrowed by Omnibus I; second wave reports from financial year 2027Relevant to you
- ECB Pontes: DLT settlement in central bank moneyRelevant to you
- FINMA circular on nature-related financial risks phases inRelevant to you
Salary snapshot
Salary figures are not published yet
The L3 salary range for this role, with its sources, will appear here when the salaries section opens.
Certifications
- CFA ESG Investing Certificate
- GRI Professional Certification
Concepts to know
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Do this job? Suggest a correction
Sources
EU taxonomyThe EU taxonomy is the classification of environmentally sustainable economic activities under Regulation (EU) 2020/852. An activity is aligned if it substantially contributes to one of six objectives, does no significant harm to the others and meets minimum safeguards, per technical screening criteria.
Green asset ratio (GAR)The green asset ratio is the share of a bank's covered assets, mainly loans, bonds and equity holdings, that finance taxonomy-aligned activities. Credit institutions disclose it under the Article 8 delegated act of the Taxonomy Regulation, with related ratios for fees and off-balance sheet items.
Generative AIGenerative AI is a family of AI models that produce new content (text, code, images, audio) in response to a prompt, by learning patterns from very large datasets. In finance it is used for drafting, summarising documents, coding help and customer service assistants.