Despite job cuts sweeping through the global finance industry, the wave is yet to have a negative impact on the ESG industry as demands continue to soar for specialists in the domain, where hiring growth continued through 2022, a study by Barclays reveals.

According to findings, pieced together by analysts at the UK bank, who used natural language processing to trawl through more than 200 million job postings, asset managers, asset owners, and banks “continue to seek ESG skills and talent, negating a broader hiring downturn and outpacing every other sector."

The study suggests amid some of the world’s largest banks' deep cuts in more traditional corners of their business, it pays to build expertise in environmental, social, and governance strategies.

The Barclays analysts behind the research — Alexa Walls, Jason M Goldberg and Adam Lauretig, a data scientist — expressed hope in the firm’s ESG hiring record. They said it tends to be a good indicator of its commitment to sustainability and its stock performance in the future.

They singled out BlackRock Inc as a firm with a high level of interest in adding ESG jobs. At Goldman Sachs, they found the interest level to be moderate.

“Firms with higher than normal ESG hiring interest were more likely to experience subsequent rating improvements and enjoyed better stock performance two to three years following the posting date,” they said.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc resorted to its biggest rounds of headcount reductions ever last month, slashing about 3,200 jobs. 

Morgan Stanley has also joined the race cutting 1,600 jobs in December, while others such as Bank of America Corp have also laid off employees, though on a smaller scale.

Many of the announced cuts will restore banks’ headcount to pre-pandemic levels, and coincide with efforts in the industry to adjust to a slowdown in deal-making.