Asia-Pacific was the fastest growing region for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) hiring among pharmaceutical industry companies in the three months ending August.

The number of roles in Asia-Pacific made up 9.4 per cent of total ESG jobs – up from 8.9 per cent in the previous three months.

That was followed by North America, which saw a -0.89 percentage point change in ESG roles.

The figures are compiled by GlobalData, which tracks the number of new job postings from key companies in various sectors over time. Using textual analysis, these job advertisements are then classified thematically.

GlobalData's thematic approach to sector activity seeks to group key company information by topic to see which companies are best placed to weather the disruptions coming to their industries.

These key themes, which include environmental, social, and governance, are chosen to cover "any issue that keeps a CEO awake at night".

By tracking them across job advertisements it allows us to see which companies are leading the way on specific issues and which are dragging their heels - and importantly where the market is expanding and contracting.

Which countries are seeing the most growth for ESG roles in pharmaceuticals?

The fastest growing country was India, which saw 4.6 per cent of all ESG job adverts in the three months ending May, increasing to 5.5 per cent in the three months ending August.

That was followed by Canada (up 0.7 percentage points), the United Kingdom (up 0.699999999999999), and Ireland (up 0.6).

The top country for ESG roles in the pharmaceutical industry is the United States which saw 47.5 per cent of all roles in the three months ending August.

Which cities are the biggest hubs for ESG workers in pharmaceuticals?

Some 2.5 per cent of all pharmaceutical industry ESG roles were advertised in Bridgewater (United States) in the three months ending August - more than any other city.

That was followed by Cambridge (United States) with 2.5 per cent, Boston (United States) with 1.4 per cent, and Dublin (Ireland) with 1.1 per cent.