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One of the fastest-moving and influential C-suite roles used to be Chief Sustainability Officers (CSO).
They were the masterminds behind organizations that fully adhere to leading sustainability practices—all while staying compliant with new legislations and contributing to how a company innovates.
But the CSO role is on a trajectory toward obsolescence. Or is it evolution?
Mike Bascombe, ESG and Sustainability Practice Lead at VantagePoint, notes that this role might become obsolete in itself because sustainability will be integrated into the core structure of most businesses.
Nevertheless, sustainability teams remain mandatory.
Next is more on how the role of Chief Sustainability Officers has evolved and how related sustainability roles will help you navigate incoming directives and stakeholder demands.
What is a Chief Sustainability Officer?
Depending on the industry, the CSO role definition and responsibilities can vary. Generally, a Chief Sustainability Officer oversees establishing, tracking, and reinforcing sustainable practices and policies within an organization.
Some of their primary goals should be:
- Minimizing your company's environmental impact
- Improving its social responsibility
- Adhering to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards
But studies reveal how much the role has actually changed over the past five years. And it’s not just the reports. More companies are hiring for sustainability than ever before. In Germany alone, more than 90% of large companies already have a dedicated CSO. With new pressing directives and frameworks to adhere to, the demand for leaders in the ESG and sustainability space will surge.
Sustainability is no longer a nice thing to have and we’re far beyond the stage where it was fine to experiment with ESG matters. CSOs must now stay receptive to the ever-changing industry-specific needs, organizational goals, and directives—all at once.
Let’s take an example from the energy sector. In this industry, organizations have to constantly focus on reducing or offsetting their carbon emissions. This used to be something a company wanted to do voluntarily but today, directives such as the CSRD and RED II in the EU mandate this.
In this scenario, a CSO’s main duty will be ensuring a smooth transition to renewable energy sources, optimizing energy efficiency, and meeting regulatory requirements for emissions reduction. For a CSO in a consumer goods space, though, the priorities will be slightly different: more sustainable material sources, less plastic residue, and better recycling plans. These show just how different the role can be.
In-demand responsibilities of a Chief Sustainability Officer
The role of the Chief Sustainability Officer has expanded beyond environmental concerns to include social and governance leadership, strategic partnering with top executives, and data-driven decision-making.
But more importantly, we’re no longer talking about just CSOs. Sustainability is becoming a part of every department.
Mike Bascombe observes that the day-to-day operational and compliance aspects of sustainability are increasingly shifting to finance and legal teams, where risk management, data quality, and value creation are already centralized:
Bascombe further notes that while advocacy alone isn’t needed anymore, the demand has moved towards providing hard evidence of sustainability’s impact on top-line growth, bottom-line efficiency, and risk management.
We’ve analyzed 100+ LinkedIn job descriptions for the most recent roles as a chief, head, VP, or director of sustainability. Here are the most in-demand responsibilities to expect from your next senior sustainability expert:
- Build partnerships with stakeholders (e.g. government bodies, NGOs, and industry associations) to improve sustainability efforts.
- Monitor and disclose sustainability results as per directive or stakeholder demand.
- Ensure compliance with environmental standards, regulations, and industry best practices.
- Anticipate future regulatory and policy shifts so the organization can react before these become binding.
- Oversee sustainability initiatives for lowering environmental impacts and climate-related risks.
- Make sure the sustainability strategy reflects the company's vision, values, and operational goals.
- Regularly report and track progress made on sustainability and accountability goals.
- Lead a team of sustainability professionals and collaborate with senior leadership and internal teams to ensure alignment and support on sustainability initiatives.
The future of the Chief Sustainability Officer and other sustainability roles changing your organization
One thing you might notice with the responsibilities listed above is that the impact of sustainability practices extends beyond the sustainability department. That’s one of the reasons why we’ll see more CSOs and similar roles in the future: They now have a say in multiple departments.
Mike Bascombe remarks that for now, CSOs act as the “glue”, connecting various departments, but this will change soon:
While their role in operations is clear, they can also influence finance decisions. Chief Sustainability Officer can work together with your Finance department to land green financing deals or manage financial risks resulting from climate-related changes. Likewise, they can collaborate with your IT team to improve data collection and analysis.
Customers. Investors. Regulators. Employees. Politicians. The supply chain. Everyone is asking for more investments in sustainability initiatives. Collaboration across departments remains key for this.
83% of CSOs say that working together with other C-Suite executives moves ambitious sustainability objectives forward. Sure, this was one of those roles that seemed to only focus on ensuring an organization doesn’t pollute. But the focus is now broader as CSOs are in charge of all ESG aspects, not just advocacy as they used to be.
So, where will the demand for CSOs go?
Bascombe emphasizes how the general demand for sustainability roles has shifted toward providing hard evidence of sustainability’s impact on top-line growth, bottom-line efficiency, and risk management:
As the operational aspects of managing these requirements will likely fall to finance and legal teams, Bascombe says that sustainability professionals will be needed primarily for supporting this transition. Meanwhile, the broader value creation and strategic opportunities stemming from sustainability will increasingly align with the CFO’s expanded, innovation-focused remit.
For better insights into your organization’s sustainability and improving ESG impact, get a free ESG Flo demo.
