What Is a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)?

Chief sustainability officers are responsible for an organization's objectives and initiatives relating to sustainability. Sustainability is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The intent of the CSO position, as a member of the executive team, is to address sustainability issues across a firm and stress the significance of sustainability to other top executives. The position of the CSO is a strategic position that concentrates on communicating risks and opportunities related to sustainability as well as the impact on the bottom line. In struggling companies, the appointment of a CSO has even shown to increase revenue growth. In addition to setting sustainability strategy, the CSO monitors current initiatives and is responsible for:

· Communicating work done on sustainability both inside and outside the organization.
· Ensuring sustainable energy procurement from renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydropower.
· Managing certifications such as Fair-Trade Certified Mark, Organic certification, and B Corporation certification.
· Waste management, recycling, and supply-chain management and building a plan towards supporting a circular economy (a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible).

Why Is a CSO Needed Today?

Sustainability used to be disconnected from important business decisions and typically revolved around minimizing safety or reputational risks for the company. Those days are over. Today, companies all over the world are rapidly increasing their focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Yet many executives feel uncertain about what action to take. In a recent annual corporate director survey, leaders said that addressing ESG issues is so complex – and the issues so all-embracing – that they simply don’t know where to begin.

That’s where the CSO can make a difference. The expanding role of the CSO within the organization and how these executives increasingly find their opinions valuable impacts a company not only in compliance, but also HR, strategy and even finance.

A well-established CSO can make a real impact connecting the dots on ESG and supercharging the sustainability transformation. The role of the CSO will undoubtedly grow as organizations continue to put ESG at the heart of their business.

So, who in your organization leads your sustainability initiatives?

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