The sustainability career is prospering, and leaders are driving the combination of ESG into enterprise technique with promising outcomes. Amid speedy developments in company sustainability, together with new laws, the function of the CSO is altering too.
In our 2023 CSO report, we requested chief sustainability officers in regards to the attributes they wanted to be efficient of their function, and these three attributes took the lead: company chameleon; technique and imaginative and prescient; and affect with out authority.
Trying again at 2023, have been we proper about these attributes? And what else will CSOs want to achieve 2024? I checked in with a number of CSOs to search out out.
Prioritize actions and sources
The stronger financial outlook for the trade is supporting deeper funding in sustainability, and it’s clear that the CSO’s involvement in setting the technique and allocating capital is essential. David Rabuano, senior vp and chief sustainability officer at Owens Corning, explains: “Now that the low-hanging fruit has been picked, we’re making choices that require important spending and other people sources.”
In the beginning of 2023, Jill Kolling, vp, ESG and chief sustainability officer at James Hardie, identified that materiality is essential, amid stress and curiosity from the investor neighborhood. She believes that is nonetheless the case: “Prioritization and balancing of sources will likely be key for 2024… We will likely be challenged to stability execution towards our commitments in opposition to complying with obligatory disclosures.”
Rabuano agrees: “CSOs want to have the ability to sequence areas of focus in ways in which result in the largest affect whereas defending their groups. We all know our greatest levers for affect, and shifting sources there’ll really feel completely different subsequent yr, and can result in extra impactful outcomes.”
Combine sustainability with the enterprise — particularly the finance operate
To satisfy rising regulatory necessities, CSOs should be “solutions-oriented within the face of difficult financial circumstances,” says Sophie Beckham, vp, chief sustainability officer at Worldwide Paper. This entails being a company chameleon. “[Systems integration] requires enterprise acumen, robust relationships with non-sustainability components of the enterprise and a specific amount of creativity,” Beckham provides.
Equally, Michael Kobori, Starbucks’ chief sustainability officer, emphasizes that “given the speed with which traders, regulators, prospects and staff are demanding sustainability, the flexibility to combine sustainability into each operate, enterprise unit and board committee will likely be essential to future success.”
Erin Meezan, chief sustainability officer at JLL, underscores the significance of embedding ESG issues into different features. For instance, Meezan pointed to her work greenlighting the rent of an ESG controller. “We’re working intently with finance to outline attributes for candidates, map out early priorities and ensure that the shared objective of credible ESG knowledge influences the design and priorities of this function.”
Convey nuance into relationships and actions
To combine sustainability on this manner, CSOs will want strong relationship administration expertise. As Nancy Mahon, chief sustainability and ESG officer at Estée Lauder, shares, “A CSO’s agility, understanding of firm tradition and powerful relationships with key leaders will likely be essential to success” on this endeavor.
Anisa Kamadoli Costa, chief sustainability officer at Rivian, says one attribute she has at all times considered as important to success will likely be extra necessary than ever in 2024: nuance. Noting carbon impartial claims, the ESG backlash and the political local weather, she says, “a little bit nuance would do all of us some good,” including that group administration “requires extra thoughtfulness, kindness and nuance than ever.”
Tara Hemmer, senior vp and chief sustainability officer at WM, highlights comparable expertise for the approaching yr. “On this period, CSOs should be educators, integrators and influencers inside their organizations, and these three expertise are pivotal to the way forward for the operate.”
Proceed to evolve
The variety of CSOs has grown dramatically — from 29 to 183 — since we began monitoring it in 2011, and because of the dynamic sustainability panorama, the scope of the function continues to evolve. Rising laws are bringing a larger concentrate on materiality, knowledge and transparency and bringing sustainability into the boardroom. New applied sciences, together with synthetic intelligence, have emerged to help this; I’ll be writing about this in a future article, so keep tuned.
I’ve shared insights from a number of CSOs right here, displaying how the attributes they should succeed have modified simply this yr. We proceed to trace this function by way of analysis, surveys and interviews; you may comply with the newest findings on the CSO Hub.