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The evolution of the CSO poses challenges

Aerial image of waves of waste and rubbish in the sea

Embedding sustainability

The role of a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) can vary significantly depending on the specific companies or organizations they serve. Generally, their responsibilities encompass identifying sustainability risks and opportunities, setting assessment metrics, and reporting. Key deliverables for CSOs, especially in large corporations, include devising costed transition plans and addressing double materiality to evaluate how environmental changes impact the financials and vice versa. They also focus on devising improvement strategies and collaborating with stakeholders to implement necessary changes. However, like other emerging executive roles such as Chief Digital Officers and Chief Innovation Officers, CSOs often navigate through ambiguity, fragmentation, and overlapping functions during their initial phases.

To address these challenges, companies are recognizing the critical need to embed sustainability into governance and culture rather than standardizing the role itself. This shift focuses on empowering the entire organization to integrate sustainability into their operations. Upskilling the workforce and fostering a culture of sustainability are key strategies for achieving this integration. Companies are also moving away from roles centered on messaging, instead prioritizing the true integration of material ESG issues into corporate strategy and establishing structured reporting systems.

So what?

For B2B companies, understanding the dynamics of the CSO within the full buying committee, along with their continually evolving roles and challenges, is crucial for fostering productive collaborations and providing meaningful support. Targeting the entire C-suite with sustainability messaging can assist the CSO in promoting new ideas across the broader organization.

Recognizing a CSO's specific focus areas within their organization allows B2B companies to tailor their products, services, and engagement strategies accordingly. This alignment fosters more effective partnerships where B2B entities become key contributors to their partners' sustainability goals, ultimately enhancing the success of the relationship.

Source: Nordic Sustainability, PWC

About the authors

Kebrina Robinson

B2B Group

The B2B Group is a specialist unit within EssenceMediacom focussed on delivering business-to-business marketing solutions in an increasingly complex marketplace.