The Role of the Chief Sustainability Officer

Improve the Business Environment by Leading the Goal to Become Green

Aug 10, 2009 Deborah S. Hildebrand

Considering a career in environmental studies? How about leading the charge as the Chief Sustainability Officer?

They may be called green, sustainability or environmental officers, or they may be social responsibility or community vice presidents. Whatever name they are given, the role of Chief Sustainability Officers or CSOs (just to make it easy) is to work with their organizations to measure and improve their business through the use of sustainable business practices.

An October 2008 study conducted by the Hudson Gain Corporation of over 1200 participants found that only 191 actually have a dedicated sustainability professional. And while the study concluded that firms with a CSO have a competitive advantage due to short-term cost savings and long-term efficiencies, the most overwhelming reason for incorporating green into a business plan rests on the idea that “if businesses do not operate in a way that ensures enough clean water, soil, air and energy to support growing populations, it will make it hard for any business to be in business.”

What Does a Chief Sustainability Officer Do?

While the title of the CSO varies from company to company, the overall role is to lead the organization toward a greener tomorrow.

Generally, the Chief Green Officer reports directly to the CEO and oversees a group of direct and indirect reports who are involved in environmental health and safety, environmental stewardship and regulatory affairs as well as areas such as procurement, corporate communications and product development. To help balance this wide breadth of responsibility, the sustainability strategies, goals and metrics are established through cross-functional teams and affect everyone in the organization.

In general, the CSO and his team are responsible for reducing the organization’s environmental footprint as they identify new revenue opportunities.

What Does it Take to be the Head of Corporate Responsibility?

According to the CSOs in the Hudson Gain Corporation, there are certain very real qualities and characteristics which are important in a top-notch leader of the green initiative in any organization. Those qualities include communication, technology, financial responsibility, measurement, innovation, ethics, supply chain, and operations, structure and culture.

However, it is equally important to note that the CSOs also recommend that organizations “not overbuild this thing.” It is important that sustainability be embedded into the culture of the organization not be an add-on; so individuals who are considering a career in sustainability need to recognize that being green should be a natural outcropping of their everyday work. That means being passionate about the environment.

As for work experience, CSOs come from a wide range of backgrounds within an organization such as environment and safety, legal and compliance, human resources, change management, operations, supply chain, engineering and R&D. It’s more about the individual desire than specific work experience. However, it is important that the person hired to lead this area have an understanding of topics such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Green Building Council (LEED Certification), National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and ISO14001.

The whole idea is that green is getting a seat at the executive table, which means that from here on out people are going to have expectations that organizations will be putting their best foot forward when it comes to sustainability. That means the role of the Chief Sustainability Officer will continue to grow for anyone who is interested.

The copyright of the article The Role of the Chief Sustainability Officer in Career Advice is owned by Deborah S. Hildebrand. Permission to republish The Role of the Chief Sustainability Officer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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