The increasing role of chief sustainability officers at board and executive level

Davy Horizons was delighted to launch the ICRS (Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability) Ireland hub on 2nd June 2021. To accompany the launch we published an E-Paper titled ‘A Green Seat for the C-Suite’ which discusses the increasingly important leadership role of chief sustainability officers within organisations.

“Embedding sustainability throughout an organisation is everyone’s job. However, a central team ensures focus and direction. The role of the CSO and their team is to ensure sustainability is hardwired into the business strategy, embed the delivery throughout the organisation and drive system change to optimise the enabling environment for sustainable business.”

Rebecca Marmot, Chief Sustainability Officer at Unilever

Key takeaways

• Society at large is increasingly placing its trust in business leaders to deliver the sustainable transformation.
• The current era of sustainability disruption presents the C-suite and board level with a rapidly evolving series of societal and environmental challenges outside of their traditional remit.
• The chief sustainability officer is fast becoming a cornerstone fixture in the C-suite – an ambassador for sustainable change, bridging the executive, the board and the broader organisation.
• This is not purely a technical role; rather, successful CSOs need to be effective communicators, strategic thinkers and agents for sustainable change.
• While the CSO and his/her team provide the framework, embedding sustainability throughout the organisation is everyone’s job.
• To meet the complexity of rapidly evolving challenges, collaboration and co-operation are key.
• The Insititue of Corporate provides networking, mentoring and resources to support career development and enable sustainability professionals to be brilliant at what they do.

To learn more, download A Green Seat for the C-Suite.