The chief sustainability officer is becoming a familiar figure in the boardroom as more companies set out ambitious climate goals. Now these executives have to prove their worth.
all created CSO positions last year, with Starbucks and Levi hiring from outside and the others promoting from within. They were among 31 public U.S. companies that created the role in 2020, according to sustainability-focused executive-recruitment firm Weinreb Group. Weinreb said companies hired more CSOs last year than in the previous three years combined, with about a quarter brought in from outside the organization.
Started her career as a field engineer on offshore oil rigs and held management positions at oil-field-services company Schlumberger Ltd.“If you don’t put sustainability in the C-suite or at the heart of the decision making, you take the risk that it becomes just a communication exercise, which is not what you want,” said Magali Anderson, who became the first chief sustainability officer at Switzerland-based construction-materials giant LafargeHolcim Ltd. in 2019.
“It’s kind of hot, it’s sexy, and there’s other C’s who want the sustainability function to report to them,” she said. A survey by Ms. Weinreb’s recruitment firm found the proportion of CSOs reporting directly to the CEO dropped to 21% in 2020 from 35% in 2011. The number of CSOs the firm surveyed more than tripled to 95 last year from 29 a decade ago.
“These goals focus attention on performance, and effective CEOs understand that their own fates may be tied to the success of the CSO,” he said. Mr. Andrew has spearheaded training on greenhouse-gas emissions and agricultural practices for top management at PepsiCo, where sustainability metrics are part of executives’ yearly bonuses, including a goal set this year to reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
Harmonizing sustainability standards across sprawling companies is a major undertaking. For Ralf Pfitzner, global head of sustainability at Volkswagen AG, it means coordinating efforts at the company’s 12 brands, starting by ensuring each has a sustainability manager.
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