October 17, 2024
Authors
The role of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) is evolving in dramatic ways. What began as an entrepreneurial role has now developed into a professional, fully integrated function embedded within corporate governance, compliance, and accountability.
While more visible and valued than ever before, heightened expectations and pressures are placing the CSO at risk of becoming overly focused on compliance at the expense of innovation and strategic foresight.
Amidst a backdrop of rapid changes in the landscape, BSR interviewed 31 CSOs to hear their perspectives on this dichotomy, understand current challenges, and how they ensure that sustainability remains a priority at the highest levels of corporate decision-making.
Inside the Mind of the CSO
How are CSOs feeling about these changes? Some feel invigorated to finally have the level of integration they have sought for years; others feel dismayed, stuck, or even bored at the lack of progress. Among the 31 CSOs interviewed by BSR, key findings include:
64 percent of respondents feel that regulation enables meaningful strategic impact.
83 percent of respondents feel that increased involvement by other C-Suite executives helps advance ambitious sustainability objectives.
Only 50 percent of respondents spend 70 percent or more of their time on "high-impact" work.
A Crossroads and Three Paths Ahead
CSOs are at a pivotal moment—facing more opportunity, relevance, visibility, and pressure than ever before. The report traces the evolving role, and proposes three potential paths ahead:
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