Why responsible business knowledge must reach beyond the Chief Sustainability Officer
The growth of the Chief Sustainability Officer role reflects an important shift in business.
Sustainability is no longer viewed solely as an environmental initiative, a communications exercise or an annual reporting requirement. It increasingly affects organisational strategy, operations, governance, people, procurement, risk, investment and long-term resilience.
Yet there is a danger in appointing a sustainability leader and assuming the responsibility has been transferred to one person.
Sustainability cannot sit with one person.
Everyone with influence needs to understand their role.
The Chief Sustainability Officer is a leader, not the entire sustainability function
In How to Be a Chief Sustainability Officer: Leading the Transition to a Sustainable Organisation, Anna Krotova and Jennifer Geary examine how sustainability can be anchored within an organisation’s core strategy and culture.
Their approach recognises that the CSO role is broad and demanding. It can involve materiality assessment, impact measurement, sustainability policies, risk management, investor relations, reporting, communications, team development and the effective use of technology.
That breadth immediately demonstrates why meaningful change cannot be delivered by one individual working in isolation.
The CSO may provide leadership, direction, coordination and challenge, but progress depends on people throughout the organisation making informed and responsible decisions.
A sustainability leader should therefore not become the place where every issue is deposited. Their role is to build the strategy, structures, capabilities and accountability that enable responsible business to become part of everyday operations.
Sustainability must be connected to business strategy
One of the most important principles highlighted by Krotova and Geary is the need to anchor sustainability within the organisation rather than treating it as a separate programme.
This means connecting sustainability with:
- commercial strategy and decision-making;
- governance and risk management;
- organisational culture;
- operational processes;
- people policies;
- procurement and supply chains;
- performance measurement;
- investment and resource allocation;
- communications and reporting.
The subject therefore cannot belong exclusively to the sustainability team.
A finance director needs to understand the investment implications. An operations leader needs to understand efficiency, resources and implementation. HR needs to translate commitments into workplace practices. Procurement needs to assess suppliers. Marketing needs to communicate responsibly. The board must understand the risks, opportunities and evidence behind the organisation’s claims.
Sustainability becomes credible when it influences how the organisation operates—not simply what it says.
Board executives need sufficient knowledge to provide oversight
Boards do not necessarily need to become technical sustainability specialists.
They do, however, need enough understanding to provide informed oversight, ask appropriate questions and challenge weak assumptions.
They should be able to consider:
- whether sustainability priorities support the organisation’s strategy;
- who is accountable for implementation;
- whether sufficient resources have been allocated;
- how environmental and social risks are being identified;
- whether performance claims are supported by evidence;
- how workplace and community impacts are being considered;
- whether progress is being measured meaningfully;
- how sustainability could affect long-term organisational resilience.
Without this knowledge, sustainability can become disconnected from governance.
A board may approve ambitious commitments without understanding what delivery requires. Alternatively, it may underestimate sustainability because it sees it as a specialist or purely environmental issue.
Both positions create risk.
The book is therefore relevant not only to existing and prospective CSOs, but also to boards, committees and senior leaders responsible for supporting an organisation’s sustainability transition.
HR professionals turn commitments into workplace reality
Responsible business is not only about emissions, energy and waste.
It is also about how people are recruited, supported, developed, included, rewarded and treated.
HR professionals play a significant role in areas such as:
- equality, diversity and inclusion;
- employee wellbeing;
- fair employment practices;
- learning and development;
- flexible working;
- psychological and physical safety;
- employee engagement;
- leadership behaviours;
- volunteering and community participation;
- embedding organisational values.
A sustainability commitment has limited credibility when the organisation’s employment practices contradict it.
HR teams therefore need to understand the wider sustainability and CSR strategy so they can align policies, processes and culture with the organisation’s stated commitments.
Recruiters need to understand what they are recruiting for
As sustainability roles continue to develop, recruiters need to understand more than job titles and fashionable terminology.
They must be able to distinguish between the capabilities required for different roles.
Does the organisation need:
- a technical environmental specialist;
- an ESG reporting professional;
- a sustainability strategist;
- a responsible procurement lead;
- a social impact specialist;
- a change and engagement professional;
- or a senior leader capable of influencing across the entire organisation?
A CSO role may require strategic leadership, operational understanding, stakeholder management, communication, technical literacy and the ability to influence people who do not report directly to them.
Recruiting successfully therefore requires a clear understanding of the organisation’s maturity, priorities and expectations—not simply copying another company’s sustainability job description.
Career changers need commercial and operational understanding
Many experienced professionals are considering a move into sustainability and CSR.
They may bring valuable capabilities from operations, finance, HR, communications, risk, supply chains, governance or business development.
These transferable skills matter.
Sustainability professionals need to understand how organisations make decisions, allocate resources, manage competing priorities and implement change. Technical knowledge is important, but it must be combined with practical business understanding.
Career changers should therefore recognise the value of their existing experience while developing the sustainability knowledge needed to apply it responsibly.
The objective is not merely to know the terminology. It is to understand how sustainability can be translated into practical organisational action.
Early-career professionals need a complete picture
People beginning their sustainability careers need to see that CSR and sustainability are much wider than a single subject area.
Environmental knowledge remains essential, but responsible business also encompasses:
- workplace practices;
- human rights;
- ethics and governance;
- community impact;
- philanthropy;
- supply-chain responsibility;
- stakeholder engagement;
- risk;
- reporting;
- evidence and accountability.
Early-career professionals should understand how these areas connect and where specialist expertise may be required.
They also need opportunities to develop practical skills: gathering evidence, engaging stakeholders, reviewing policies, analysing impacts, communicating progress and supporting implementation.
Knowledge must be connected to how organisations actually work.
Academics and educators help shape future leaders
Universities, colleges, professional bodies and business educators have an important role in embedding responsible business across learning programmes.
Sustainability should not be confined to one optional module or environmental course.
It should appear within:
- leadership and management;
- finance;
- operations;
- marketing;
- HR;
- procurement;
- governance;
- entrepreneurship;
- risk management;
- business strategy.
Future leaders should leave education understanding that sustainability is part of responsible decision-making.
Academic communities can also help strengthen professional consistency in a field that is still evolving. The relative newness and breadth of the CSO role make clear education, shared language and practical frameworks particularly important.
SMEs cannot wait for a Chief Sustainability Officer
Most small and medium-sized businesses will never employ a full-time CSO.
That does not remove their responsibilities or the expectations placed upon them.
SMEs are increasingly being asked about responsible business practices through:
- tenders and procurement exercises;
- larger customer supply chains;
- accreditation requirements;
- funding and investment discussions;
- recruitment and retention;
- client due diligence;
- policies and supplier questionnaires.
In an SME, responsibility may sit with the owner, operations lead, HR adviser or another senior person. External specialists may provide guidance, but the business itself must understand and own its commitments.
This is why accessible sustainability education is so important.
An SME does not necessarily need a complex corporate structure. It does need clarity about what it already does, where its impacts lie, what evidence it can provide and what improvements it will make next.
Build capability, not dependency
The strongest sustainability leaders do not make the organisation dependent upon them.
They build capability around them.
They help colleagues understand:
- why sustainability matters to their responsibilities;
- what decisions they can influence;
- what evidence should be gathered;
- where accountability sits;
- how progress will be measured;
- when specialist advice is needed.
This creates a more resilient approach.
The CSO remains a vital leader and coordinator, but sustainability becomes part of the organisation’s shared operating model rather than an isolated function.
A shared responsibility with clear accountability
Shared responsibility must not mean diluted accountability.
When everybody is described as responsible, there is a danger that nobody takes ownership.
Organisations therefore need both:
Shared understanding: People across the organisation recognise how their work affects responsible business.
Clear accountability: Named leaders and teams remain responsible for defined commitments, actions, measurements and outcomes.
The CSO may orchestrate the strategy, but the board must govern it, leaders must resource it, departments must implement it and employees must understand how they contribute.
That is how sustainability moves from intention to execution.
The wider question
The question is no longer simply:
“Who is responsible for sustainability?”
A more useful question is:
“How do we ensure that everyone with influence understands their role—and has the knowledge, authority and resources to fulfil it?”
The future of responsible business will not be secured by producing more sustainability job titles alone.
It will depend on developing informed leaders, capable professionals, responsible boards, knowledgeable advisers and SMEs that understand how sustainability connects with everyday business practice.
The Chief Sustainability Officer may lead the transition.
But the whole organisation must make it happen.
This blog was inspired by the wider leadership and implementation themes explored by Anna Krotova and Jennifer Geary in How to Be a Chief Sustainability Officer: Leading the Transition to a Sustainable Organisation. Their book provides a practical framework covering organisational strategy, culture, technical sustainability responsibilities, execution, team development and the future evolution of the CSO role