Threat mitigation trumps value financial savings as the highest means for sustainability groups to create enterprise worth for his or her organizations, in accordance with an annual survey of chief sustainability officers (CSOs) at publicly traded U.S. corporations.
Greater than 62 p.c of the respondents mentioned their means to determine and supply methods to deal with regulatory, provide chain and local weather dangers resonated with different members of the C-suite.
Exhibit A: Spirits firm Suntory in January 2025 appointed its chief sustainability officer, Kim Marotta, to move danger administration. “What enterprise danger administration has given me is the chance to see the large image,” she informed Trellis throughout a Local weather Pioneers interview in February. “As a substitute of simply having environmental dangers, they’re enterprise dangers.”
Two different ways in which CSOs can present enterprise worth are by value financial savings associated to improved vitality, waste administration and operational effectivity (52 p.c); and initiatives that help buyer acquisition and retention (38 p.c).
The responses come from the fifteenth annual CSO insights report from recruiter Weinreb Group. They replicate the opinions of 69 CSOs at U.S. public corporations, roughly one-third of the 193 executives who held that title as of July 1. That’s a smaller universe than in 2025, when there have been 216 people with the title at U.S. public corporations.
“CSOs are the futurists of the company context,” mentioned Worldwide Paper CSO Sophie Beckham, a respondent. “My mandate is to see round corners, construct resilience into our enterprise mannequin and create worth that may assist my firm not simply navigate however thrive when going through rising dangers and alternatives.”
What’s shaping sustainability
Buyer and enterprise accomplice strain is the chief driver of sustainability technique, in accordance with 62 p.c of the CSOs that responded to the survey. Different prime drivers are regulatory strain (57 p.c) and investor/shareholder strain (41 p.c).
The highest challenges CSOs face at this time: market and financial uncertainty (62 p.c), adopted by regulatory necessities (57 p.c) — a view that respondents mentioned they share with different prime executives inside their group.
Roughly 42 p.c of the respondents reported that their duties had broadened previously 12 months.
“We’re reaching a tipping level the place ‘sustainable enterprise’ is solely ‘sensible enterprise,’ ” mentioned one respondent, who selected to stay nameless.
That shift is evidenced by the rise in sustainability headcount that’s taking place exterior central groups: 42 p.c of the respondents reported that extra people have been employed so as to add that perspective to different items.
Reporting strains for CSOs are additionally shifting, a discovering mirrored within the newest Trellis State of the Sustainability Occupation analysis printed in Might, a broader survey of greater than 500 sustainability professionals.
One-quarter of the Weinreb respondents mentioned reporting strains of their group have modified since January 2025: Simply 14 p.c are instantly accountable to their firm’s CEO, in contrast with 33 p.c 18 months in the past, whereas a rising quantity report back to the authorized division.
“After monitoring the CSO function for therefore a few years, what heartens me essentially the most is the resilience of the individuals who maintain this title,” mentioned Weinreb Group CEO Ellen Weinreb. “There’s not often a playbook for what they do, but they negotiate each new problem with grace and willpower.”