Over the past few years, sustainability has become even more of a strategic priority for businesses. It’s not just because climate change has become more widely recognized. But the benefits of sustainability practices for businesses are becoming increasingly obvious to corporate decision-makers.
As investors demand more information about sustainability activities, the role of sustainability officers has become even more important than before. Sustainable officers are responsible for prioritizing sustainability in their sourcing, operations, and partnerships-both ethically and economically.
Chief Sustainability Officer and Boardroom
Despite being a relatively new position in the boardroom, Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) are becoming increasingly important as concerns about climate change dominate global policy discussions.
A boardroom is a place where you get to make decisions that affect your company. This means that you need to understand the important issues that will affect the long-term success of your business. Sustainable Officers can become the best members of the boardroom because they can bring a unique perspective and have the expertise required to make really good decisions for the organization over time.
A number of the world’s leading corporations are already taking this step. Recent BoardEx data shows that companies within both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 350, including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, FedEx, and Starbucks, are creating and filling CSO roles, with notable examples across industries.
How having a board position can enhance the work of a sustainable officer?
Helena Helmersson, the CEO of Swedish retailer H&M Group, who once worked as its CSO, said incorporating sustainability at the core of the business can accelerate the pace of change. In 2019, the company made a global profit of $1.8 billion.
Sustainable officers are an asset to any boardroom. They add value and help the board innovate in their efforts to improve business operations, drive growth, and develop new strategies.
Sustainable leaders (board members) in most cases have all the skills and experience needed to be successful; they simply need a better way of engaging with their peers on a regular basis.
Having a board position can help provide that solution by giving them the chance to be more involved with your company’s direction.
How can we help you?
Sustainable officers should be part of the boardroom. They have the knowledge and skill to help a company redirect its path towards sustainability. Knowing where your company is going isn’t everything, but it can make all the difference in how you get there.
The M500 Sustainability Report contains a unique mapping of all the Heads of Sustainability/the Heads of ESG of more than 1 500 Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish listed companies.
As well as custom sustainability reports, we can also provide benchmarks of peers and other types of comparative data for individual companies. MERIT500 can assist companies in finding someone who is responsible for sustainability if they do not have a dedicated CSO.