Chief Sustainability Officer | Nikoleta & Associates

The Chief Sustainability Officer connects the organization's environmental and social priorities with its strategy, operations and external commitments. The scope varies by business, but commonly includes sustainability planning, performance information, reporting and coordination across functions. The role's distinctive contribution is to make long-term impacts and dependencies visible in decisions made today.

That means working where resources are committed. Energy, materials, logistics, supplier choices and site investment may sit with different operating leaders. The sustainability function helps them understand relevant implications, develop credible plans and decide how progress will be measured. It cannot deliver enterprise commitments through reporting or a central programme alone.

Evidence is an essential part of the remit. Definitions, boundaries, data ownership and supporting records affect the credibility of both management information and public statements. The Chief Sustainability Officer works with finance, legal and other specialists to ensure that ambitions, plans and reported results are described accurately and with appropriate qualifications.

For a practitioner, a useful strategic overview links each important commitment to an operating decision, a funded plan and an accountable owner. It also asks where sustainability considerations change the business case. The role becomes more effective when it helps leaders make practical choices and demonstrate progress, rather than managing a parallel set of aspirations disconnected from the business.

Role signals

What is shaping the role now

Business priorities and commitments

Priorities linked to the business

65%

65% obtained external assurance on some or all sustainability disclosures.

What this asks of the role

Identify the environmental and social impacts most relevant to the organization's activities and relationships.

2025 | ESG reporting/assurance survey.

Operations, suppliers and products

Improving resource use

51%

Sustainability in annual reports

55%

Sustainability reporting policies

51% include sustainability data in their annual report.

55% are midway through implementing sustainability reporting policies or have completed them.

What this asks of the role

Work with operating teams to improve how energy, materials and other resources are used in delivering the business's work.

2025 | ESG reporting/assurance survey | Separate findings; not parts of a total.

Leadership, relationships and capability

Business leaders owning delivery

57%Sustainability in daily operations

57% embed sustainability goals in operations and monitor progress.

What this asks of the role

Keep operating leaders responsible for implementing sustainability changes in the activities they manage.

2025 | Surveyed firms above US$10bn revenue.

The role today

Priorities linked to the business
Identify the environmental and social impacts most relevant to the organization's activities and relationships.
Sustainability in business plans
Translate sustainability priorities into operating plans with funding, responsible leaders and realistic implementation steps.
Improving resource use
Work with operating teams to improve how energy, materials and other resources are used in delivering the business's work.
Working with suppliers on impacts
Agree relevant sustainability expectations with procurement and suppliers, including practical improvements both parties can support.
Owners for sustainability data
Agree who provides and checks the information used to describe sustainability performance.
Business leaders owning delivery
Keep operating leaders responsible for implementing sustainability changes in the activities they manage.

The sustainability leader must reconcile long-term commitments with the economics and operating constraints of near-term decisions. A proposed improvement may require capital, different suppliers or changes to a production process. Its benefits and costs can fall in different functions, making an enterprise commitment difficult to translate into a local investment priority.

Measurement adds complexity. Information may come from sites, suppliers and systems with different definitions or levels of maturity. Estimates can be necessary, but their limitations need to remain visible. The function may face pressure to communicate progress before the underlying evidence is sufficiently consistent for the claim being made publicly.

The remit also crosses responsibilities the sustainability leader does not directly control. Procurement owns sourcing choices, operations manages facilities and finance allocates capital. Without clear agreement, a central team can become responsible for progress while decisions remain elsewhere. Changing external expectations can then add further requests to an already dispersed workload.

The practical response is to connect priorities, ownership and evidence. Focus on commitments material to the business, distinguish completed results from planned action and bring investment trade-offs into the normal planning process. A clear account of what is funded, what depends on others and what remains uncertain gives the sustainability leader a stronger basis for credible progress.

Common pressure points

Ambition outside funded plans

A commitment can be communicated without the investment or operating capacity required to deliver it.

What to look atCompare public goals with approved budgets, owners and milestones.
Longer-term impacts outside investment reviews

Near-term financial cases may leave environmental or social consequences only briefly considered.

What to look atCheck how material longer-term effects entered major investment decisions.

Supplier information uneven

Suppliers may provide data of different quality or use different measurement methods.

What to look atReview coverage, estimation and comparability before combining supplier information.
Transitions constrained by existing assets

Contracts and asset replacement cycles can restrict how quickly operating changes are practical.

What to look atCompare transition milestones with contract dates and asset plans.

Measures without clear ownership

Reported figures can depend on inputs for which no team has accepted ongoing responsibility.

What to look atCheck named owners and source records for significant measures.
Methods changing between periods

A reported improvement may partly reflect a revised calculation or reporting scope.

What to look atReview method changes and their effect on comparison with earlier periods.

Responsibility concentrated in sustainability

Operating improvements can stall when business leaders view delivery as the sustainability team's responsibility.

What to look atReview which operating owners have accepted actions and resources.
Guidance not connected to daily decisions

Teams may understand broad goals without knowing how those goals affect purchasing or design choices.

What to look atReview real decisions where people asked for further support.

Selected external benchmarks

Research note: These figures describe the groups studied. They do not measure your organization’s performance or set goals for it.

Supplier sustainability performance
47%
say supplier sustainability performance falls short of assurance needs.

2025 – ESG reporting/assurance survey
Access to sustainability data
46%
say insufficient data access holds back external assurance.

2025 – ESG reporting/assurance survey
Systems for sustainability reporting
38%
say insufficient IT and digital tools hold back external assurance.

2025 – ESG reporting/assurance survey
Funding external assurance
33%
cite costs and available funding as barriers to external assurance.

2025 – ESG reporting/assurance survey

The sustainability leader contributes best when environmental and social commitments have operating owners, funded plans and evidence that can withstand external scrutiny. Finance, procurement, operations, risk and business teams need shared definitions and reliable information so trade-offs are addressed within investment and supply decisions rather than after targets are announced.

The role also needs access to senior choices and the authority to surface where ambition exceeds readiness. Credible governance distinguishes specialist advice from management accountability and connects reporting to actual changes in assets, suppliers and work. When incentives and capital reviews include sustainability consequences, the function can help the enterprise make commitments it is prepared to support.

Reflection questions

Can the organization support the commitments it communicates?

Which environmental and social commitments have named operating owners, funded plans and milestones connected to everyday decisions?
Where is sustainability information still too incomplete or inconsistently defined to support an external claim with confidence?
How do capital, procurement and product reviews consider sustainability consequences before an investment is approved?
Which tradeoffs between affordability, resilience and long-term impact need an explicit leadership choice rather than specialist resolution?
What evidence connects reported progress to changes in assets, suppliers, services or ways of working?

The sustainability role may become more deeply embedded in capital planning, sourcing and operating design. Reporting remains necessary, but the strategic contribution lies in influencing choices before their consequences are fixed. This requires fluency in business economics alongside an understanding of environmental and social impacts, with priorities adapted to the organization's activities and context.

Closer integration with finance can make investment discussions more useful. Leaders need a transparent account of costs, benefits, assumptions and dependencies, including effects that do not appear in the same period or budget. The sustainability function can help develop that account without claiming that every initiative has a simple or immediate financial return.

Information capability will also matter. Traceable data and clear ownership make progress easier to manage and claims easier to support. The role can help operating teams build those practices into normal work, while coordinating with assurance specialists where appropriate. More reporting should not automatically mean more manual collection by a central team.

Preparation begins with a consequential business decision, such as a site investment or supplier strategy. Bring relevant sustainability considerations into the options early and identify how the chosen course will be evaluated. Over time, this makes sustainability a practical part of how the organization allocates resources and delivers commitments, rather than a separate narrative about future intent.

Role evolution

Commitments connected to funding

Attention to delivery may bring sustainability commitments closer to capital plans, operating resources and accountable ownership.

What to watchCommitments supported by funded operating plans.
Impacts within investment choices

Closer links between strategy and reporting may bring impact information earlier into investment decisions.

What to watchInvestment options assessed before an approach is selected.

Supplier data supporting improvement

Value-chain attention may shift supplier information from reporting inputs toward shared sourcing and operating improvements.

What to watchSupplier information leading to practical changes.
Product lifecycle decisions

Fuller impact expectations may bring sustainability earlier into material, maintenance and end-of-use choices.

What to watchProduct decisions considering impacts beyond initial sale.

Data owned within operations

Decision-useful sustainability information may require continuing ownership where data originates, beyond reporting cycles.

What to watchOperating teams maintaining information throughout the year.
Understandable measurement methods

Wider reuse of sustainability data may increase the need for clear documentation of methods, coverage and uncertainty.

What to watchUsers understanding how reported measures are produced.

Operating ownership of progress

Embedded commitments may shift sustainability leadership toward enabling operating leaders to own the actions they can influence.

What to watchBusiness reviews including relevant sustainability responsibilities.
Claims reflecting current evidence

Closer scrutiny may require continuing collaboration with commercial teams to keep claims aligned with supported performance.

What to watchClaims reviewed when supporting evidence changes.

Selected external benchmarks

Research note: These figures describe the groups studied. They do not measure your organization’s performance or set goals for it.

Reporting sustainability’s business value
19%
report sustainability strategy, measures and their effect on business value in annual reports.

2025 – ESG reporting/assurance survey
Sustainability data dashboards
53%
use sustainability dashboards, up from 26% in 2023.

2025 – Top-quartile assurance-maturity firms
Sustainability reporting platforms
50%
use a sustainability reporting platform, up from 20% in 2023.

2025 – Top-quartile assurance-maturity firms
Supply-chain visibility
64%
say supply-chain visibility helps maintain continuity.

2025 – Global CPOs

The sustainability leader’s remit: commitments grounded in operations