The document discusses the increasingly important role of sustainability practitioners in organizations, especially as chief sustainability officers (CSOs). It argues that CSOs play a key role in communicating the business value of sustainability strategies to investors and stakeholders. However, many companies still do not have CSOs and sustainability practitioners do not always have influence or decision-making power equal to their responsibilities. The document calls for more companies to formally recognize the role of CSOs and empower them to steer sustainability efforts as part of the C-suite level of management.

1. How important role do
Sustainability Practitioners have
in their way through the C-Suite? Primer
6th May, 2019
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With sustainability being the focal point across varied
organizations and business entities, the role of
sustainability practitioners in the organization hierarchy
has increased manifolds. What matters is how companies
with sustainable business strategies are communicating
business value to investors and stakeholders via their
sustainability practitioners and steering business of value
with its management board mission of creating profit
along with protecting Environment. The sustainability
practitioner’s role is to drive the company agenda –
“Sustainability driven productivity.” Their role as CSOs
(Chief Sustainability Officers) is to better inform,
demonstrate, determine, assess and mover forward
business value of sustainability to its investors,
shareholders and stakeholders at large. Communicating
sustainability in business and its strategies is the foremost
important task of CSOs to its management board and in
turn to the stakeholders at large. When business risks are
discussed at large in the board meeting which includes the
financial risk, vulnerable gaps, human capital risks
associated at each level, climate risks, resource
stewardship and energy use and conservation too have
been the foremost issues. The point to be put forth in this
primer is “How important is the role of sustainability
practitioners /CSOs in their way through the C –Suite. How
much influence or power they have or have a say in
steering sustainability across the board and the varied
stakeholders and investors at large.

2. SEBI circular dated vide November 30th, 2019 approved the extension of Business Responsibility Reporting
from the earlier mandated top 100 listed entities to top 500 listed entities based on market capitalization. The
aligning of it with GRI and integrated reporting was further advancement towards having a sustainability
report with greater transparency, accountability and environmentally viable and sustainable business of value
towards its public disclosure. This very fact of BRR, GRI reporting and integrated reporting has widen the
scope of work for sustainability practitioners and have enhanced their role and status in the company’s vision
and mission of sustainability. However amidst this scope, an important thing that gets overlooked is the status
and power or a say in company’s sustainability agenda these practitioners not given prominence at the scale it
should be. With climate and resource farce and constraint the practitioners gain a major momentum along
with financial turnover discussion in board as most often they dwell on business for profit mindset.
An important question via this article is how many public listed companies in India have Chief Sustainability
Officers (CSOs)? Another important question is how keen are the companies focusing on recruiting CSOs or
they intend to suffice with the existing staff and worked be looked by HR/public e
relations/communication/managerial team? The level or extent of say in the board /management meeting
and also extent of free hand given while interacting with varied stakeholders at large is also a point to be
looked into. Most of the listed companies have sustainability managers and corporate social responsibility
professionals working towards the sustainability reporting of the organization and most of the work is
governed by the board committee and often the reporting work gets outsourced. At a time when the
reporting is being made mandatory for even the small or mid-size listed companies, don’t you think, we
should have CSOs taking the real authority of a c level or c-suite and steering through the sustainability vision
and mission of the organization. A HR talks about employee payrolls and exits, staff retention, talent
acquisition and CFO talks about profits and financial success and challenges, however aligning it with
environment and social attributes is what a CSO does – so to say stakeholder engagement, partnership
building, materiality assessment and value added business in terms of ESG attributes. This allows the CSOs a
greater clout in the organization as the job includes people, planet and profit together – with focus on bottom
line approach as target. CSOs role is also to reduce risks and create innovation. As the disclosures now call for
greater transparency, the return on investment (ROI) in terms of the recruitment and towards products and
services and the return of equity (ROE) in terms of equal payrolls, gender gaps, leaves, equal opportunity,
flexible working hours, diversity, skill development and career development, a wider scope for CSOs to work
upon and widen their horizon has come up for them. What matters now is how many companies will look into
the necessity of CSOs steering their way through in the C-Suite for a greater transparent and accountable
sustainability reporting for the organization.