Owning Sustainability: The CSO vs. the CEO

Last Fall, the Weinreb Group published CSO Back Story, identifying 29 Chief Sustainability Officers with that exact title working in the U.S. for publicly traded companies. Of the 29, we highlighted five CSOs (from SAP, EMC, AT&T, UPS and Dupont) whose perspectives included the value their role brings to their company's long-term strategy.

In each of their cases, the CSO “owns” sustainability. But what happens when a chief sustainability officer doesn't exist? Who should rightfully own sustainability at companies? 

Accenture’s recently released white paper The Chief Executive Officer’s Perspective makes the argument that sustainability could be owned by leadership in general without making it any one executive's core responsibility, compelling Environmental Leader to ask Are Chief Sustainability Officers on their Way Out?

In September 2011, I wrote a similarly titled article but with a different perspective, wondering whether CSOs are Everywhere, But Are Their Days Numbered?

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