What: Harvard Business Review presents a framework to help define the position and responsibilities of the Chief Sustainability Officer.

Why it is important: The report defines and outlines eight critical tasks for CSOs that allows the  C-suite to understand where the role fits into the overall organization.

The eight tasks are:

1. Ensuring regulatory compliance.
2. ESG monitoring and reporting.
3. Overseeing the portfolio of sustainability projects.
4. Managing stakeholders’ relationships.
5. Building organizational capabilities.
6. Fostering cultural change.
7. Scouting and experimenting.
8. Embedding sustainability into processes and decision making.

In order to properly align the role with all eight tasks, the CSO needs to spend time covering each item, rather than just focusing on one such as reporting or compliance. Each piece is just as important as the next.

The tasks listed above can be overwhelming, so it is essential that the CSO learns to prioritize gaps and weaknesses and understands how to tackle and prioritize the efforts. A spider-graph approach can help communicate the evolution of the CSOs tasks with the executive team to ensure everyone is aligned.

The 8 Responsibilities of Chief Sustainability Officers