What boards need to know about hiring a chief sustainability officer

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PA Consulting’s Jonquil Hackenberg, head of sustainability, comments on what Boards need to consider when hiring a chief sustainability officer in an article by Robert Van Egghen in FT Board Director.

Commenting on this, Jonquil explains “Companies need to ensure that the CSO sits at the core of their business strategy, gone are the days when sustainability professionals were there simply to fulfil an audit-like, tick-box exercise”.

Jonquil goes on to explain that the pressure on companies is growing: “the International Sustainability Standards Board's development of ESG reporting standards for companies means that the risk involved in not having a CSO is likely to increase.”

She concludes: “Not putting sustainability central to strategy means it often becomes a cost to the business with no benefit. Companies that do not have a core strategy often have nothing to offer consumers and investors other than “proclaiming that ‘we’ve signed up to science-based targets too’”.