Who owns sustainability?
An increasing number of companies are announcing their “green” strategies, from travel and transportation, to high-tech, to supermarkets. It seems that every CEO has woken up the risks presented by the twin problems of climate change and peak oil. But what concerns me are the number of companies that don’t seem to have quite got their head around what those issues mean. An awful lot of companies seem to be placing responsibility for “sustainability” or “green” into the hands of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) officers. Now, don’t get me wrong. Most of the CSR people I’ve ever met are very dedicated to their jobs, and the causes they manage to get funding and corporate support for. But I’ve never met one who has said that they feel they are in any way leading the company’s strategic direction and pace. In fact, many have become resigned to the fact that the charitable programs that they manage are at the whim of whoever is the current sales manager; and at the mercy of the discretionary budget.
However, sustainability doesn’t belong in the CSR department. ownership and governance of sustainability belongs at the board and executive management team level (think: CEO). Companies should no more place responsibility for sustainability in the hands of the CSR office than they would place responsibility there for corporate strategy, good governance, and risk management. Because those are the major elements inherent in a true sustainability strategy. If sustainability/green sits in Marketing or CSR, then you can be sure that a company is just painting green lipstick on the pig.
For those companies who “get it”, no doubt we will soon see the creation of a Chief Sustainability Officer - especially in North America where they are particularly fond of creating a new exec’ position and lumping them with a problem to solve. Where that occurs, the thing to watch for is how much influence the head greenie has over sales execution, facilities ops, field staff behaviour (in relation to travel), and strategic company direction.
Tags: Governance