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Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)

Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) are the highest level of executives overseeing their company’s sustainability activities. As part of the "C-suite” of chief officers, CSOs provide visionary leadership and coordinate with management, shareholders, and employees to develop and maintain an effective corporate strategy for sustainability. To be successful in their executive role, CSOs need strong public relations skills, extensive staff management experience, good strategic planning skills, and a firm grasp of financial operations and budgeting. The position of CSO is a strategic role that focuses on effectively communicating the risks and opportunities related to sustainability and the bottom-line impact.

At a Glance

You wear many hats as the senior executive in charge of your company’s sustainability programs. In a single day, you might be leading a strategic planning meeting in one moment and then delivering a public speech to a large group of stakeholders in the next.

Today, you’re riding on a boat headed north through the Johnstone Strait into the pristine BC wilderness. Your destination is a small mountain stream used as a barometer to monitor salmon populations in BC’s waterways. In this visit to the local salmon enumeration project, you will learn about the people and processes behind the program and develop a clearer understanding of why this partnership with the federal government is so crucial to a healthy, sustainable salmon population. When you return to the office, you’ll shift gears and continue preparing for an important meeting with local politicians about your company’s latest sustainability initiative.

Your role as CSO is challenging and demanding – you would not be successful in it if you did not have outstanding leadership skills, the ability to think strategically, and a passion for developing people and programs. Your guidance and foresight enable your organization to positively contribute to the triple bottom line of people, planet and profits.

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