Disable your ad blocker to enjoy the full interactive features of this document.
Resurgent Sustainability Leaders
Resurgent Sustainability Leaders
If teams are small and still siloed, leadership is required to transform sustainability professionals from those trying to influence decisions, to those orchestrating an executing initiatives that benefit the business and the planet.
The role of a sustainability leader changes in cycles. In the early ages of corporate sustainability, it was about gaining buy-in and explaining the need for action. As the climate crisis worsens and initiatives and mandates are put in place for businesses to act, the business case has strengthened, and leaders have had to lean on technical expertise to build out science-based strategies, collect and analyse carbon data amongst other key skills.
Now, against this notion of an ESG Winter, leaders may feel like they’re dropping back into the “influencer” mode; trying to remind the business of its commitments, targets and the value of doing so.
As such, there is a strange disconnection between the level of ambition that sustainability practitioners are showcasing, and overall job satisfaction.
We asked respondents to score corporate climate ambitions and then their own job satisfaction out of 10.
Job satisfaction is, on average, a score 6.73 while level of ambition from the company is 7.36. When exploring the lower score of job satisfaction, it is evident that not all respondents can see the impact their work is having on delivering the ambition set by businesses.
Almost half (44%) of respondents claim their work has delivered a “tangible impact” across the business, compared to 12% who claim their work “isn’t influencing the business”. A further 39% claim a suggestion that their work is making a difference.
As this report has highlighted, the remit of a sustainability professional is growing – from nature considerations to even more reporting frameworks – but the resources aren’t matching demand. We asked whether the role of “sustainability practitioner” had lost it’s meaning. The answer was divisive, a 50/50 split.
“Don’t give up easily, persistence is key. Progress comes from adaptability and resilience, not perfection. Start with a clear vision but accept you might be met with uncertainty and move in stages.
Manage innovation risk by seeking commitment just for what you need to reach the next learning hurdle, rather than everything you need to reach the end, this will keep stakeholders engaged within their stretched-comfort zone.”
Oriol Margo Sustainability Leader, International Family Care and Professional Kimberly-Clark
Understanding the role, responsibilities, and capabilities of a sustainability team will be crucial in the current resurgence. Outsourcing deliverables to other departments with the expertise to support them will be key to redefining what sustainability means, expanding the scope of influence, and delivering tangible outcomes across the business.
Embedding sustainability will require an understanding of other experts' capabilities across the business. Many organisations have spoken of the “green skills gap” at both a national and corporate level, but with sustainability covering such a big remit, what skills are required to switch sustainability from resilience to resurgence?
When asked to rank where the biggest sustainability skills gaps were across the business, survey respondents highlighted the priority areas, in order of the biggest “gap”.
1. Scope 3 data collection
2. Utilising AI and technology
3. Transition Planning
4. Circular Economy design principles
5. Climate risk and scenario analysis
6. Reporting and disclosure
7. Carbon accounting.
“When communicating sustainability, think of the 4 R's - Revenue, does sustainability grow revenue? Risk - does sustainability reduce business risk? Resilience - Does sustainability make the business more resilient? Reputation - does sustainability enhance my reputation?
Amelia Woodley former C-Suite ESG Director Speedy Hire
So, what role do sustainability leaders have internally? We at edie have dissected the way in which sustainability is viewed – and therefore the role a leader will have - into the following ways:
- Executive: Implementing and delivering an ESG strategy
- Orchestrater: Embedding ESG across the business to deliver wider change
- Influencer: Informing stakeholders of key ESG developments and trying to gain buy-in
- Activist: Disrupting current business approaches to ensure a focus on the planet
- Accountant: Reporting and disclosing performance data and metrics
- Representative: Representing the company at events, building networks and partnerships
What should leaders be doing?
Influencer
Informing stakeholders of key ESG developments and trying to gain buy-in
Now
In five years' time
Executive
Implementing and delivering an ESG strategy
Now
In five years' time
Orchestrater
Embedding ESG across the business to deliver wider change
Now
In five years' time
Accountant
Reporting and disclosing performance data and metrics
Now
In five years' time
Representative
Representative: Representing the company at events, building networks and partnerships
Now
In five years' time
Activist
Disrupting current business approaches to ensure a focus on the planet
Now
In five years' time
What should leaders be doing?
Now
In five years' time
Influencer
Informing stakeholders of key ESG developments and trying to gain buy-in
Informing stakeholders of key ESG developments and trying to gain buy-in
Executive
Implementing and delivering an ESG strategy
Implementing and delivering an ESG strategy
Orchestrater
Embedding ESG across the business to deliver wider change
Embedding ESG across the business to deliver wider change
Accountant
Reporting and disclosing performance data and metrics
Reporting and disclosing performance data and metrics
Representative
Representing the company at events, building networks and partnerships
Representing the company at events, building networks and partnerships
Activist
Disrupting current business approaches to ensure a focus on the planet
Disrupting current business approaches to ensure a focus on the planet
Sustainability leaders see a clear switch in terms of role from those trying to influence decisions now, to those implementing and orchestrating change across the business.
This is what true resurgence looks like. The days of trying to get boardroom attention and embedding actions and responsibilities across the business will need to subside, replaced by a central pillar of leadership representing sustainability.
Teams don’t necessarily need to get bigger; they need more power to implement. As the business case for climate action continues to solidify, resurgence is about capturing the opportunities, positioning them as a business imperative and tying solutions to the needs and remits of other departments.
“Don't wait to be asked! See the need, identify a solution and get started. As others see the shape of what you are trying to achieve, they will join in and with their involvement you will make and scale impact.”
Márcia Balisciano Chief Sustainability Officer RELX Group
© 2025 edie