9 July, 2026
As corporations face mounting pressure from investors, regulators, and consumers to address climate risk and meet net-zero commitments, a new executive has moved into the C-suite spotlight: the chief sustainability officer. So what does a CSO do, and why has the position become a fixture at major companies that didn’t previously have one?
This article explains the responsibilities, skills, advancement pathways, and market demand shaping the CSO role for professionals considering a career in sustainability leadership.
Jump to the sections that interest you most:
- What is a chief sustainability officer?
- Why CSOs matter today
- CSO vs. head of sustainability: What’s the difference?
- What do CSOs do?
- The role of the CSO in corporate strategy
- Career outlook, industry landscape, and earning potential
- How to become a CSO
What Is a Chief Sustainability Officer?
A chief sustainability officer is a senior executive responsible for setting and overseeing a company’s sustainability strategy at the enterprise level. Typically reporting to the CEO and board of directors, the CSO aligns environmental and social priorities with business objectives. As a C-suite role, the CSO has a clear level of authority in business compared to the outdated narrow interpretations of corporate sustainability work.
The CSO connects operations, finance, government affairs, and external audiences to manage areas like:
- Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy
- Climate-risk management
- Regulatory engagement
- Stakeholder reporting
Over time, the position has shifted from a reputational function to one that shapes capital allocation and long-term strategic planning.
Why Chief Sustainability Officers Matter in Today’s Sustainability Landscape
Several pressures have moved sustainability from a corporate responsibility function to a board-level concern:
- Institutional investors, asset managers, and ESG rating agencies now see environmental social and governance performance as a key factor in valuation.
- The SEC’s climate disclosure rules, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and growing state-level mandates have made regulatory engagement a continuous executive responsibility rather than a periodic compliance exercise.
- Volatile energy markets and rising input costs have made efficiency a financial priority, putting the sustainable energy transition at the center of operational planning.
- Net-zero and decarbonization commitments require credible roadmaps, capital plans, and accountability, which fall to the CSO to design and defend.
Chief Sustainability Officer vs. Head of Sustainability
In smaller companies, where a CSO may not be as crucial, there is still a benefit to having someone manage broad-scoping sustainability strategy. Where a CSO focuses on executive-level strategy with direct reports managing implementation, a head of sustainability wears both hats.
| Chief Sustainability Officer | Head of Sustainability |
|---|---|
| C-suite executive, often reports to the CEO or board | Senior manager or director, often reports into the CSO or another C-suite leader |
| Sets enterprise-wide sustainability strategy and is accountable for it | Executes programs, oversees day-to-day initiatives, and manages reporting workflows |
| Engages directly with investors, regulators, and the board | Engages primarily with internal teams and external partners on implementation |
| Influences capital allocation and long-term planning | Operationalizes targets set at the executive level |
In energy-intensive, heavily regulated industries, sustainability leadership often sits alongside policy work. Eric Zito, a Johns Hopkins University Master of Arts in Sustainable Energy (online) alumnus, holds a combined role as head of government affairs and sustainability at HVACR manufacturer Lennox.
In an environment where regulations are informed by sustainability consideration, the connection between policy and sustainability is much clearer than it ever has been: “Increasingly, state and federal regulations are driven by sustainability considerations. This connection between sustainability and regulations is the reason these dual roles fall under my responsibility,” says Zito.
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What Does a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) Actually Do?
The CSO role centers on translating sustainability commitments into measurable business outcomes. A typical CSO splits their time between long-term strategy, regulatory and investor engagement, and the operational work of embedding environmental and social considerations into how the company runs.
Their core accountabilities generally include:
- Setting and overseeing ESG strategy
- Managing climate-risk identification and disclosure
- Leading sustainability reporting aligned with frameworks like CDP and TCFD
- Engaging external stakeholders
- Embedding sustainability into operations
- Coordinating cross-functional teams
At HVACR manufacturers like Lennox, for instance, sustainability leaders align product portfolios with evolving efficiency standards and emissions regulations, linking long-term product strategy directly to regulatory reality, and therefore to business outcomes.
“The most significant long-term trend in the HVACR industry is the decarbonization of heating and cooling. This transition is happening over a long time horizon, but technical innovations and regulatory changes are happening rapidly now. An understanding of sustainable energy systems and policies is crucial to guide manufacturers in decarbonizing the built environment,” says Zito.
How CSOs Shape Corporate Strategy and Decision-Making
CSOs influence decisions well beyond their own function, shaping how the company allocates resources and manages risk over the long term:
- Capital allocation planning
- Investment decisions
- Supply chain strategy
- Product development and R&D priorities
- M&A diligence
- Risk assessment
- Financial reporting
- Investor relations
What Skills Are Needed to Become a CSO?
“For sustainability strategy to be successful in any company, it must be closely tied to the business fundamentals. A sustainability leader needs to understand how the business operates and which aspects of sustainability are most material to the enterprise. Sustainability leaders today need to be resilient and persistent, as the landscape and priorities change frequently.”
Sustainability work can only succeed when it is tied to the business fundamentals, which means leaders need to know how to integrate sustainable practices into the actual operations of the business in an affordable and accessible, yet high-impact, way.
In order to do this, sustainability leaders need to have a wide-ranging toolkit:
- Policy analysis
- Regulatory literacy
- Data interpretation
- Financial and economic fluency
- Cross-functional communication
- Storytelling for stakeholder alignment
- People and project leadership
- Market-based strategy
- Resilience and adaptability
Graduate curricula that combine policy and market-strategy training are designed to build this kind of interdisciplinary foundation. As Zito says, “[sustainability leaders] should be skilled at working across all functions of the company and all levels of the organization.”
What Is the Career Outlook and Market Demand for CSO Roles?
Demand for sustainability leadership has expanded rapidly over the past decade. PwC’s analysis of executive appointments found that more CSOs were appointed at the world’s largest companies in 2021 than in the previous five years combined, and the trend has since extended into mid-market firms.
In the future, it is anticipated that the position will expand further into supply chain oversight and product strategy, with companies prioritizing executives who combine sustainability expertise with financial and policy fluency. So, while political and regulatory shifts will reshape priorities from year to year, the underlying drivers point toward sustained demand for leaders who can navigate a frequently changing landscape.
What Types of Companies Hire CSOs?
CSO appointments are most prevalent in industries with significant environmental footprints, regulatory exposure, or investor scrutiny:
- Energy and utilities
- Manufacturing, including HVACR, automotive, and industrials
- Financial services and asset management
- Consumer goods and retail
- Technology
- Real estate
- Healthcare
While the role originated at large public companies and highly regulated industries, mid-market firms and private equity portfolios increasingly appoint CSOs to meet investor expectations and prepare for evolving disclosure requirements.
What Is the Average Salary of a Chief Sustainability Officer?
Chief sustainability officer salary figures vary widely depending on company size, industry, and public or private status. ONET reports a median annual wage of $206,680 for CSOs, with the top 10 percent earning more than $239,200. Total compensation for CSOs at large public companies is likely considerability higher once equity and performance components are factored in.
How Do You Become a Chief Sustainability Officer?
There is no single path to becoming a CSO. The role draws from a range of disciplines, and most sitting CSOs have accumulated their credibility through varied operational and strategic roles before stepping into executive sustainability leadership.
Common backgrounds include:
- Business and general management
- Operations and supply chain
- Policy and government affairs
- Sustainability and environmental science
- Engineering or finance as adjacent entry points
Eric Zito’s trajectory at Lennox illustrates how a cross-functional pathway unfolds in practice. He moved through various roles at Lennox, discovering that he enjoyed “tackling problems from a ‘whole business’ perspective.” That’s why he ended up transitioning into product management, where he learned how to use that truly cross-functional perspective to balance customers, sales, operations, and bottom-line results. In that role, he found that long-term product strategy was significantly shaped by government regulation and energy policy.
That gap in his organization’s leadership drew him toward sustainability leadership, and to Johns Hopkins: “I decided it would be worthwhile to invest in formal education in [sustainable energy]. I ended up selecting the Johns Hopkins program specifically because of the quality of instruction on sustainable energy and the focus on policy that would be very valuable for a potential next career step into government affairs.”
Zito’s trajectory demonstrates how CSOs typically grow into the role through broad cross-functional experience rather than a linear specialist track. For professionals charting that course, building the breadth of experience and the policy fluency that the role increasingly requires is the best course of action.
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About the MA in Sustainable Energy (online) Program at Johns Hopkins SAIS
Provided by a top global university, the Master of Arts in Sustainable Energy (online) at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) was created to help professionals gain the expertise needed to answer questions about how we can become more effective in our transition to sustainable energy.
Students have the opportunity to improve their base of knowledge and their critical thinking skills, helping them rise to leadership positions in their respective fields. This program equips graduates with the interdisciplinary expertise needed to lead energy transitions that are technically sound, economically viable, and socially equitable.
Developed with input from expert faculty, industry leaders and sustainable energy employers, the program and its courses are taught by highly experienced researchers and professionals. Students in the Johns Hopkins SAIS benefit not only from the expertise and industry connections of our faculty but also from our network of 230,000+ alumni.
