The sustainability function has moved from reporting to operations. Boards want Chief Sustainability Officers who can change how the business designs, builds and buys, as well as how it discloses. The role now sits closer to strategy, operations and finance, and the leader it needs has changed with it.

Three kinds of role

Before we search, we help the client decide whether the role is primarily strategic, operational or disclosure led. A strategic role shapes the company's direction and its engagement with investors. An operational role drives decarbonisation and circular practices through the business. A disclosure led role builds the data, controls and reporting that regulators and investors now expect. Each needs a different leader, and clarity at the start makes the search precise.

A sustainability leader creates change through peers who do not report to them.

Influence without authority

Most sustainability leaders deliver through colleagues in operations, procurement, finance and product, who report elsewhere. The capability that distinguishes the strongest candidates is influence: the ability to move peers with evidence, commercial reasoning and persistence. We assess it directly, through references from those peers.

What we assess

  • Framework depth. Command of the reporting and disclosure standards that apply to the business.
  • Emissions rigour. Measurement, targets and programmes that have delivered reductions.
  • Disclosure readiness. Data, controls and assurance built to investor and regulatory standards.
  • Board level engagement. The ability to advise directors and committees with clarity.
  • Influence across the organisation, verified with peers.

Aligning the sustainability appointment

Aligned Acquisition is especially valuable here, because the mandate is often still being defined when the search begins. We agree it with the board and the chief executive first: the kind of role, the priorities for the first two years and the measures of progress. The capability evidence then follows, and the culture alignment considers how ready the organisation is to change the way it operates. A leader aligned on all three can move sustainability from commitment to practice.

The best sustainability appointments are made by boards that have decided what they want the role to change. We help them reach that decision before the first approach.