Climate Week 2019 – the largest global event on climate action – proved that sustainability has ascended to the top of the agenda of the world’s biggest companies. More than half of midsized business in Britain (57.5%) say that sustainability is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ influential in their decision making and Edelman’s 2019 Trust barometer showed that 76% of the general population agreed that business leaders should take a lead on issues such as sustainability and climate change.
Another sign of the increasing weight associated with sustainability is the growth of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), charged with provided dedicated leadership in business matters relating to sustainability. Companies such as P&G, Nike and H&M have all led the charge on appointing CSOs to drive their respective sustainability initiatives and, as more businesses seek to get to grips with the demands of an effective strategy, the number of companies creating the role and giving them genuine power to implement change is likely to increase significantly.
