What Do Chief Sustainability Officers Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Job Description

Chief Sustainability Officers communicate and coordinate with management, shareholders, customers, and employees to address sustainability issues. Enact or oversee a corporate sustainability strategy. They also develop or execute strategies to address issues such as energy use, resource conservation, recycling, pollution reduction, waste elimination, transportation, education, and building design.

Other tasks include:

• Supervise employees or volunteers working on sustainability projects.
• Research environmental sustainability issues, concerns, or stakeholder interests.
• Develop methodologies to assess the viability or success of sustainability initiatives.
• Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of sustainability programs.
• Evaluate and approve proposals for sustainability projects, considering factors such as cost effectiveness, technical feasibility, and integration with other initiatives.
• Develop, or oversee the development of, marketing or outreach media for sustainability projects or events.

We asked Chief Sustainability Officers how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

---

75% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 62% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.

Featured Schools

Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Chief Sustainability Officers supervise employees or volunteers working on sustainability projects. They research environmental sustainability issues, concerns, or stakeholder interests.

A typical day for a Chief Sustainability Officer will also include:

• Develop or execute strategies to address issues such as energy use, resource conservation, recycling, pollution reduction, waste elimination, transportation, education, and building design.
• Direct sustainability program operations to ensure compliance with environmental or governmental regulations.
• Create and maintain sustainability program documents, such as schedules and budgets.
• Review sustainability program objectives, progress, or status to ensure compliance with policies, standards, regulations, or laws.
• Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of sustainability programs.

We asked some Chief Sustainability Officers a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

	Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job?	88% said yes
	How important is it to work in a team in this job?	52% said very important
	Do you have group discussions everyday in this job?	80% said yes
	Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job?	23% said yes
	Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job?	0% said yes
	Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job?	16% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Chief Sustainability Officers also identify educational, training, or other development opportunities for sustainability employees or volunteers. They may also develop sustainability reports, presentations, or proposals for supplier, employee, academia, media, government, public interest, or other groups.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Chief Sustainability Officers Create and maintain sustainability program documents, such as schedules and budgets. They might also Research environmental sustainability issues, concerns, or stakeholder interests.

In addition, they Develop methodologies to assess the viability or success of sustainability initiatives.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Write project proposals, grant applications, or other documents to pursue funding for environmental initiatives.

To some Chief Sustainability Officers, it is also their responsibility to Conduct risk assessments related to sustainability and the environment.

Working life

More than 40 hours per week

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as a Chief Sustainability Officer, you can expect to work more than 40 hours per week.

Is this right for me

People who are suitable for this job tends to like starting up and carrying out projects. They like leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business..

They also like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

You can read more about these career personality types here.

Explore other careers

http://www.bls.gov/OOH/management/top-executives.htm

http://www.amanet.org/

https://nma1.org/

http://www.fma.org/