Should your Company have its own Sustainability Team?
Most companies are now aiming to operate more sustainably, but to achieve this should they be employing their own sustainability staff?
There are a number of reasons why companies are hiring their own sustainability staff, including ESG reporting for regulatory compliance, enhancing their tender success rates, they are purpose led or understand a sustainable company is a more profitable company.
Below is a breakdown of the benefits of recruiting a sustainability team and also what the options might be:
✅ 1. Strategic Alignment
Sustainability is becoming a business driver, not just compliance. A sustainability function helps align environmental and social initiatives with your broader company strategy — ensuring sustainability is not an afterthought but integrated into operations, product development, culture and long term planning.
✅ 2. Risk Management
Sustainability is not just about reputation, it is about managing tangible risks:
Regulatory compliance (e.g. carbon reporting, waste disposal, supply chain ethics)
Climate-related financial risks
Resource scarcity
A dedicated function can anticipate and mitigate these risks proactively.
✅ 3. Stakeholder Expectations
Customers, investors, regulators, and employees increasingly demand transparency and action on ESG issues. A sustainability function enables consistent communication, reporting, and engagement with these stakeholders.
✅ 4. Competitive Advantage
Sustainable practices can:
Reduce costs (e.g. improved energy efficiency or waste reduction)
Circular economy helps generate new revenue streams
Open new markets
Attract ESG-conscious investors
Help recruit and retain staff, sustainability to proven to enhance candidate attraction and reduce attrition rates.
Companies with strong sustainability functions are often perceived as more innovative and resilient.
✅ 5. Measurement and Accountability
Having a dedicated team ensures:
Standardised data collection and reporting (e.g. for carbon footprint, DEI metrics)
Clear KPIs and goals (e.g. net-zero targets)
Continuous improvement and benchmarking
These all help in gaining sustainability certifications such as B Corp and EcoVadis.
✅ 6. Cross-Functional Coordination
Sustainability impacts all areas: supply chain, operations, HR, marketing, finance. A centralised function can coordinate efforts across departments to avoid duplication or conflict.
Does every business need a dedicated sustainability team?
You might delay forming a full team if:
You're a very small company with limited impact and resources
You're in an early growth phase and need to prioritise core operations
You're integrating sustainability through another existing role (e.g. operations or compliance)
Still, even then, you should assign sustainability responsibility to a specific person or team — even if it’s part-time or under a broader function.
Common approaches to building a Sustainability function in your company:
Dedicated sustainability team - (often under strategy, operations or corporate affairs).
Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)or Sustainability Director - leadership at the executive level, delivering strategy and ensuring accountability.
Cross-functional working group - where sustainability goals are embedded into each department (finance, operations, HR, procurement / supply chain).
Hybrid - A small core sustainability team that coordinates with other functions.
Mixed – Single sustainability executive or manager supported by consultancies for SME expertise.
As a result of the above points many companies find that the sustainability team “pays for itself” with the benefits they bring to the business outweighing the costs, additionally that there is a competitive advantage to being ahead of the curve in building one.
While these benefits are not instantaneous, sustainability is becoming strategically essential to future proofing your company and therefore a business imperative for companies looking to sustain growth.