Systemic risks, competition and resilience: What CSOs should focus on in a sustainability 'recession'
‘ESG’ may be experiencing backlash, but there’s no coming out of the multiple crises the world is facing without sustainability. Here’s how Chief Sustainability Officers can make their case among less receptive business leaders.
After a few years of booming interest in corporate sustainability, the pendulum appears to have swung the other way. US President Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuels energy policies, DEI and climate change censorship and tariff wars have deflated companies and financial institutions’ enthusiasm for climate action. And the trend is not limited to the US: even in Europe, regulators are drastically revising corporate sustainability requirements.
Sustainability teams are being restructured, with some employees being laid off and others quitting in disappointment upon seeing their mandate and influence reduced.
As former Decathlon CSO Anna Turrell recently told CSO Futures, “this time feels different”.
It’s clear the sustainability world needs to readjust its strategy: even board directors are recognising that company mindsets need to radically change. But this is exactly why some see this as a tremendous opportunity to kickstart a new, power-charged era of sustainability action – with CSOs as the driving force.
