home
frankly speaking podcast

#59 Laura Gitman: Which Future for Sustainability Leadership in the Company?

Is the role of the corporate chief sustainability officer at a crossroads? Listen to Laura Gitman, Chief Impact Officer at BSR.

According to the renowned Business for Social Responsibility’s latest report, it is. The report is based on detailed interviews with chief sustainability officers in 31 companies worldwide and represents 30 years of combined experience in responsible business from the report's authors.

To discuss the future of companies’ Chief Sustainability Officer, Richard Howitt welcomes Laura Gitman, one of the report’s co-authors and Chief Impact Officer at Business for Social Responsibility. BSR is the world's oldest sustainability consultancy, and it's currently working with a network of 300 businesses.

In today’s Frankly Speaking episode, you will hear more about:

  • How has the profession evolved in the last 15 years
  • The turbulences that companies and Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) have been facing
  • If CSOs are really burnt-out or 
  • The potential of CSOs to drive the business beyond compliance
  • The future of sustainability leadership within companies

... and more!

Listen in and follow us on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠!

"We think that the chief sustainability officer is pretty uniquely positioned to be the one to think beyond compliance and to think about these other components. We hope that they are given the budget, the space, the flexibility and the freedom to do what they're best suited for while the company institutionalises the expectations of the new regulatory environment."

Laura Gitman in Frankly Speaking

You may also like these episodes

34:25

#38 Nele Meyer: EU Due Diligence Rules Unpicked and Predictions for 2024

Listen to Nele Meyer, director of the European Coalition for Corporate Justice European network of NGOs which undertake advocacy on issues of corporate accountability.

33:04

#37 Maria Mendiluce: An Inside View of COP28 - What Are the Implications for Business?

Listen to Maria Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition and one 2023 world’s top 100 Climate leaders.

38:58

#36 Caroline Rees: Does Corporate Sustainability Reporting Really Make a Difference?

Listen to Caroline Rees, President and co-Founder of Shift, the leading center of expertise on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.