The CSO at an Inflection Point: Evolving Mandate, Expanding Accountability

What It Is: A 2026 research study led by former Chief Sustainability Officer at Kenvue, with prior CSO roles at Mattel and L'Oréal — produced with Sustainable Brands, examining how the Chief Sustainability Officer role is evolving into a strategic enterprise leadership position spanning risk, financial performance, and value creation. 

Why It Matters: Argues that the CSO mandate is "expanding faster than the systems designed to support it," now touching purpose, stakeholders, regulation, and geopolitics rather than environmental performance alone. Accountability requires CSO's to both invest in critical knowledge and competencies and elevate attention when the role cannot keep pace with expectations.  

How to Use It: Useful for benchmarking whether your own sustainability or CPR function has the internal authority, reporting lines, and cross-functional integration that this expanded mandate requires — worth revisiting once the full findings are available.