First, Congrats on your new role as Cuyahoga's Chief of Staff for Climate and Sustainability! As a civic leader and, may I say, former sustainability generalist, who has gone more in-depth with ESG and other sustainability accounting metrics, you have done amazing work for the City of Cleveland, NEORSD, Eaton, and now we can't wait for your impact on the county at large!
You have been in the sustainability leadership positions long enough to know that, yes, the 'unicorn' staff is hard to find, if not non-existent. Other than in perhaps CEO positions or the like, who are ultimately responsible for financial bottom lines, the company's marketing and vision direction, and risk aversion/sustainability of sustainability minded companies. These companies can be smaller- mom & pop or local companies, like Rust Belt Riders and Rid-All to national and global distribution companies like Patagonia, Seventh Generation, and Dr. Bronners, who are disruptors or game-changers in their sectors of waste management, textile, or home goods. These professionals combine the know-how of many specialists and sustainability generalist, combined with practical leadership to create the 'unicorn'.
In the staff aspect, staff are often hired to do specific jobs-- just finances, just reporting, just engineering, etc. Yes, each can be trained on 'do less harm' ratings, like ESG for businesses, STARS for Universities, HERS or LEED for builders and cities, but we all know many of these rating's top ratings fall short of 'true sustainability', which, in short, is doing things in a way that can last 10+ generations.
So alas, as a Sustainability Professional Leader, you have a challenge of balancing the 'status quo' sustainability and climate goals of current rating systems of your industry, vs. 'true sustainability'. And you get to decide if 'true sustainability' is financially feasible, socially feasible, and a real or practical engineered solution. Secondly, if true sustainability is not attainable, you get to identify, campaign, then track the best practical, most sustainable solutions, beyond ESG or other metrics.
I agree with you, ESG is a gateway for certain functions to be more sustainable. It helps create the internal skill sets and mindsets to become more 'true sustainability'. As a leader, once you implement and promote staff to become more familiar with sustainability rating systems, it is then your job to take it a step further. Because without getting into too much detail, we (in the true/scientific & holistic/triple bottom line sustainability field) all know that the GHG emissions reduction standards for example, is not going to solve Climate Change completely and in many cases not enough in a meaningful way. We also know that adding diversity in your staff, doesn't mean your institution is not participating in an exploitive system. Or access to healthcare, doesn't mean you as an institution stopped or addressed core systems that actually cause or are known to help cause certain health problems, such as depression, obesity, and cancers.
Regarding the 'ESG Controller', citizens and consumers need to be wary of any institution that employs this type of position. It's basically an ESG professional, with an extra legal lens and enough experience, to help mitigate lawsuits/risk. Its not meant to optimize sustainability; other than to optimize the longevity of company that is not-so sustainability principled. So, this type of professional leans more towards the greenwashing end, than a true sustainability professional.
In conclusion, I hope leaders like you are able to keep, 'bridging the gap' between traditional roles and the sustainability skillsets in each of the respective areas. I hope you and others like you in leadership positions are able to keep learning and networking to find the industry's, 'best practices' in 'true sustainability'. And noting, as a 'global sustainability' specialist who in practicality, works to implement more city, county, state, national and school/university level solutions, true sustainability looks different for a city vs. a rural county or town, but hopefully collectively we can continue to report, account for, and work towards the balance of 'true sustainability'.
I love your insights here and also the challenge for me and others to keep true to our purpose as sustainability leaders while continually Re-steering as needed. I like this thoughtful framing. It’s worth a few reads.
Hi Jenita!
First, Congrats on your new role as Cuyahoga's Chief of Staff for Climate and Sustainability! As a civic leader and, may I say, former sustainability generalist, who has gone more in-depth with ESG and other sustainability accounting metrics, you have done amazing work for the City of Cleveland, NEORSD, Eaton, and now we can't wait for your impact on the county at large!
You have been in the sustainability leadership positions long enough to know that, yes, the 'unicorn' staff is hard to find, if not non-existent. Other than in perhaps CEO positions or the like, who are ultimately responsible for financial bottom lines, the company's marketing and vision direction, and risk aversion/sustainability of sustainability minded companies. These companies can be smaller- mom & pop or local companies, like Rust Belt Riders and Rid-All to national and global distribution companies like Patagonia, Seventh Generation, and Dr. Bronners, who are disruptors or game-changers in their sectors of waste management, textile, or home goods. These professionals combine the know-how of many specialists and sustainability generalist, combined with practical leadership to create the 'unicorn'.
In the staff aspect, staff are often hired to do specific jobs-- just finances, just reporting, just engineering, etc. Yes, each can be trained on 'do less harm' ratings, like ESG for businesses, STARS for Universities, HERS or LEED for builders and cities, but we all know many of these rating's top ratings fall short of 'true sustainability', which, in short, is doing things in a way that can last 10+ generations.
So alas, as a Sustainability Professional Leader, you have a challenge of balancing the 'status quo' sustainability and climate goals of current rating systems of your industry, vs. 'true sustainability'. And you get to decide if 'true sustainability' is financially feasible, socially feasible, and a real or practical engineered solution. Secondly, if true sustainability is not attainable, you get to identify, campaign, then track the best practical, most sustainable solutions, beyond ESG or other metrics.
I agree with you, ESG is a gateway for certain functions to be more sustainable. It helps create the internal skill sets and mindsets to become more 'true sustainability'. As a leader, once you implement and promote staff to become more familiar with sustainability rating systems, it is then your job to take it a step further. Because without getting into too much detail, we (in the true/scientific & holistic/triple bottom line sustainability field) all know that the GHG emissions reduction standards for example, is not going to solve Climate Change completely and in many cases not enough in a meaningful way. We also know that adding diversity in your staff, doesn't mean your institution is not participating in an exploitive system. Or access to healthcare, doesn't mean you as an institution stopped or addressed core systems that actually cause or are known to help cause certain health problems, such as depression, obesity, and cancers.
Regarding the 'ESG Controller', citizens and consumers need to be wary of any institution that employs this type of position. It's basically an ESG professional, with an extra legal lens and enough experience, to help mitigate lawsuits/risk. Its not meant to optimize sustainability; other than to optimize the longevity of company that is not-so sustainability principled. So, this type of professional leans more towards the greenwashing end, than a true sustainability professional.
In conclusion, I hope leaders like you are able to keep, 'bridging the gap' between traditional roles and the sustainability skillsets in each of the respective areas. I hope you and others like you in leadership positions are able to keep learning and networking to find the industry's, 'best practices' in 'true sustainability'. And noting, as a 'global sustainability' specialist who in practicality, works to implement more city, county, state, national and school/university level solutions, true sustainability looks different for a city vs. a rural county or town, but hopefully collectively we can continue to report, account for, and work towards the balance of 'true sustainability'.
I love your insights here and also the challenge for me and others to keep true to our purpose as sustainability leaders while continually Re-steering as needed. I like this thoughtful framing. It’s worth a few reads.