Careers · executive roles · checked 30 September 2026
Chief sustainability officer: the role the disclosures describe
A chief sustainability officer is the executive who answers for a company’s sustainability position — and the UK rules never mention the title.
What they ask for instead is a description of who oversees sustainability, and how: UK SRS S1 ¶27 asks whether management’s role is delegated to a specific management-level position.
That is where a CSO appears in the annual report, and it is the best way to understand what the role is for.
The role
What a chief sustainability officer is for
A chief sustainability officer sits with the executive team and answers for the company’s sustainability position to the chief executive and the board.
The title is a choice each company makes, and many companies give the work to a head of sustainability or a director instead.
What has changed the role is where the reporting now lives: in the annual report, beside the accounts, prepared for the same reporting entity as the financial statements.
That pulls the CSO towards the finance director and the audit committee, and away from a stand-alone sustainability report.
The work behind the figures — the annual energy and carbon report under SI 2018/1155, the Phase 4 energy audits under the Environment Agency’s ESOS guidance, and carbon accounting — sits in the teams the CSO oversees.
Typical responsibilities
Sustainability strategy and targets, and progress against them.
The sustainability-related and climate-related disclosures in the annual report, with the finance director.
The transition plan, if the company has one.
Investors, ratings agencies and regulators on sustainability questions.
Oversight of the teams that run SECR, ESOS and UK SRS reporting.
The disclosures
What the rules ask a company to say about oversight
UK SRS S1 opens its core content with governance: the objective in ¶26 is for users to understand the processes, controls and procedures a company uses to monitor, manage and oversee sustainability-related risks and opportunities.
Paragraph 27 then asks for two things: the governance body or individual responsible for oversight, and management’s role.
The second limb is where a CSO appears, because it asks whether the role is delegated to a specific management-level position or committee, and how oversight of that position is exercised.
UK SRS S2 asks the same questions about climate.
The standards were published by the Department for Business and Trade on 25 February 2026 for voluntary use.
Under the FCA’s final rules, PS26/19, listed companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22 report against them on a comply-or-explain basis for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, so the governance description becomes something the CSO signs up to in public.
For large companies in scope of the Companies Act climate duty, section 414CB(2A)(a) already requires a description of the company’s governance arrangements for assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities.
See UK SRS S1 and S2 for the rest of what the standards ask, and IFRS S2 for the international original.
(a) The governance body or individual responsible for oversight, and how responsibilities appear in terms of reference and role descriptions, how skills are assured, how often it is informed, how it weighs sustainability in strategy and major transactions, and how it oversees targets — including whether related metrics are in remuneration policies.
(b) Management’s role: whether it is delegated to a specific management-level position or committee, how oversight of that position is exercised, and the controls and procedures management uses.
Source: UK SRS S1 ¶¶26–27
The board’s side
The Governance Code, controls and pay
The UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 applies to companies in the commercial companies and closed-ended investment funds categories.
The FRC decided not to add a sustainability reporting requirement to it, because the listing rules and the Companies Act already require climate-related disclosures.
What it does contain is Provision 29: from financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026, the board declares the effectiveness of material controls, and the FRC says those extend to narrative and ESG reporting controls.
A CSO is usually the executive who has to show the board those controls work.
On pay, UK SRS S1 ¶27(a)(v) asks whether performance metrics related to sustainability targets are included in remuneration policies.
ISEP’s 2025 survey found only 6% of its respondents work in organisations where sustainability targets are linked to remuneration.
The same survey found 48% of sustainability functions now report directly to the board or chief executive.
| Instrument | What it asks | From |
|---|---|---|
| UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 | No sustainability reporting requirement | Financial years beginning 1 January 2025 |
| Code Provision 29 | A board declaration on material controls, including narrative and ESG reporting controls | Financial years beginning 1 January 2026 |
| PS26/19 | State whether a transition plan exists, and where | Periods beginning 1 January 2027 |
| PS26/19 | State whether disclosures were assured, and by whom, to what standard | Periods beginning 1 January 2027 |
Assurance
Assurance: a statement, not a duty
No UK rule requires a company’s sustainability disclosures to be assured.
Under PS26/19 a listed company states whether it obtained third-party assurance and, if it did, names the provider, the disclosures assured and the assurance standards used.
The FRC’s ISSA (UK) 5000, among the FRC’s audit, assurance and ethics standards, governs how an engagement is performed if a company commissions one, and it is for voluntary use.
Whether to commission assurance, and over what, is often the CSO’s recommendation to the audit committee.
The UK SRS transition plans page covers the other statement the rules ask for.
Titles
CSO, director or head: how the roles divide
| Chief sustainability officer | Sustainability director | Head of sustainability | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usual seat | Executive committee | Senior leadership team | Runs the function |
| Answers to | The chief executive and the board | A CSO or the chief executive | A director, the CFO, the COO or a CSO |
| Owns | The sustainability position and its oversight | Strategy and a portfolio of programmes | The inventory, the reporting cycle and the programme |
| In the annual report | Often named in the ¶27(b) description | Sometimes named | Rarely named |
The head of sustainability page sets out the statutory calendar the operating role runs.
For groups that also report in the EU, CSRD and UK SRS compares the two regimes a CSO may answer for.
Pay
What is known about CSO pay
No official statistic reports pay for chief sustainability officers.
The occupational classification places sustainability work in unit group 2152, Environment professionals, whose going rate of £37,200 is a median across the whole occupation and not a guide to an executive.
The IEMA 2022 survey is the nearest evidence: members who were chief executives or senior officials averaged £84,590, against the £111,020 ONS benchmark IEMA set beside it.
IEMA noted that its members in chief executive or senior official roles were typically paid less than non-members in those roles.
ISEP’s 2025 report puts Fellows at £91,911 on average and says 8% of its respondents earn between £100,000 and £200,000.
It also found the gender pay gap at its widest at board or C-suite level, at 15%.
Figures quoted elsewhere for this title without a stated sample are recruitment-market claims rather than statistics; the sustainability salary guide explains what each official and professional-body figure measures.
| Evidence | Figure | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| IEMA 2022, members who are chief executives or senior officials | £84,590 | Members’ average |
| ONS benchmark for that occupation group, as IEMA reported it | £111,020 | All employees in the group, 2021 provisional |
| ISEP 2025, Fellows | £91,911 | Members’ average at the most senior grade |
| ISEP 2025, respondents earning £100,000–£200,000 | 8% | Share of all respondents |
| ISEP 2025, gender pay gap at board or C-suite level | 15% | Men’s average over women’s |
The route in
How people become chief sustainability officers
There is no mandatory qualification.
From the sustainability profession, the recognised marks are ISEP’s senior grades and Chartered Environmentalist status; our guide to becoming a sustainability consultant explains how they are assessed.
From finance, the route is shorter than it was, because UK SRS asks for sustainability-related financial information prepared on the same basis as the accounts.
Many CSOs have run a consultancy practice first; the UK sustainability consultancy guide describes the firms.
Senior appointments usually go through executive search; our guide to sustainability recruitment agencies explains how they work and what the law says about them.
Frequently asked
Chief sustainability officer, answered
What is a chief sustainability officer?
A chief sustainability officer is the executive who answers for a company’s sustainability position: its strategy, its targets, the risks and opportunities it reports, and the function that delivers them. It is a job title, not a statutory office.
What the rules ask about is the arrangement: UK SRS S1 ¶27 asks a company to identify the governance body or individual responsible for oversight and to say whether management’s role is delegated to a specific management-level position, which is where a CSO appears in the annual report.
Do UK companies have to appoint a chief sustainability officer?
None of the instruments that govern UK sustainability reporting — UK SRS, the FCA’s listing rules, the Companies Act climate duty or the UK Corporate Governance Code — asks for a CSO by title.
They ask companies to describe who oversees sustainability-related and climate-related risks and opportunities, and how.
A company may give that role to a board committee, an executive, or both.
What does a UK chief sustainability officer earn?
No official statistic reports pay for the title.
The professional bodies’ surveys give the nearest evidence: IEMA’s 2022 survey found members who were chief executives or senior officials averaged £84,590, against an ONS benchmark of £111,020 for that occupation group; ISEP’s 2025 report puts its Fellows’ average at £91,911 and says 8% of respondents earn between £100,000 and £200,000.
The Home Office going rate for SOC 2152, £37,200, is a median across the whole occupation and says little about an executive.
What does a CSO do?
In practice a CSO sets the sustainability strategy and targets, answers to the board for the company’s disclosures, works with the finance director because sustainability reporting now sits in the annual report, speaks to investors, and oversees the teams that run SECR, ESOS and any UK SRS reporting.
Under UK SRS S1 ¶27(a)(v) a company also discloses whether performance metrics tied to its targets are included in remuneration policies.
What is the difference between a CSO and a head of sustainability?
A CSO usually sits on the executive committee and answers to the chief executive and the board; a head of sustainability usually runs the function and its reporting cycle.
Many companies have a head of sustainability and no CSO.
In the annual report the distinction shows in the governance description UK SRS S1 ¶27 asks for.
What qualifications does a chief sustainability officer need?
None is mandatory.
CSOs come from the sustainability profession, where Chartered Environmentalist status and ISEP membership are the recognised marks, and increasingly from finance and strategy, because UK SRS asks for sustainability-related financial information prepared for the same reporting entity as the financial statements.
Does the UK Corporate Governance Code require sustainability reporting?
No. The FRC says the 2024 Code deliberately adds no sustainability reporting requirement, because the listing rules and the Companies Act already require climate-related disclosures.
Its Provision 29 does ask the board to declare the effectiveness of material controls, including those over narrative and ESG reporting, for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026.
Do listed companies have to publish a transition plan?
No. Under the FCA’s final rules in PS26/19 a listed company states whether it has a climate-related transition plan and, if so, where it can be found; it is not required to have one.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S1 (PDF), ¶¶26–27 (governance)
The governance body or individual responsible for oversight, and management’s role, including delegation to a management-level position.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 (PDF)
The climate standard, which applies the same governance disclosures to climate.
- Department for Business and TradeUK Sustainability Reporting Standards: UK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2
Published 25 February 2026 for voluntary use.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 414CB(2A)(a)
A description of the company’s governance arrangements for assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19: Aligning listed issuers' sustainability disclosures with international standards
Comply-or-explain UK SRS reporting for listed companies from 1 January 2027.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 (PDF), ¶¶1.7, 2.37, 2.45, 3.6, 3.12 and 3.14
The basis, the transition plan and assurance statements, scope, start date and reliefs.
- Financial Reporting CouncilUK Corporate Governance Code 2024
No sustainability reporting requirement; Provision 29’s declaration on controls, including narrative and ESG reporting controls, from 1 January 2026.
- Financial Reporting CouncilAudit, assurance and ethics standards
Where the FRC publishes its assurance standards.
- Financial Reporting CouncilISSA (UK) 5000 (PDF)
The sustainability assurance standard, issued for voluntary use.
- Institute of Sustainability and Environmental ProfessionalsState of the Sustainability Profession 2025 (PDF)
Reporting lines, the link between pay and sustainability targets, and senior salaries.
- Institute of Sustainability and Environmental ProfessionalsThe shape of sustainability: State of the Profession 2025 findings
The pay gap at board or C-suite level.
- IEMA (now ISEP)State of the Profession Survey 2022 (PDF)
Members who are chief executives or senior officials, set against the ONS benchmark.
- Home OfficeImmigration Rules Appendix Skilled Occupations, Table 1
SOC 2152 Environment professionals, going rate £37,200.
- Office for National StatisticsStandard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2020
How the official statistics group sustainability jobs.