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Sustainability Execs Gain Corporate Prominence

4 January 2010:

A new type of executive is emerging across all businesses, ranging from real estate brokerage firms to giant retailers, as they deal with climate change, attract eco-conscious customers and implement alternative energy programs while meeting new regulations, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Sustainability officers are succeeding the diversity managers and innovation specialists of the 1990s with an equal focus on corporate responsibility, public relations and profit, reports the Los Angeles Times.

However, according to a report from the Sustainable Enterprise Institute, among companies in the Russell 1000 Index, only 125 have an executive level committee with responsibility for corporate social responsibility or environmental, health and safety oversight.

In some cases, like David Pogue, at LA real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis, who was assigned the job to make the firm more energy efficient and environmentally conscious, he had to learn on the job, which included attending “green” conferences and spending hours of reading about the green industry, according to the article.