The number of women holding chief sustainability officer roles has grown since 2011, when recruiting firm Weinreb Group found that men held 72% of these positions, with women accounting for 10 of the 29 CSO roles at the time. In 2020, women CSOs made up 54% of the total jobs.
Sustainability leadership trends toward female employees, with the number of women holding a vice president role growing from 31% to 51% from 2011 and 2020, and woman sustainability directors increase from 37% to 55% during the same time period. The number of female managers in sustainability has seen the largest increase, going from 39% to 63%.
Research has found that women are more likely to hold concerns about the environment and have stronger opinions about climate compared to men, so they’re more likely to be drawn to roles that focus on related issues. Organizations with more women on the board are more likely to invest in low-carbon products, energy efficiency and renewable power sources, and women-led companies have higher ESG scores.
We need more women in leadership positions across all sectors and jobs, period,” says Amazon’s CSO Kara Hurst. “Do I want more women in sustainability? Also yes. I hope that women exploring different career paths today can see the growing number of women leading sustainability efforts across global companies as a point of inspiration and pride.”
