Historically, anything outside the realm of maximizing returns has remained outside the focus and attention of the C-suite. That is beginning to change as corporations grasp the importance of investing in sustainability and appointing a C-suite chief sustainability officer (CSO) with the responsibility of driving the planning and execution of a company's sustainability strategy. 

However, the CSO and their team remain a relatively low proportion of an organization’s workforce. Moreover, CSOs are often relegated to a narrow scope of influence and impact, making sustainability a departmental responsibility instead of something that can create real impact across the organization. The reality is that sustainability is seen as a far-away aspiration, cost center or, at best, a strategy much lower on the priority list—especially in an uncertain economic climate.

In addition to making up more than half of the workforce, according to some sources, millennials are also keen to consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work. As millennials continue to increase and dominate the lion’s share of the workforce, their buying power and, by association, influence will grow.