CFO clarion call: From financial stewardship to custodian of ESG strategy

Trista Chen and Jaideep Das

WITH the relentless pace of environment, social and governance (ESG) imperatives infiltrating company playbooks across strategy, finance and operations, the chief financial officer (CFO) sits in an immense position of change. ESG is fundamentally a financial discipline in which material opportunities and risks need to be tracked, quantified, managed, mitigated and invested in, and inherently why CFOs must take ownership. 

ESG ownership is no longer bound to the chief sustainability officer (CSO) or the chief operating officer (COO). The CFO’s role has changed considerably after the pandemic as public and governmental awareness of ESG challenges has matured. We anticipate the seismic transformation to address pressing ESG challenges will require deeper CFO involvement to provide the required financial and human capital investments. Over the mid-to-long term, the CFO will not only emerge as a link to ESG counterparts CSO and COO but ultimately become the custodian of ESG strategy.