Why sustainability belongs at the heart of business strategy (not as an afterthought)

For many organisations, sustainability has never had a single, settled home.

We work with companies in which the sustainability team reports into marketing, corporate affairs, finance, compliance, operations and more – sometimes all of the above at different points in time. Yet, despite this variety of structures, a common frustration remains: sustainability still too often struggles to shape the decisions that matter most.

This isn’t because sustainability lacks ambition, evidence or expertise; it’s because the real shift required isn’t organisational – it’s strategic.

The question leaders should be grappling with is not where sustainability sits, but whether sustainability strategy is genuinely used to inform business strategy.

Sustainability has long been standalone – but not always used strategically

In many organisations, sustainability has operated as a dedicated, standalone function. That focus has been important – it has built expertise, driven progress, enabled transparency and kept long-term issues visible in fast-moving businesses.

But it brings limitations. 

Even well-resourced sustainability teams can find themselves adjacent to decision-making rather than embedded within it – consulted late, asked to sense-check or brought in once key choices have already been made.

This isn’t a failure of sustainability leaders, it’s a question of mandate and alignment.

Without explicit permission to shape priorities and trade-offs, sustainability risks becoming something the organisation supports, rather than something it actively uses as part of a resilient, future-fit growth strategy.

Strategy is where trade-offs are made – and sustainability increasingly defines them

Business strategy is the place where difficult choices are surfaced and resolved:

• What to invest in
• Which markets to grow or exit
• How much risk to accept – and where
• Which capabilities to build for the long term.

Increasingly, sustainability is central to these decisions.

Climate risk, resource constraints, regulatory scrutiny, talent expectations, product relevance – these are no longer peripheral concerns. They are shaping strategic trade-offs now, not in some distant future.

This is why sustainability strategy has become inseparable from business strategy, regardless of which function it reports into.

When sustainability informs strategy, it helps leadership teams:

• make clearer prioritisation decisions;
• balance short-term pressure with long-term resilience;
• understand where value is genuinely being created or eroded; and
• achieve meaningful market differentiation. 

When it doesn’t, organisations often experience friction: ambition without traction, progress without confidence and decisions that quietly undermine publicly stated goals.

Strategic use of sustainability matters more than organisational location

It’s tempting to assume that sustainability only becomes strategic when it sits within a particular function – finance, for example, or the executive team.

In reality, how sustainability is used matters far more than where it sits.

In forward-looking organisations, sustainability is already shaping strategy from a variety of starting points.

Take the example of giffgaff. Rather than treating sustainability as a branding exercise or a values signal, sustainability insight was used in the development of its recently launched broadband product to shape features that respond to customer needs and constraints. 

The result was a set of product and investment decisions shaped directly by what giffgaff members told us mattered to them. In particular, concerns about the accelerating degradation of nature helped inform a decision to commit to a multi-year nature restoration programme. 

Designed in close proximity to the broadband member footprint, the programme will focus on strengthening local ecosystems while reducing longer-term risks from flooding and wildfire for surrounding communities. It reflects a deliberate choice to respond to member priorities in a way that delivers lasting environmental and social value – while also investing in the long-term resilience of the places the product depends on.

This work doesn’t depend on being a “purpose-driven” brand. Nor does it rely on sustainability rhetoric.

It’s about embedding sustainability into decision-making to design better products, reduce future risk and make choices that hold up over time.

That is sustainability operating as strategy – wherever it lives. Read more about how we helped giffgaff accelerate and amplify its deep commitment to transforming the connectivity market with the planet in mind.

The evolving role of sustainability leaders

As sustainability becomes more strategic, the role of sustainability leaders is evolving too.

The shift is subtle, but significant:

• from owning outcomes to enabling better decisions
• from advocating to integrating
• from operating at the edges to working alongside strategy, product, finance and leadership teams

In organisations like giffgaff, sustainability leaders act less as custodians of a separate agenda and more as strategic business partners – bringing insight, framing trade-offs, and helping teams see around corners.

This may feel uncomfortable as the organisation gets used to it, but this is where sustainability leadership has the greatest impact.

Leadership and shareholder alignment are the real accelerators of sustainability strategy

Where sustainability genuinely shapes strategy, there is almost always strong alignment at the top.

Boards and executive teams that recognise sustainability as a source of resilience – not just responsibility – create the conditions for it to be used well. Shareholder alignment matters too, particularly when trade-offs are real and timelines extend beyond quarterly cycles.

Without this alignment, sustainability teams are left navigating uncertainty: unsure how far they can go, when to push and which priorities will ultimately be supported.

With it, sustainability strategy moves from being adjacent to decision-making to becoming part of how strategy is formed.

Sustainability doesn’t move into strategy – it becomes part of it

The most effective organisations aren’t “relocating” sustainability from one function to another. They are embedding sustainability into business strategy and everyday decision-making;  across leadership, governance, product development and operations.

When that happens, sustainability stops feeling like an additional burden and starts functioning as a strategic capability: helping organisations prioritise, adapt and build resilience in uncertain conditions.

Sustainability is already shaping strategy in many organisations. The question now is whether it’s being used deliberately – or left to influence outcomes by accident.

At Greenheart, we work as a trusted sustainability partner, helping organisations embed sustainability strategy into decision-making and leadership – wherever it sits.

If you’re navigating this shift – and want to sense-check how sustainability is really being used in your organisation – we’re always open to a conversation. Often, clarity starts simply by talking it through.