Are you ready to be a sustainability expert as CFO?

If you think sustainability belonged to another area in your organization, think again!  Social and environmental resolutions comprised 40 percent of all shareholder proposals in 2011, according to a recent Ernst & Young report, up from 30 percent in 2010.  Ernst & Young also noted in a statement. “Increasingly, a company’s sustainability story is being heard and read by the same stakeholders who read its annual report. Furthermore, the line between accounting records and sustainability records has begun to blur. These factors are creating a need for CFOs to incorporate sustainability thinking into their regular activities.

Here are five ways CFOs should build corporate value through sustainability:

1. Actively pursue sustainability and a reporting program.
2. Ensure that those responsible for sustainability matters do not operate in isolation from the rest of the enterprise — especially the finance function.
3. Enhance dialogue with shareholders and improve disclosure in key areas, particularly those related to social and environmental issues.
4. Ensure that directors’ skills are relevant to the chief areas of stakeholder concern, including risk management tied to social and environmental matters.
5. Consider using nontraditional performance metrics, including those related to environmental/sustainability issues.