The data tells a compelling story: 64 percent of sustainability leaders and investors view sustainability-linked value creation as vital to company strategy, while 72 percent recognize its moderate to significant financial impact.
Yet 92 percent of CFOs boosting sustainability spending in 2025 still see it primarily as a cost rather than true value creation. Our recent FutureProof webinar explored how forward-thinking companies are bridging this perception gap and unlocking tangible financial returns.
Driving EBITDA with Integrated Sustainability & Financial Reporting
Host: Patrick Obeid, Co-Founder and CEO of Tracera
Panelists:
- Rajesh Garg, Group CFO and CSO for Landmark Group
- Chisara Ehiemere, Senior Research Lead of Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI), NYU Stern
Webinar slides can be found here.
5 Key takeaways
- The CFO-CSO combination is strategic, not coincidental. CFOs have comprehensive business understanding, unbiased reporting capabilities, and financial expertise to fund expensive transitions. As Rajesh Garg noted: “Carbon statements will become more important than financial statements.”
- Start where cost removal meets carbon removal. The early sustainability journey is easily funded through operational improvements. Companies find synergy between reducing waste and reducing emissions, with teams discovering more savings when given a bigger purpose beyond just profit.
- Cross-functional communication unlocks hidden value. Finance teams need to learn from sustainability practitioners about what’s happening at the practice level. This collaboration reveals unexpected benefits, like a utility company discovering that energy-efficient lighting boosted employee productivity by $2 million annually.
- Decision-grade data is non-negotiable. “Data credibility equals financial credibility,” notes Patrick Obeid. Sustainability data must meet the same rigor as financial reporting. Disclosure alone doesn’t solve the problem. Companies need data that drives strategic decision-making, not just compliance.
- Focus on material impacts you can actually influence. Rather than offsetting, companies should prioritize supply chain influence and operational changes across scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Measure input-output ratios and eliminate waste, while using frameworks like ROSI to identify value drivers systematically.
Go deeper: aligning sustainability and finance
Rajesh offered a compelling case for combining CFO and CSO roles. “The CFO is the one person besides the CEO who has tentacles across the whole company,” he explained. This combination brings comprehensive business understanding, unbiased reporting capabilities, and financial expertise to fund transitions. As Rajesh noted, “Carbon statements will become more important than financial statements.”
Chisara emphasized bringing finance teams into sustainability conversations. “Finance needs the opportunity to learn from sustainability practitioners to understand what we’re actually doing at the practice level,” she explained. This cross-functional dialogue helps identify benefits beyond obvious cost savings — like a utility company that discovered improved lighting boosted employee productivity by $2 million annually.
Chisara challenged leaders to prioritize ROSI, return on sustainability investment, when considering their options and making key decisions. Looking for value drivers can help guide firms as they build strategies and design processes in this area.
Both Rajesh and Chisara stressed that financial benefits only materialize with decision-grade sustainability data. “Data credibility equals financial credibility,” noted Patrick Obeid. Chisara agreed, adding: “Disclosure alone does not solve the problem. You need to understand the risks inherent in your operations and work strategically to address them.”
The case for combining the CFO and CSO roles
Rajesh outlined three compelling reasons why combining CFO and CSO roles makes strategic sense.
1. Comprehensive business understanding. “The CFO is the one person besides the CEO who has tentacles across the whole company,” he explained, noting that sustainability spans the entire enterprise and value chain rather than being confined to a single department.
2. Unbiased reporting capabilities. Finance teams can “put the mirror” on other functions and naturally handle the rigorous data collection and reporting that sustainability requires.
3. Financial expertise to fund transitions. “It’s an expensive transition, so find the money,” he noted, emphasizing that CFOs and their teams are best positioned to identify funding sources for sustainability investments. “Carbon statements will become more important than financial statements.”
Ready to explore how sustainability can create financial value in your organization? Reach out to the Tracera team today to learn more.