Governance, risk and compliance

SmartSuite for the Sustainability Manager

The Sustainability Manager runs sustainability initiatives and targets across operations: carbon reduction, energy, water, waste and supplier engagement. They coordinate initiative owners in facilities, procurement and operations, track progress against targets and feed verified results into ESG reporting.

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Reports to:

ESG Program Director

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What you own

The Sustainability Manager runs sustainability initiatives and targets across operations: carbon reduction, energy, water, waste and supplier engagement.

Develop and manage sustainability initiatives and targets
Coordinate initiative owners across operations, facilities and procurement
Track progress against carbon, energy, water and waste targets
Engage suppliers on sustainability requirements
Feed initiative results into ESG reporting
Communicate sustainability progress internally and externally

At a glance

The GRC processes this role owns, touches and depends on.

Owns

accountable for the process

esg

Touches

contributes or approves

third-party, issues-actions, reporting

Depends on

consumes its output

risk

How the GRC processes connect

Three lines of defense set the frame; the chain shows where each process hands off to the next. Colors follow the role: navy is owned, blue is touched, gray is depended on.

Reporting lines

Who this role reports to, who reports to them, and the peers they work with most.

Reports to

ESG Program Director

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Direct reports

Environmental Program Manager

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Works closely with

How SmartSuite supports this role

Lead

ESG. Tracks initiatives, targets and progress with owners and milestones, linked to the metrics they move.

Third-party risk. Records supplier sustainability commitments and assessments against the vendor record.

Issues and actions. Tracks initiative actions and gaps to closure.

Reporting. Shows progress toward targets on dashboards shared with ESG reporting.

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Products this role uses most

ESG & Sustainability Management

Track and report ESG performance with structured workflows, regulatory alignment, and real-time visibility into sustainability metrics and initiatives.

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Environmental Health & Safety (EHS)

Manage incidents, inspections, and safety workflows in one platform with real-time visibility and structured processes to improve compliance and reduce risk.

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Vendor & Supplier Management

Manage vendors and suppliers with structured workflows, performance tracking, and real-time visibility.

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Issues Management

Track and remediate issues across audits, risk, and compliance with structured workflows, clear ownership, and real-time visibility into resolution status.

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Industry reference

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard define how progress on carbon is measured; ISO 14001:2015 provides the environmental management system; the Science Based Targets initiative sets the target-setting method many companies commit to. ISSB IFRS S2 and the ESRS E1 standard under CSRD require targets and transition plans to be disclosed.

Sector specifics follow. Financial institutions set financed-emissions targets under PCAF and net-zero alliances; healthcare systems address Scope 1 to 3 emissions under national health-sector net-zero plans; public bodies follow government procurement and sustainability mandates; technology companies focus on renewable energy procurement and data-center efficiency.

Related roles

ESG Program Director

See the role

DEEPEN YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Explore Further

Guides and definitions from the GRC Knowledge Center and the What-is glossary, chosen for this role.

All articles

What's new

What is Third-Party Risk Management?

What is Supply Chain Resilience?

What is Net Zero Strategy?

What is ESG Risk Management?

ESG & Sustainability Management

Connected GRC for ESG Leaders

Frequently asked questions

What does a Sustainability Manager own across operations?

The Sustainability Manager owns the initiatives and targets that move the organization's environmental footprint: carbon reduction, energy, water, waste and supplier engagement. They coordinate the initiative owners in facilities, procurement and operations, track progress against each target, engage suppliers on sustainability requirements, feed verified results into ESG reporting and communicate progress inside and outside the organization. With ISSB IFRS S2 and ESRS E1 requiring targets and transition plans to be disclosed, the targets have to be evidenced, not just stated.

How does SmartSuite help a Sustainability Manager track initiatives against targets?

ESG & Sustainability Management tracks initiatives, targets and progress with owners and milestones, linked to the metrics they move, so a lighting retrofit owned by the Facilities Director or a fleet change owned by operations is a tracked initiative with milestones and a line to the energy or Scope 1 metric it is meant to shift. The Sustainability Manager sees which initiatives are on track and which targets they serve, and can tell the difference between activity and progress.

How does this role engage suppliers on sustainability commitments?

Vendor & Supplier Management records supplier sustainability commitments and assessments against the vendor record, so a supplier's emissions commitment, its response to a sustainability assessment and the evidence it provided sit with the supplier rather than in the Sustainability Manager's inbox. The Procurement Director sees the same commitments when contracts come up for renewal, which is what gives supplier engagement teeth. Scope 3 work depends on that record being current.

How are initiative actions and gaps kept moving?

Issues Management tracks initiative actions and gaps to closure, so when an initiative stalls, a site misses a milestone or an assessment finds a gap against a target, the action is assigned to an owner with a date and the Sustainability Manager follows it from one list. The Environmental Program Manager works the same records for the environmental compliance side, through Environmental Health & Safety (EHS). Closed actions are the trail that shows the program is managed, not just announced.

How does a Sustainability Manager report to the ESG Program Director?

SmartSuite shows progress toward targets on dashboards shared with ESG reporting, so the Sustainability Manager's report to the ESG Program Director is the same dashboard the ESG Analyst draws on for disclosures: each target, the initiatives behind it and the progress to date. Verified results flow into ESG reporting from the initiative records rather than from a spreadsheet handed over at year end. External communications quote figures whose source is recorded.

What does a sustainability program need to get started in SmartSuite?

The target list with baselines and dates, the initiatives already under way with their owners, the metrics currently measured and the suppliers the program engages. New customers can start with SmartSuite Onboarding, a guided four-week program around one or two priority workflows; the first workflow is initiative tracking against the targets. Measurement methods, such as the GHG Protocol for carbon, stay as they are; SmartSuite records the initiatives, actions and progress against the resulting figures. Supplier commitments are added as each supplier next responds, and the Facilities Director's sites usually come first.

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